I’ll leave it to members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia who operate operationally to analyze the techniques used by the Mexican Marines in their capture of the Houdini-like drug lord known as”El Chapo.” Note: Sean Penn is not in this video. More’s the pity.
And why was he captured?
I have to believe that Sean Penn is regretting getting rid of his gun collection in light of recent events.
Those guys are fags!
I missed the reference earlier. I got it now. Have an updoot.
Man, that was a slow crawl through that place. I quit counting how many flashbangs they let loose.
Going to show this to one of my Mexican co workers to translate for me.
Mostly what they said was basically: “move it move it move it”
Yeah, move move move, go right go right.
I couldn’t catch all of it.
Lot of US guns and gear though. Our tax dollars at work
I am surprised the team leader seemed to have to yell over everything to issue commands vs using a com system. It’s like he was hurding cats.
Sloppy yet effective. Usual Mexican style. You know it is a failed state when the military has to take over LE missions.
Good job guys anyway, now don’t let him back out for the third time.
What a misinformed and bigoted comment!
The USA does NOT give Mexico money or weapons as part of the Merida Initiative (research the term). In fact, the rifles seen on the video are, FX-05 Xiuhcoatl, designed and manufactured by the Mexican Armed Forces.
You just made a fool of yourself.
How’s that Mexican space program coming along, Oscar? LOL
Oscar, the FX-05 is only used by GAFE. These were M4 carbines, most likely supplied to Mexico by the US, but that doesn’t mean its wrong. The US supplies a lot of nations with a lot of equipment. The US gave equipment to Israel as well, and still does. You don’t see any Israelis complaining that this is bigoted.
Further, those aren’t flashbangs to anyone wondering. They very clearly say “grenade”. And as for having a comm system, that’s some high-speed stuff, but most troops all over the world still yell out commands, which is why every private in the US Army and the Marines is taught to “sound the F— off.” Combat is loud, and isn’t like CoD.
I’m still finishing off the video, but it looks intense.
Jambo
GAFES do not exist anymore. The team had to be dismantled after some of them became part of the Z cartel.
The rifles were NOT provided by the USA government. The USA government DOES NOT provide weapons to Mexico, any US manufactured weapon used by the Mexican Army is paid by Mexican taxpayers. Research Merida Initiative.
“The USA government DOES NOT provide weapons to Mexico”
Ahahaha ha haha aha hahaha, gasp, ah ha hahaha ahaha haha ha…..OK that’s a knee slapper fershizzle
Oscar: the Mérida Initiative does not include any weapons transfers, but neither does it preclude them. Indeed, the US does transfer (sell and give) weapons to the Mexican government. When the database is back up and running you can check out exactly what weapons (at least for the years covered) the US has officially provided to the government of Mexico: http://fas.org/asmp/profiles/world.html
They were probably just trying to use them up before the use-by date.
In response to the above comment from Oscar: Due to the Merida Initiative the US does in fact give arms and money to help fight drug cartels.
Half of which probably goes back to the drug cartels. Just because it hurts doesn’t make it a bigoted comment.
If you check the Merida initiative, it does not consider weapons, training and other equipment (surveillance) but not weapons.
Hmm. I would assume these are “elite” troops?
Well, there is a reason Mexico is a third world country and the drug Cartels are able to go head to head against the goverment and hold their own with “elite” troops like this.
Probably because the US Government support cartels and funnels guns and other supplies to them.
With Ollie North’s help…
Gotta keep going with that war on drugs/war on terror/war on constitution or whatever
The reason for stacking on a door and then tossing a flash bang before swarming in is to have the immediate disorientation of the Flash/Bang with the overwhelming fire power as the “operators” come through the door.
Simply hanging out, shooting un-aimed shots through a window and tossing an odd flash bang or two through an open door or window just gives the bad guys more time to be ready for return fire or even a counter attack.
Exactly, there’s no momentum, no violence of action, nothing. Hell, even when they enter the room they just chill in the doorway, jumping every time they themselves fire a shot.
Good way to get killed.
It’s my understanding from what I’ve read that the Mexican Marines are in fact the only reliable troops they have. All other national forces be they police or military are in the pockets of one cartel or another.
I’ve heard similar.
I’m so sick of “operators” mounting that heavy ass PEQ15 on the gun no matter what the situation is
These are just common Marines. They don’t get a choice.
Certainly not what the movies teach you to think about “elite forces”. Lots of waiting, lots of grenades, lots of unaimed shots.
Dang, they got a FILA outlet down there?? how the hell do you tell who not to shoot and who to shoot?? I guess it don’t matter. Nice SBR’s! Where did they get those??
No doubt from us, the US Taxpayer.
Sean Penns dumbassery will catch up to him.
Probably won’t be too long before he’s found dead somewhere
The Mojave is filled with guys like him.
Jimmy Hoffa style.
I kept yelling “Muzzle Disipline” at the screen…And I thought speed was key to operations such as this. But that is just the opinion of a “Civilian” so who knows.
OK, guys who have operated operationally while wearing 5.11 underroos, ‘splain me something:
What’s the protocol in a setup like this to prevent a stack from going into a maze of rooms like this, opening up with an AR or M4 loaded with XM193 or green tip and ventilating one or more of their own team through those interior sheetrock walls?
Back to the wall point man’s muzzle forward, middle two muzzles outboard, last guy muzzle to the six. Normally it prevents ventilation of good guys.
Does that help when there’s multiple groups of people with guns in adjacent rooms?
As I watched that footage, when then tossed in the flash-bangs and entered the first set of rooms, they had at least three different groups of guys in adjacent rooms to each other.
Great question, wondered same. Stacks were inept, backing up, lots of muzzling going on.
Looked like a good place for a blue-on-blue to me, but I am only an internet commando, so take with heaping handfuls of salt, amigo’s. Good job catching Shorty.
Not sure of the Spanish translation, but in English it’s “Dumb luck.”
Did they catch him?
Did they shoot one another?
If “yes” answers the former, and “no” answers the latter, they had a good day at the office.
They caught him because he was driving away in a car
The operational operators let him escape the house and get in a car
The hit men in the house covered his retreat.
He was caught on a highway driving out of town
What’s the spread on how long before El Chapo walks out of prison again?
He’s a billionaire. I give it a month or 2.
They locked him in the same prison he escaped from.
My point still stands.
If the bad guy was caught and they didn’t shoot each other, they got to suit up, shoot guns, and throw a bunch of flashbangs while yelling in Spanish. Added bonus if the evil henchmen didn’t shoot any of them.
I wonder if they drank Dos Equis after…..
Real Mexican marines drink mezcal. Then they snort the worm after rolling it in primo Columbian bang-bang; swallowing it is for tourists and frat kids.
Muzzle awareness and positional awareness are paramount when room clearing. It is blatantly obvious that these guys do not drill together frequently. Multiple groups clearing multiple rooms simultaneously is a no no. The best example in this video was 2 “operators” tending to a bad guy on the bathroom floor while the two others are clearing the adjoining room and closet. Had there been someone in that closet, the 2 in the bathroom were likely dead. Oh well…easy to be a critic from my living room.
Show of hands. Who hasn’t been caught up in a total clusterfuck at least once in their life? Mostly, mostly, we live thru it.
“Show of hands. Who hasn’t been caught up in a total clusterfuck at least once in their life?”
Well, most ClusterFucks don’t involve getting the boss of a *major* narcotics cartel re-arrested, with the promise of extradition to the US where a prison cell awaits that can’t be breached as easily as a Mexican one.
” Mostly, mostly, we live thru it.”
Jury’s still out on whether or not Mr. Penn survives this one.
I admit, it won’t break my heart if he gets whacked, that jagoff likes to hang around nice guys like the late Hugo Chavez…
I’ll start the rumor here….. Sean Penn set up El Chapo for the Mexican army so that the Rolling Stone article would get larger sales.
Hopefully that rumor becomes common fact.
Many Internet Ninja Mall Commandos here…
OMG!!! All the readers of this article must be Navy Seals, Green Berets, and Delta Force!
Calma, Oscar. Its the innertubz, man. Grab a cigar and a cerveza and join the bbq.
What I know about operational operating south of the border I got from watching Sicario, so I cheerfully accept the slam.
I’d be more interested in YOUR opinions if you spelled out a little bit of your own creds.
Sicario? If you knew you would have noticed that the equipment shown for the Delta guys is inaccurate.
Bueno OSCAR-if it’s your 1st time here maybe you haven’t noticed all the stories about the corrupt,evil and violent Mexican military & police. Or maybe you have…anyhoo I noticed a fellow dressed in red and wondered “why”-but that’s just me LOL…oh and Sean Penn deserves whatever comes to a dictator and criminal loving freak.
I had the same reaction. WTH is that guy doing dressed in a red shirt. LOL. Also halfway through the rsid, there was the “leader” shouting at the to “go ahead”. No one was moving. He repeated the “go ahead” command several times. I was waiting for someone to shout back “you go ahead” ROFLMAO
Yes, the Mexican gov is all corrupt, but DEA stats show that the USA has 5% of the world’s population and consumes about 50% of all the world’s illegal narcotics, thus, you have corruption in your schools and homes, in fact, if you are a consumer or have been in the past; you have blood in your hands amigo…
Those that are concerned about a round penetrating the wall, watch carefully, and you will then notice that all the interior walls are concrete…
was that a g36 on the floor around the 11 minute mark?
And yet STILL better fire discipline than you’d ever see from an Aloha Snackbar window-licking spray-and-pray…person. I’m mostly just relieved that they didn’t go about dumping magazines at anything that moved.
Now for the real question: what was the deal with the guy in the red shirt, and why did he seem content to walk in front of an uncleared doorway?
That house looks scary as shit to navigate with all the tight corridors. You also have to realize cops and military in Mexico are likely to end up on a cartel hit list when they end up in a hospital wounded. That was probably the cause for a lot of the hesitation.
I feel bad for the Marine that got injured early in the video if that’s the case.
Those Mexican Special Forces are awesome. No doubt trained by American SF. I just hope the extradition goes through before he escapes again.