I was working with a small cadre of trainers to familiarize the men of the Miskito tribe with basic military operations, weapons handling and small unit tactics, mostly. The Sandinistas would enter a Miskito village, round up the women, children and elderly, load them into trucks and head out to the relocation camps. The weak link in their program, in my view, was the trucks. The trucks would be the most difficult part of the Sandinista program of forced relocation for the Sandinistas to replace. I remember making the case, for about a month, until I was able to convince Edgar Chamorro that the trucks the Sandinistas used to transport the people were the weak link and the easiest target of opportunity for us to strike.
Over the course of three weeks there were raids on the motor pools of the Sandinista forces and over thirty trucks were destroyed, and the Sandinista’s forced relocation program ended. The destruction of those trucks provided the indigenous groups the time and opportunity to eventually reach a negotiated agreement with the government.
It was in March of 1984 when I went to Salvador to help the cause of freedom, there. Unfortunately I found that we were on the ‘wrong’ side. Not that I supported the rebel factions in the fight, but while Jose Duarte was attempting the bring the military under civilian control, the process was difficult, at best.
The Salvadorian Army, with their US advisers were utilizing a ‘scorched earth policy that I thought to be counter-productive. Members of the Atlacti Battalion, men that I knew from the School of the Americas told me of how when deployed to Morazan they had witnessed the massacre of at least 750 civilians. I was witness to General Adolfo Blandón, the Salvadoran Army Chief of Staff saying;
"Before 1983, we never took prisoners of war."
But Durante was trying to bring some order to the madness, but he was bound by political realities. His primary opposition within the government came from the more ‘radical right’, personified by Roberto D'Aubuisson, an Army Major and what could only be described as a ‘right wing’ ideologue. Kind of a fascist, really.
Under the auspices of President Durante the moderates within the Salvadorian Army tried to institute a ‘Civic-Action’ program in the province of Chalatenango. The first part of the program could have been successful; they were establishing local militia groups or ‘Citizen Defense Committees’, which were going to be utilized in guarding the economic infrastructure of the province. I went there and was assisting in the training of those volunteers, but on a parallel track the new regional commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sigifredo Ochoa Perez, a former director of the Treasury Police and political ally of Major Roberto d'Aubuisson, established 12 free-fire zones in Chalatenango.
Lieutenant Colonel Sigifredo Ochoa Perez, left
The idea that they were promoting, was that any inhabitants that could not be positively identified by the army were automatically classified as being insurgents. Ochoa came to call this policy the "Israeli Solution," as it was adapted from Israeli strategy employed in South Lebanon and promoted by the advisors that Roberto d'Aubuisson had brought in from Israel.
During 1983 at least 8,000 civilians were killed in El Salvador.
Black Jack’s Arms Room
Handguns
. . .
Billy Haught carries three P226 in close quarter combat.
‘Black Jack’ prefers the 1911, tried and true ‘Old School’ performance
Shotguns
The Remington 870 has been America's best selling shotgun for over 50 years. World reknown for its legendary dependability. The strength and durability of the receiver is assured as it is milled from a solid billet of steel. Smooth, reliable and non-binding action is provided by the well engineered twin action bars. The Remington Model 870 Express Synthetic is 12-gauge is a shotgun that features an 18" fixed cylinder choke barrel with a single front bead sight. It comes in a non-glare matte finish, and Jack prefers the seven shot capacity magzine to the five.
The Winchester Model 1912 was often referred to as the “trench gun” by the troops who utilized it to great effect in both World Wars. Desgined for use with smokeless powder
the Model 1912 carries six rounds in the magazine. Lacking a trigger disconnect if the trigger is depressed when the action closes, the weapon will fire. This feature proved extremely effective in close quarter combat situations.
The lever action shotgun was introduced by Winchester in 1887. Desgined by John Browning it provided a magaine capacity of five, plus one in the chamber. Originally chambered in 10, 12, and 16 gauge. The Winchester 1897 shotgun became popular in the military.
To accomadate the higher pressures generated by smokeless gunpowder the weapons was redesigned in 1901. Improved. by the additions of a two piece lever and a trigger block, which were the notable engineering modifications
The Winchester 1901 was only chambered in 10 gauge, for smokeless powder loads.
There were over 60,000 of them manufactured.
Battle and Sniper Rifles
The M14 is the last US battle rifle. It is a magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic 7.62mm (.30-caliber) rifle that is still in service with the US military. It deploys with a 20-round magazine, and has an effective range well beyond 800 meters. Operated from the shoulder, it is designed primarily for semi-automatic fire.
An improved version of the M-14 wqas designated the M-21 in 1975. Issued with a M14NM (National Match). set in one of McMillan’s M1A fiberglass stocks The standard optics package was the Bausch & Lomb Tactical 10×40 scope, although there were also Leupold MK4 10× scopes issued. A Harris bipod was availbale and could be attached if advantageous to the shooter. The M21 remained the Army's primary sniper rifle until 1988,
Assault Rifles
The M16 family of weapons are lightweight, 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed assault rifles, all operate with a rotating bolt system. The rifle is made of steel, 7075 aluminum alloy, composite plastics and polymer materials.
The grndfather of the M16 family was designated the AR-15 and was first adopted by the USAF in 1962, eventually receiving the designation M16. The U.S. Army began to field the XM16E1 en masse to troops in Vietnam in 1965 Adopting it for standard issue as the M16A1 in 1967.
The M-203 adds a single shot 40mm grenade launcher under the barrel. It fires the same rounds as the M79 break-action grenade launcher, which also utilizes the High-Low Propulsion System which keeps recoil forces manageable.
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. The AK-47 and its variants remain the most widely used and popular assault rifles in the world sixty-seven years after its introduction because of its durability, low production cost, availability, and ease of use. Manufactured in countries all around the globe it is in service with armed forces in conflicts around the world.
More AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined.
The Fabrique Naitonale P90 and the 5.7x28mm round that it fires are two parts of a weapons and munition system specifically designed for NATO, to be utilized in close quarter combat. The high velocity 5.7×28mm projectiles consistently turn base over point upon impact with the target, in simple terms; they start to ‘tumble’ on impact. The FN P90 is a bullpup designed sub-machine gun that functions as well as it is formed, as modern and intimidating a piece of polymeric plastic and steel as a fellow is ever apt to run into.
Five-seveN, is a semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The pistol is named for its 5.7-mm (.224 in) bullet diameter, and the trademark capitalization style is intended to emphasize the manufacturer's initials—FN.[
Connect with Black Jack Hawkins
I would like to thank and highly reccomend the contributors at Borderland Beat, both on their front page and back in the Forum. Their library of blog entries, dating back to 2009, are an contemperaneous account of a stark reality.
The primary administrator of the Borderland
Beat does an exceptional job, there is not a more informing site on the subject of the Border War on the web. ‘Black Jack’ participates on the Borderland Beat main page and the Borderland Beat Forum.
Thanks to the folks at Google, for providing the storage space broadband width for the ‘Black Jack’s’ blog Border Wars – 2014 .
Thank you for providing authors a pathway to the retailers. and ultimately readers all across the connected world. I would also like to mention Marcus V, who provided some smashingly good customer service.
Beyond providing free bandwidth for the blog, Google also supplies a superior search engine, one that providess at levels of information that were beyond the realm of the science fiction of my youth. Their mapping service will put you in the middle of the action, not quite the view from a Predator drone, but an aproximation of just how advanced the actual capactiies of military aerial observation.must be. Ike would have loved to have had a Google eye view of Normandy, at any time prior to 6JUN1944.
You can travel the world, with Google Maps, and never have to leave the ranch.
Another round ofwell deserved thanks goes to the anonymous data hounds that toil at Wikipedia Commons. Providing a wealth of information to the public on a wide variety of subjects. People, places and things, like airplanes, boats and weapons from all around the world.
Frank O'Rourke and Richard Brooks both are on the list to be acknowledged, as are Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster and Woody Strode. A hearty thank you to Louis L'Amour, whose writing provided many entertaining interludes while I was in Panama. Then there’s Jimmy Buffett, who has sung the sound track of ‘Black Jack’ Hawkins’s life, from ‘Expatriated American’ to ‘Cowboy in the Jungle’, Buffett hit the tone with his tunes.
Finally ...
Thank YOU!! . . . For reading . . . “Border War – Warning Order”.
It was intended to be both an educational and entertaining read, that was the goal, the objective. Hope we got ‘er done!
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