Wandering Patrols

There's a new book out, The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan by Dahr Jamail. Leaving aside the political overtones of the book, what's of specific interest to the Missing Man is the autonomous behavior of some military patrols in Iraq as described by the author. 

Interview with Dahr Jamail
The Lionel Show on Air America, By Avery Trufelman, July 20, 2009

Dahr Jamail, author of The Will To Resist:Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan told Lionel this morning that many platoons have adopted the practice of going on "search and avoid" missions (rather than "search and destroy"), where a platoon ends their patrol route and parks their hummer in the middle of a field, occasionally calling in to command to claim they are still searching for weapons. According to one corporal Jamail spoke with, this happened "every other day."

Kirk von Ackermann's vehicle was first reported as abandoned by a passing military patrol to a nearby checkpoint. Where was that passing patrol from, where were they going, where were they supposed to be, and what were they supposed to be doing?

Just how much leeway did a patrol ultimately have in deciding where it could travel within Iraq back in 2003 - could they really just wander around freely as long as they routinely checked in by radio?

The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan
By Dahr Jamail, Haymarket Books, July 2009
ISBN 9781931859882

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