Adapt and Overcome: The British Army in Iraq

[@derekdee2303]

A well presented documentary. I was there for the war fighting in 2003, during the build up of the force, we didn't even have a full allocation of ammo, body armour. Returning in 2004/2005, some things were better, but you could see the problems explained. As logistics our vehicles were extremely vulnerable. To the point our REME basically designed armour protection for the trucks. Simply they designed a bag and put body armour plates in the designated bags and fitted them to the vehicle's, definitely adapting. As a wheeled vehicle instructor, in 2007 I at the drop of a hat was sent to The Defense School of Transport to be taught as an instructor on the newly acquired Mastiff. 8 of us attended 4 guys had come from Iraq and after the course went straight back, I and my colleague went straight to Afghanistan. The remaining 2 were DST staff who became the future instructors on the vehicle. We tend to have to repeat mistakes before we learn.

[@WeAreTheUnhappyMajority]

The political elite were naive to think once in Iraq the civilians would embrace us, ultimately we the soldiers suffered whilst ordered to take a stand.

[@zozita.]

Like now they went to expel the American If I came to your country as a military man you would welcome me with embrace ?

[@MohamedShou]

What do you mean "naive"? Aren't the army recruited voluntarily? So why didn't soldiers think for themselves and tell their superiors and politicians that it was a stupid waste of time to invade a sovereign country that never attacked Britian 🤦🏾‍♂️. Yhh I have no sympathy for British soldiers that were involved in Afghanistan and Iraq

[@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp]

They did embrace them - you only have to see the scenes when they entered Basra. But organised militias were determined to drive them out

[@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp]

@@MohamedShou So why did the Iraqis welcome the British when they liberated Basra? You're re-writing history here. Of course you have no sympathy, you're racist

[@MLk-ne9jh]

I am now 34 years old. I remember my friend who I did not talk to and I did not know his name. I only kept in touch the whole time he was in Iraq, and I think he knows everything about me. Can I find him? He used to work in Maysan.

[@MC14may]

I remember patrolling basra in early 2004 in a land rover 110 with chicken wire wrapped around the rear roll cage draped in a cam net to hide its inadequate protection.

[@Stanly-Stud]

No one cares ya plum

[@ojsimpson4040]

Brave man!

[@Surv1ve_Thrive]

Adapt, Improvise & Overcome. Is the motto. It is great life advice. 🇬🇧👍❤✌

[@MrEebs100]

I believe back in early 2004. As it was becoming apparent that IED's were a major problem for the Coalition forces. The MOD had small numbers of mine resistant vehicles. 9 Tempest's and 14 Mamba APC's. The MOD sold some of those Mamba's to Estonia for use in Afghanistan. Meanwhile the UK would have to wait until 2006/2007 for the Mastiff MRAP. My question is, why didn't the UK send Tempest and Mamba in 2004. Surely a handful of lead convoy MRAP's vehicles combined with ECM would have been better than Snatch until Mastiff arrived.

[@lesliedrysdale2434]

The pictures at the start were not snatches they were APVs used in West Belfast very heavily armoured some bright spark at the mod gave them to the Iraqi police 😮

[@DaDaW9762]

In my 14 years my Tours were Cyprus, Afghanistan and Afghanistan again.. I'm so glad I wasn't sent to Iraq, my battalion was a light infantry battalion, that is, no vehicles, my types of battalion went to Herrick, the mechanised and armoured infantry went to Telic(Iraq).. Thank god for small blessings, because I struggle over my Afghan tours and how that theatre turned out.. Dunno if I could have coped with the disaster that Iraq turned out to be.

[@seanpassant3174]

Brilliant documentary James

[@markward2946]

If ever there was truth in the phrase "Lions led by donkeys..." it's here ! If we have to face off against Putin in the future we are in serious trouble and it is our soldiers who will pay for the politician's complacency and the General's willingness to accede to them .

[@SoundLad123]

tripe

[@5583GPGILL]

Great documentary

[@BrenThen4367]

@22:55 IF YOU COULD ACCURATELY PREDICT IT THEN COULD IT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

[@omgitsabloodyandroid5161]

Our Army needs 20 x more money Oh, STOP taking soldiers to court too

[@jamesg9468]

So what you are suggesting is that instead of spending 2.5% GDP on defence, we should be spending 50% of GDP on defence. God I need to stop reading KZbin comments. We all want to see the AF with more funding, but your lack of perspective is incredible.

[@curtisedwards885]

@@jamesg9468we are spending 2.07 and 0.5 is on the nukes. In opinion it’s should be 3.5 to 4

[@sharkwolf7788]

​@@curtisedwards885 raised to 3.5 or 4% AND have it carefully controlled so the spending is effective. There are too many pigs with their snouts in the trough

[@doolittlegeorge]

Improvise, adapt, overcome ... for those that want to think about thinking about anyways.

[@paulstone9667]

This was Excellent!!!!

[@davidspence5567]

13:36 ,Absolutely raging about that Somewhat Rosy veiw of the Drop off in Fatalities by the 'interduction 'of the Mastiffs. The Real resion there was a drop off in Fatalities was because we pulled out of Basa city in part because staying there was untenable. This is why we never really learn any 'Real lessons 'in this Country. Just cherry picking the Facts to make it look like we walked out of there with our 'heads held high' Btw I was there 2003 and 2006/2007 1 RGJ/2 Rifles if there is a problem with my 'Crediton '

[@grahamjones6106]

The sad facts are, we are no longer governed by people who care and have the UK's best interests at heart. We are taxed on just about everything except the air we breathe and it all goes to a prime minister and his cabinet who are known for not even paying their own taxes. The question we should all be asking is," where is all the money going?" We've gone from a global military power to a pathetic tiny weak military force. We've gone from having a strong NHS which was the envy of the world, to an NHS close to breaking point.

[@Then.72]

Exactly plus we are being invaded due to these past governments

[@Mike1974P]

I LOVE MY COUNTRY 💯🇬🇧

[@nathanielwhite8769]

What, a brilliant insightful and honest assessment of the British Army’s 2003 Deployment to Iraq with this being, I think one of Forces News best videos to date. It clearly highlights a total absence of political and strategic planning on the part of Blair’s Administration and the senior military leadership at MOD for the rebuilding process after the initial Combat Operation had been completed. I feel that the ghosts from this Political and Military endeavour will continue to haunt the British Army for decades to come and is actually at the core, along with Afghanistan, of why the Army’s Morale is so damaged and why the rate of trained personnel leaving is increasing. This combined with the utter failure to protect British Troops from prosecution of malicious Human Rights war crimes accusations when they returned home from frontline operations. Tragically the Blood of the 179 Armed Forces Personnel killed in Iraq will forever stain Blair’s Hands!

[@carlwatkiss4252]

I was in Iraq 2003 for the war we didn’t have enough desert kit and where in in snatch’s

[@carlwatkiss4252]

The government made me compulsory redundant 6 months short of my pension.

[@edking5125]

They replaced snatch with cougar.. good call

[@johnnunn8688]

Our army is too small but if we have to have a small army, we need the very best kit and the money for training, or it’s a waste of time having an army.

[@Mike1974P]

A lot of lads left ...until you get shot at dont shoot ...mixed-up feelings if ive ever heard 😢

[@colp9492]

Was there in 2005 with cut down soft skin landrovers, 1st time out the gate my sister multiple got hit by a VBIED and we went out on foot to cordon that off!

[@alphabears6342]

You would think that the major difference from the past was the Tourniquet. The golden hour, yes, major change. Helicopters were used since the Vietnam war but having a specified helicopter as MERC. But it was the TK and not the combat gauze that made the difference.

[@jeffGordon852]

Why did we invade again? I can't seem to remember

[@Mike1974P]

💯🇬🇧💯🇬🇧💯🇬🇧

[@muldoun45]

More like adapt and get overcome.

[@johnbobson1557]

The British Army.... What a joke it's become. (And I say this as a vet) Sneaking off in Basra was the final nail. Thank God the Yanks lent us some kit..

[@DirtyMikeandTheBoys69]

Always thought our kit was garbage (US). It always surprises me when you guys speak highly of it. 😂

[@jonasdauerbrenner6432]

i read somewhere that the UK strategy was pretty good and much better than the americans, but i forgt in which conflict in the middle east and who said it, but it was quite interesting

[@sparkymalarky4322]

looking back did we actually achieve anything other than occupying the middle east for 20 years and losing multiple lives, is afghanistan and Iraq better for it today i dont think it is.

[@aking-plums6985]

On the bright side, a lot of arms manufacturers made a lot of money during those years as well as the former Prime Minister. Every cloud etc. =(

[@larrydickman5936]

Well, it's a case of profit and loss. The defence industry/corporations made huge profits, whilst many coalition soldiers and Afghan/ Iraqi civilians lost their lives.

[@sparkymalarky4322]

@@larrydickman5936 Would you say both afghanistan and iraq were better off since being occupied for all those years

[@daniellee2343]

The disaster of the Global War On Terror has many consequences but reconfiguring our militaries (NATO) to fight guerilla wars and do counter insurgency at the expense of lethality in conventional warfare. Now NATO (including USA) is being out produced by Russia 3 to 1 in artillery shells. A storm shadow missile cost over a million pounds which could produces thousands of shells instead.

[@richardtodd6559]

Makes you wanna think they won or something…we lost in Iraq & Afghanistan & Syria…hardly adapted and overcome

[@ivanconnolly7332]

Blair thought he would get a "Churchill moment" and a lot of people breathed their last , all based on a falsehood.

[@clivecartey]

Pardon my ignorance, but are we talking here about Iraq-1 or Iraq-2, the former being fully supported by the UN and Arab League forces. Two different wars I suspect or rather motives thereof.

[@Shabab-47]

Iraq never die!

[@NewMinority]

What was it call for? Now our country is appeasing Islam

[@BIBIWCICC]

Adapt and overcome = we don’t have the right equipment, we only have outdated gear, the guys running this show are clueless.

[@bartmcdougall7518]

i snatch was bad but lest we didn't have rhino ;) (USA pal's) lolol

[@AbsolutelyParanoid]

Now we have 2 clockwork aircraft carriers instead of 1 Nuclear carrier.

[@thetruthhurts7675]

Actually the British carriers are far better than the clockwork carriers the USA use, especially the Ford Class!!

[@johnbobson1557]

@@thetruthhurts7675 Possibly but they seem to break down remarkably often.

[@johnnunn8688]

@@johnbobson1557they’re new, it’s to be expected.

[@thetruthhurts7675]

@@johnbobson1557 What? A carrier that has a flood during sea trials (which is what sea trials is all about) and a carrier that has a steering/propulsion problem? Whilst the Ford itself took 6 years to get the Launchers to do more than 20 launches without breaking down, so in that time the deck was ripped apart 5 times when they installed larger and more powerful EMALS systems, then just last year the US Navy admited the Ford had just one of it's weapons lifts fitted, that didn't work because it was the wrong lift gear. The USS Ford is a year older than the QE, and only tyhis year became ready for sea! I think you are being a tad too harsh on big Lizzy, and the POW, They are after all THE most technically advanced aircraft carriers in the world, cost less than a third to build and less than a tenth of the cost of the Ford, or Nimitz class to run, can outlaunch, and outland/recover ANY US carrier in any given 24 hour period. You honestly don't really have a clue do you? You think once something so large and technical is built that is it for the entire future of the ship. I am just glad you are not, and never have been, in any western forces!!

[@DirtyMikeandTheBoys69]

​@thetruthhurts7675 lmao, based on what quantifiable data? You can't even leave port without breaking down. We've got carriers over two decades old that are still operating at a far higher capacity without issues.

[@hourbee5535]

Why are we still there? Our own country is broke.

[@terenceballands1374]

🥺😢🤬

[@aon10003]

So you knew you where wrong in Iraq, so therefor you had to try it in Ukraine. Makes no sense at all.

[@iandavies6575]

The British army was defeated and humiliated, it did not adapt and did not survive

[@JW-2023]

That’s nonsense.

[@iandavies6575]

They had to ask the Mahdi army to allow them to leave the country unmolested. That's a humiliation in any book@@JW-2023

[@JW-2023]

@@iandavies6575 that’s not the point you made originally. The army did survive insurgency, it just didn’t win. There are benefits, and they’ll help in the future.

[@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp]

Well clearly it did survive since it continued combat operations in Afghanistan until 2014

[@nini7153]

Russian stronger than tea drinker

[@MrNatsuka]

Never learmed anything yet? You guys are shameless!

[@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp]

Where are you from little fella? China? This video is one among many which explore all the issues that arose on these operations. You only know all about it because we have a culture of self-criticism

[@MrNatsuka]

@@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp if you have culture, Yiu should not be invading and bombing others for selfish reasons! You even lied to the public just so you can invade, shameless!

[@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp]

@@MrNatsuka You're Chinese aren't you? ; ) Remind us what China did in Korea, India and Vietnam? And what it's planning to do in Taiwan? I note you forget how Britain (and America) helped defeat the Japanese for you I didn't lie to anyone. I actually cancelled my application to join the British army once I realised we'd all been lied to

[@MrNatsuka]

​@@OnlineEnglish-wl5rpI am not Chinese. Why do you have China? You are being propagandized by your govt again? Stop being shameless and do something about your evil government perpetuating war!

[@okokok1993]

😂😂

[@OnlineEnglish-wl5rp]

Chinese? ; ) Come on little fella, when was the last time the Chinese tried fighting? Not exactly famous for your martial spirit