Light Infantry and Afghanistan

[Infanteer]

From my viewpoint, insurgent tactics in alot of areas in southern Afghanistan along with the nature of the terrain don't lend themselves to ambushes. Due to roaming death in the skies, insurgents walking around with weapons are likely to die from a Hellfire long before they stumble into a well-sited killzone. For this reason, they don't really walk around openly with weapons much which makes it hard to ambush insurgents. Others may have noticed different, but these were my observations. I understand that the terrain in RC(E) lends itself to open insurgent movement and small-unit ambushes have been much more successful.

As for light infantry in Afghanistan, the largest constraint is water. You simply aren't light if you have to sustain yourself in 40-50 degree celcius heat. As much as possible, the chain of command must plan on how to safely use local sources (which, in the dense green spaces of Afghanistan are often rife with Hep and other fun things). If you don't find a work around this, you are tied to a vehicle laager or a piece of tactical infrastucture.