Articles by Rafael Lopez Mercado

Isolated, surrounded, with limited supplies and surrounded by a much larger number of well-armed enemies determined to take the small base of Musa Qala at any cost... The worst nightmare of any soldier since armies existed was repeated in each of the British positions that had been established in the Afghan province of Helmand during the summer of 2006... (Continues...) Dear reader, this article is exclusive for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

The battle of Musa Qala, in 2006, despite not having great significance in the future of the war in Afghanistan, nor a huge death toll, was significant for one reason: it was NATO's first defeat. Despite everything, the clashes made it clear that on the ground the British soldiers fought until the end, failing on this occasion to receive political support, something we have seen on other occasions. In the next few lines we will try to narrate, in the greatest detail, both the events and the reasons that led to the fatal outcome. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

After the events of the first week of August 2004, the situation in Najaf had turned towards a tense calm, a prelude to what would follow. The first skirmishes had given way to a full-fledged battle when the marines of the 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant (Lt) Colonel (Col) Mayer intervened in order to prevent an assault by cleric al Sadr's militiamen on the city's main police station. The first exchanges of fire were the trigger for both sides to deploy more troops to a fight that in its final phases pitted the entire Marine battalion against thousands of Iraqis. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Najaf, the city of death. No expression better defines the origin, the past, the future and the historical events that occur referring to said city. It was precisely in that town where, in the summer of 2004, one of the toughest combats of all that occurred since the invasion of Iraq took place. [Keep reading…]

Fallujah is perhaps the most extreme case, in which a situation that was out of control to the limit forced US troops to intervene with a conventional military response, in order to end the revolt and return the city to a minimally stable situation. [Keep reading…]

Najaf, the city of death. No expression better defines the origin, the past, the future and the historical events that occur referring to said city. It was precisely in said town where, in the summer of 2004, one of the toughest combats of all that occurred since the invasion of Iraq took place. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

After reading a large number of books on American military history, if there is any peculiarity that I would highlight about all of them, it is the speed with which they assimilate and adapt thanks to the lessons learned on the battlefield. They have a special interest in what they call “lessons learned.” And precisely Operation Anaconda is one of the clearest examples of this phenomenon, both in the course of the battle and in the analyzes that were subsequently made. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Two months to prepare, hundreds of people dedicated to planning down to the smallest detail. Satellites, drones and planes for reconnaissance of the area, with special forces teams infiltrated to describe the enemy device in real time. Several special forces A-Teams spent weeks training with Afghan allies and explaining their role in the overall plan. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

Following the Tora Bora fighting, the military situation in Afghanistan by the end of December 2001 had calmed down relatively compared to the decades of continuous war in the country. With the fall of the Taliban regime and the flight to Pakistan of its main authorities, along with the leaders of al Qaeda, the coalition forces had their sights set on a final phase of stabilization, with Hamid Karzai as head of an interim government with the support of the United Nations. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine taking advantage of our offer for new subscribers through the following link.

After two weeks of deployment in the city of al Amarah, virtually all members of the battle group in the city had entered combat. The melee that took place around the Sadr Martyrs' Office (OMS) demonstrated that the light wheeled vehicles were too vulnerable for the fighting they would face. From then on patrols would be carried out solely on foot, using the Warriors to enter the city and bail out the soldiers when any contact with the enemy developed negatively. Since it took more than half an hour to arrive from Camp Abu Naji, two of the Warriors were permanently stationed at the CIMIC House, remaining in a defensive position guarding the two gates of the base. (Continue…) Dear reader, this article is exclusively for paying users. If you want to access the full text, you can subscribe to Ejercitos Magazine [Keep reading…]