dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

I thought we knew that…?

I tried to find a picture but I couldn't easily, but here is what a death blossom is, or at least taught to me anyway:

Imagine a platoon set up out in the field, laying in a large circle with each person spaced out evenly for one another. This is a 360 degree perimeter and provides vision and fire in all directions.

Periodically throughout the perimeter is an automatic weapon, either a light or a heavy machine gun depending on what squad is where.

Now here is what the death blossom is.

In the event that the platoon is being attacked and the situation is too confusing or dire to truly direct fire, the platoon leader can initiate the death blossom strategy (this was developed in the Viatnam war as far as I remember). Essentially, each automatic weapon turns their sights all the way to the left (can also be the right so long as everyone points the same direction) and fires down the line (just along the outside of the platoon's parimeter).

What this does is it creates a wall of bullets that any invader needs to pass through in order to get within the perimeter. From the outside looking it, it would look like a spiral pattern, or a blossom.

It is a panicked and desperate strategy, and is basically the last move you can take in hopes that you will somehow survive. The tactic doesn't last long as it expends all of your ammo, and it has the danger of friendly fire. We taught this to the Iraqi's initially as a 'last resort's method, and of course everything they do is terrible and reverts to the last resort anyway.

Well I can't say everything Iraqi's do is bad. There are actually a good deal of very excellent, proficient fighters in Iraq, but the regulars are just bad.