Reminded during a recent Team House podcast of a very-GWOT myth: Chechens.
For some reason, “Chechens” became a bogeyman. I heard this in both Iraq and Afghanistan (Related: Juba).
“I heard there is a Chechen sniper in our AO,” someone might say with a knowing gravity.
“Oh damn, really?”
Given the influx of foreign fighters in both countries, of course there would be Chechens. I always wondered though – why, exactly?
What is it about “Chechens” that makes them particularly scary or fearsome? Why is it that when someone would invoke the Chechens, faces became sullen and serious?
I never figured that out.
Maybe someone has a better take on this, but I remember growing up in the 1990s watching the news of the war in Chechnya. It was brutal, and the Russians pulled no punches. I had a notion of what was going on, and there is a part of me that thinks much of the myth-making here is attributing mystical fighting prowess to Chechens because we (collective we, soldiers) really don’t know much about it.
It also feels very conspiratorial any time Chechens are invoked. The presence of “Chechens” points to something darker going on that I never quite bought into. Other leaders might roll their eyes – “This guy again with the Chechens…”
I am sure there is a kernel here, something going on that got this ball rolling. But the power the myth has does not seem warranted.
Would love to know more about the reality here, if anyone can point me in the right direction.
Details about the referenced podcast below.
Wesley Morgan details the history of US military operations in the Pech valley in Afghanistan, a place of deadly battles and unforgiving terrain. We start with the history of the valley and America’s first forays there in 2002, then get into the larger conventional and special operations campaigns that have taken place there with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns.
The Team House: Deadly Special Ops missions in the Pech Valley with Wes Morgan, Ep. 85 on Apple Podcasts
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Carrying the Gun 