A Change of Guard

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Tuesday 12 July 2011

Thailand can't beat Cambodia with its modern military hardwares

By Sgt Houn
U.S Marine Corps

Thai Air Force did use the F-16 fighter jets to drop bombs on those Khmer positions, but they didn't achieve much results. Those Cambodian BM-21s MRLS (Multi-Rocket-Launching-System) trucks were positioned deep inside Cambodia territory, so it would be very risky for the Thai F-16s to reach them. If you didn't know, BM-21 MRLS have a range up to 40 kilometers. The much earlier version of MRLS were used against the German Nazi by the Russian Red army in WW2. It had a very devastating effect on the German troops attempting to invade Moscow. They dubbed it "Stalin's organ". It makes such a sweet sound when firing off.

SAMs and triple A (Anti-Aircraft-Artillery) are normally placed closer to those BM-21 MRLS. Maybe I'm giving the Thai military too much information. Anyway, Cambodian military don't spas and spleach on firing off anything like Thai military. They strike when the opportunity is given. The Cambodian military used their brain, unlike Thai military used their brawn by throwing all sort of punches (cluster ammunitions, 155mm artillery, poison gas, spy dogs (it's a joke)) and got tried quick. Basically that is the dilemma with Thailand's military: a lack of experience. This is the Thai military weakest spot.

The more Thailand like to show off its military hardwares, hoping to scare Cambodian military into submission (part of psychological warfare), the more it is exposing its vulnerability to the Cambodian military low-tech weapons to destroy them. Why do you think Cambodia appears to have very few military hardwares? Deception is one of the most essential part of warfare, my enemy. You're not deceiving anyone if you showed off what you got. Cambodia will find the right weapons from Russia or China to destroy those Thai weapons. Destroying them is a lot easier and cheaper than buying or building them.

I'm sure most of us know about the much-talk-about the Israeli tanks, the infamous Merkava 4. Guess what? The less arm Hezbollah fighters smoked a few dozens of those "Chariot of God" with the latest Russian anti-tank-missiles, which cost only a small fraction of $6 millions fully armed Merkava 4. Should I talk about the American Abraham M-1A2 tanks and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor? No, I won't. I'm a US Marine and a US citizen and I am risking my life to protect freedom and liberty of this greatest country on earth, so all Americans can have freedoms and rights to practice democracy. So I can't expose any disadvantage of US military weapons. I could get more than being court-martialled and dishonorable discharge. Anyway, with all the firepowers of its disposal, Thailand could have easily taken those Khmer positions, instead they failed. What did Thailand achieve? NOTHING, except dead Thai soldiers, destroyed artilleries and a few tanks, not to mention the political consequences of Thailand attempting to create regional instability. And Thailand wants to invade Cambodia? Anytime, sweetheart.
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Anonymous said...

Dear Sgt. Houn

What evidence do you have that Thailand did drop bombs with F16 Fighters. If I`m not mistaken, dropping a bomb from an F16 would be devastating for a small country. Anyone can Google the F16 Bomb Blast radius and conclude themselves.

"Thai Air Force did use the F-16 to drop bombs on those Khmer positions but didn't achieve much results".

It`s always easier to fight when you are not following any international rules or obligated to anything but your cause. Meaning the Hezbollah can fight with no rules other than killing Israelis. Where as Israel has to walk a fine line between international pressures and its people. No difference than America with Iraq or Afgan. So, for someone to suggest that Israel has the best tanks and got a few burnt out means nothing.

You're in the army, so when one tank get blown up by IED does that mean the American tanks suck? Is America winning the war with Iraq or Afgan? Depends on how one sees it. America is the leader of the world so they cannot just blow the country up into pieces or nab everyone they think is a Taliban. America have to fight with its rules and international rules. It's what keep every strongest military from blowing each other up into oblivion.

I am not here to challenge your thought but to help enlighten the scenario a bit. I have plenty of friends and my bothers who have fought in Afgan and Iraq. The common complaints I hear from all of them is how much bureaucracy there is. Which hinges their effort to fight. Can you imagine if none of that is in place?

Thailand is heavily equipped and let's not forget that they were trained in certain areas by the Americans and a few other countries. Does that mean anything? Well, they are trained to use the equipment they bought.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are two big holes in Som Roung, the road leads to Ta Moun Thom. The F16s tried to hit a moving supplied trucks. One of the trucks went of the road and hited the tree. Go to look for yourself.

Anonymous said...

What does an enlisted armed force member of the US force know about modern weapons. Perhaps you're using modern weapons with unconventional soldier like yourself.

Anonymous said...

Is it a question or a commnent?

Anonymous said...

Was the thai army lack of experience at all when they push the Vietnamese troops back out of Arunyaprathet & Si Sa Ket with a napalm bombing and artillery shelling during the 1980's? If you are trying to say the Thais has no war experience then how come Battambang & Siem Reap was defeated by the Thai King Taksin during Ayyuthaya era? The Siam almost took Preah Vihear too until the French step in. And now we are in the 21st Century i'm sure the Thai is more powerful and superior than ever before. Khmer stand no chances against them in a full-scale war

Anonymous said...

History is a reminder to us, so that we don't make the same mistake again, and we can use it as evident, but not to place it in a pretext of the argument. It does not work well.

Anonymous said...

Thai weapons are as old as Cambodian weapons. These weapons are over 30 years old. The only difference is that Thai got them from the Western block and Cambodia got them from Eastern block. Just remember, the Cold War might be over, the Proxy Wars are very much alive. The supper power countries still produce weapons and the other counties still try to buy them with money or with other means. The countries that produce these weapons do not want the newly technology to get to the hand of their competitors, so they pretty much sell of the old weapons.

Such as smart bombs and Tomahawk missiles, and the Patriot missiles and the Drones (the unman aircraft) can not be bought easily. The Americans will hold on to these High Techs for many years to come. China and Russia are willing to do anything, include spying, to try to obtain these High Techs Weapons. Therefore, Thailand does not possess any of these weapons.

Anonymous said...

9:55Am,
What the hell are you talking about? What 1980 napalm bombing are you talking about. I was at the border all these times and so is Dr. Peang-Meth. I never heard such a things. Stop concocting the story to suit your weak argument.
For your information, if the Viet wants to, they would have reached Bangkok in less than 2 weeks with their blietzkrieg blooming lotus tactics!

Anonymous said...

What kind of international rules thai soldiers pursue? Cluster bombs, civilian's lives with 155 mm shelling? And recently the indiscriminately shooting the civilians along the border? And go look yourself the remaining of the F16 bombing near Ta Moan. Your are brainwashed by the thai media and your army. Thai's victory in the past was because Khmer was not united and you took the advantage. Don't talk about the Viet's aggression in 1980, without the US intervention Bangkok would be still under control by the Viet.

Anonymous said...

The Thais were scare to death in the 1980s. They were afraid that the Viet troops are going to cross into their borders. They were lucky because the Khmer Rouge and the Resistance fighters were still holding the Vietnamese offensive. Thailand have no other choice but supporting the Khmer Rouge with weapons to fight the Viets. Thailand is nothing but stealer and a back stabber, the Khmer king should never give them refuge. That's why up until now we always them(Thais) the thieves. Thais troop always employ cheap tactics to scare the Cambodian soldiers but they don't realize these are battle harden soldiers.
Most of you bloggers talk about good things Thailand this Thailand that but I bet you never live at the border in
80s. Thai soldiers are the most cruelest people I ever seen. They rob, beat, rape and kill innocent khmer civilian like nothing to them. These fuckers are only good at killing unarmed people. When there is a firefight between the Vietnames troop and the resistance fighter, the Thai soldiers are no where to be found so we use this opportunity to go look for food and water while they were gone. They all go hide in their bunkers. They only appear when the fighting stops.

Anonymous said...

I was very curious of Sgt. Houn mentioned of an Isreali's Merkava 4 MBT. I never heard about it. I'm familiar with Russian T-90, Chinese Type 99, British Challenger, German Leopard 2, France Leclerc, Japanese Type 10, South Korea XK-2 and host of tanks from other countries. To my surprise, I've learned something. He was right. Merkava 4 is a 4th generation Isreali main battle tank. It's a symbol of Israeli technological advancement in military weapon development. It's a pride and joy and much boast about by Isreali army. In 2006 war in South Lebanon, Hezbollah found an answer to destroy the Merakva 4. Hezbollah resistence fighter acquires a Russian AT-3 Sagger (Chinese Hongjian-73) anti-tank missile from Syria. They were able to destroyed 49 of these Merkava 4, ooouch..that's got to hurt Isreal ego. Now, the Isreali military is scrambling and brainstorming for ways to find a defensive system against this low cost, yet destructive tank killer.

You know what, Cambodia military acquired a Chinese version, the Hongjian-73 anti-tank missile. Holy shit.. if an almost invincible Isreali Merkava can be taken out by Russian AT-3 Sagger or Chinese Hongjian-73, then a 30 years old, Vietnam War era American made M60A3 main battle tank of Thailand army would be easily smoke by Hongian-73 anti-missile. Sgt. Houn is up to something very damn interesting.

Anonymous said...

6:52

Your are right. The Israelis were ignorant and ego driven is what lead to it's failure. But any machinery is vulnerable to any ingenuity.

5:52

When you say the Thais were scared as hell and they were lucky they had Khmer rouge on their side. Did you think to yourself that they would rather have the Khmer rouge die first before them?

2:43

Do you have to suggest people going to the so-called f16 bomb site knowing that no one on here would ever have a chance to witness it? Do you know how big of a bomb blast radius of a f16? It would knock the temple off the map.


10:43

Do you really know what weapons Thailand poses? Or any country? Weather it is old or not. Think about how much ammunition they have and the money to purchase more.


Everytime I am on this blog I see a lot of cry babies who always accuse other bloggers of bragging about Thai military. As if we are not bragging enough about our soldiers. This is a discussion and it should not get heated because you feel like your not winning support. Everyone here supports our military but because were are not on the frontline. It is always easier to see things from a different view. In my view, CPP controlled gov. need to do it's best at all cost to avoid fighting. Lives are at stake here. Whoever fired first we don't know. It's why we need observer. If Thailand won't agree to that then CPP gov. should allow news media in or other countries.

Next, we should give out our condolence to the recent tragic event on the border killings. We all should hold the CPP government accountable. Why have they not spoken a word about it? It's just plain sad to see that a poor person is not only at risk of being shot by the heartless Thais soldiers but their dire situation at home lead them to salvage a living elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

to 2:13PM

It's actually true what 9:55AM have said. Royal Thai Air Force fighter bombers flew a mission against the Vietnamese invasion in to Thai soil from 1979 through 1985. They drop tons of bomb on the NVA force that forced Vietnamese troops to retreat on March 6 1985. I've also heard the Thai warship were involve in shelling the Vietnamese base too near Haad Lek

Anonymous said...

11:19 PM,

The Thai also oppose the Vietnamese occupation in Cambodia which lead them to take side with Khmer Rogue to fight those Vietcong along the border

Anonymous said...

Here we go again, the repeat of the same old, same old. I don't know what it is, just when someone start pinpointing Thai military vulnerability, some idiot start reacting wildly defending it like a wild dog. I bet he's the same dumbass claiming to be the support of Khmer troops fighting the in frontline against the Siem invader but mocking our soldiers about their weapons and equipments. According him, if and when Thailand invade Cambodia, we will never have a chance to defend ourselves because Thailand is too strong and it would be very dangerous for Cambodia to fight back. Cambodia should not want war with Thailand. Well..I like to ask that dumbass idiot, who start this shit since 2008? Who were those fake soldiers/protesters/nuns dressed in white crossing into Cambodia illegally to have a sitdown protest in Preah Vihear? When Cambodian temple guards removed them, who were those soldiers in black uniform? If you could answer yourself some of these many questions, then you should know who want to start a war.

Due to all the shit-talking about bad-ass Thai military. It's necessary for some of us to put that Thai military shit-talking into detail discussion looking for the weak spots. Obviously there are plenty. Appearantly, this triggered that Thai military supporter idiot to react wildly, kicking, punching, and throwing things without lack of any hard evidence except, "Thai military is great, Thai military will easily defeat Cambodia military, Thai have F-16s and along line of other bullshit. If he's Khmer like he claimed, I don't know why he's so defensive on Thailand. He must be a Thai spy dog.

Anonymous said...

Cambodian will get blitz in less than 2 weeks if Thai army were to wage a full scale war with Cambodia. Their active military personnel is around 600,000 compared to Khmer soldiers around 30,000 there's no chance for Cambodia to win a war. Cambodia might be able to defend herself probably a weeks after that they will run out of military supply. To defeat the Thai you must have lots of ammunition and other supply that can last for a month or 2 then you will be fine. But expect the Khmer side to lose more lives if war does happen.

Anonymous said...

3:17 AM, that was exactly what communist Vietnam army thought when they invaded Cambodia in 1979. I assumed you know the outcome? And you're falling into the same mindset as Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, American in the Vietnam War, and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. This is dangerously delusional. Allow me to correct you. Thailand doesn't have 600,000 active military personnels and not as great of the weapons as it portrayed itself to be. Tanks, artillery and helicopters were donated by American after the Vietnam War. Thailand spending between $5-6 billions annually to maintain those slowly aging weapons. Thailand make small quantity of expensive weapons and haven't proven their worthiness yet. Thailand F-16s are slowly becoming obsolet and becoming prone to being shot down by a modern day SAM systems. Don't stupid yourself into thinking that invading Cambodia is very quick and easy walk in the park process.

Anonymous said...

Dude 4:06 AM

What about 10 years of the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia? Is that not a successfully invasion at all?

I support Khmer troops said...

Yep, we are arguing the same thing over and over again. And so far I see a few new bloggers boasting Thai's capabilities. If you want to spit out numbers, make sure you research you information to support your argument. Don't just arbitrarily pick out a number I.e Cambodia has 30,000 troops?, 3:17AM? Look up CIA factbook, Cambodia have over 125,0000 infantry troops with over 10 divisions and mechanized or armor divisions as well as some naval capabilities. That's not a walk in the park.
It's true we do not have an air force squadron, but posses
air defense system to counter.
In Addition, we know our terrains.

Anonymous said...

Khmer naval will get destroyed at sea and all of the armor vehicles that Khmer has will get destroyed from the above and Cambodia got no weapon to defended. depending on the BM-21 and some of the SAM that Khmer has I don't think it will take down those high flying fighter jet going at mach 0.6/1.5

Anonymous said...

Am not sure whether F16 impact is bigger than B52. I have seen the B52, bur not F16. The B52 is not as big as what 8:49PM said.
Every country has it's own secrete of military power. We as ordinary people do not know whether what Cambodia has. It's even more secrete than Thailand. As Thailand orders from the US and other countries of the same nature they will show on their websites the orders and the types of weapons. I know that Thailand just ordered BM30 from east bloc country seeing it's impact by the Cambodian army.
Frankly, when the clash broke out at Ta Moan I thought that Thailand would win the battle as they had advantage geographically. But they failed. From this I think that they don't really have good tactic to cope with the Cambodians.