Watch: RPG Gunner Misses Shot, Tank Commander Doesn't
This is why no one wants to miss when using a rocket-propelled grenade.
According to Funker530, what you’re about to see is a video from the Syrian civil war. It’s an older clip, but it’s still worth watching.
We can’t actually determine which side everyone here is on; the YouTube uploader says that it’s a rebel firing on a Syrian tank. That in itself doesn’t say which side the RPG wielder is on, since the Syrian civil war has included the government — aided by Iran and Russia — fighting rebels who come from a variety of ideological stripes, including the Islamic State group — which despises the United States — and the Free Syrian Army, which had U.S. support until 2017.
The video, which was taken from a GoPro camera attached to the tank turret, shows the crew of the tank searching back and forth for enemy forces.
As the turret moved, the rebel forces decided to make their move.
An RPG was fired at the tank.
RPGs present a number of problems for their users in a case like this.
First, rocket-propelled grenades give off a lot of smoke when they’re fired. Particularly when you’re in what appears to be an abandoned factory-like building of some sort — where firing out of a window clearly gives away your location — that’s not a particularly good idea.
Second, the grenade missed. Anyone firing at a tank with an RPG in an urban warfare situation where a puff of smoke will reveal their location better be sure to hity. A miss could make the next seconds deadly.
The gunner in the tank didn’t waste any time responding.
Firing just a split second after the RPG miss, the tank managed to take out the second floor of the factory.
As one of the commenters on the YouTube video said, “sometimes, life gives you ONE SHOT.”
Indeed. This reported Syrian rebel had one chance to inflict damage on this tank. He missed, and gave away his position in the process.
In a matter of seconds, he found himself on the receiving end of the kind of damage he hoped to inflict.
Again, there’s no way of knowing who was on the other end of the Syrian tank’s fire.
It could have been an Islamic State terrorist who despises the United States. It could have been a freedom fighter willing to give his life to defeat the dictatorship of Bashar Assad.
But one thing is certain:
Whether your side is noble or evil, the brutality of war leaves no room for mistakes.
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