recon by fire n.— «The danger is particularly acute at night. The Iraqis do not have night-vision equipment, so when they spot people approaching their checkpoints they have a tendency to do what the Americans refer to as “recon by fire.”...
mouse hole v.— «“One man makes for the stairway, covered by bullets of the others shooting ahead of him. At the same time two or three men can enter the house and begin to ‘mouse hole’ into the next forom from the secured ground floor...
dead-check v. phr.— «“They teach us to do dead-checking when we’re clearing rooms,” an enlisted Marine recently returned from Iraq told me. “You put two bullets into the guy’s chest and one in the brain. But when you enter a...
soft knock n.— «The Soldiers perform what is known as soft knocks, versus a more aggressive approach to enter the houses. They announce their intentions to enter houses over a loud speaker, asking the residents to unlock their front gates...