Birds of Prey
--fr. "Secrets of the Navy Seals",
Popular Mechanics (Aug. '11)
No person is as sick as a person
who is sick on bad religion
--USAToday, 8.8.11
That's no way to treat
an expensive musical instrument!
--Wasted Youth, Meatloaf
_________________
[This was written before the shoot down of the Chinook and the loss of 22 Navy SEALs]
Ranger assumes Popular Mechanics "Secrets of the Navy Seals" is a feel-good piece aimed at increasing Navy funding and recruitment. It is yet another example of the legitimate press being used to propagandize for the Special Operation Forces community and the Department of Defense, desensitizing an already numb public.
But the article still doesn't look or sound that good. Look at the trigger finger: The tip of the glove has been cut off! We did the same thing back in 1970, except we weren't the most poshly outfitted troops in the world. Imagine the Navy bought you Nomex fire protection gloves, and some dude cuts off the finger -- this is destruction of government property! Why didn't the contractor build a trigger-finger into the glove?
Next, see the HK416 in the stripped trigger finger: Why is there $1,000+ worth of sights and laser apparatuses for a 10" barreled weapon? If the weapon is for killing in close quarters, why not just rudimentary sights? The gun lacks long-distance accuracy even with a scope, but it, along with the stripped-finger glove, sure does look fierce.
"Hughes Tool Co. knew rotor noise could be hushed by decreasing blade-vortex interaction, caused when a rotor slices through the small whirls of air created by the preceding blade. The Quiet One diminished this noise by adding an extra rotor blade so a pilot could slow the rotors, making less noise while remaining aloft."
While the craft may have been silent, but it obviously could not maintain the hovering function of a helo.
The article states that since 9-11-01, "Navy Seals have become elite man-hunters. They find, identify and track individuals . . . What the Pentagon once called the "Global War on Terror" is a personal business." However, the man-hunter role is more appropriately associated with counterterrorism (CT) than with counterinsurgency (CI). Manhunting does not win hearts and minds.
"The SEALs have experienced this kind of fight before, in the Vietnam War. There, SEALs recruited by the CIA advised reconnaissance units that sometimes executed supporters of Viet Cong geurillas -- but the effort was plagued by misidentification. Winning hearts and minds is difficult when detaining innocent bystanders."Today, detaining often becomes "killing", and innocent bystanders are easily re-labeled "terrorists" once killed.
The SEAL's mission to take Osama bin Laden dead or alive "could not have been clearer" according to the piece. "When their helicopter crashed inside the compound, the SEALs in it simply disembarked and swept the building to find their prey and finish the job."
When did humans -- even enemies -- become PREY? This is not American Sportsman, and the military is not deer hunting.
Labels: 22 seals killed, special operations force
posted by rangeragainstwar at 11:05 AM
11 Comments:
Yes. What is it with all the lasers, flashlights, scopes, etc attached to short barreled rifles these days?
Does one have to zero each and every sight apperatus? Do they all really stay zeroed and shoot to the same point of aim?
Are these things really a force multiplier? Do they really add an advantage over good old fashioned weapon familiarity and marksmanship?
I often notice the lazer sight for use with night vision duct taped to the hand gaurds? Does that system really maintain - or even obtain - a zero? If not, how does one hit what one aims at?
No one - not even my own offspring - will answer these questions for me.
Has the enemy casualties per rounds fired increased since the introduction of these things?
avedis
Avedis,
For CQC why does one need a laser sight?
Whatever happened to quick kill?
I concede that a entry rifle is different than a long shot rifle.
I say this knowing that somebody will sharpshoot me.
jim
quick kill or some similar combat shooting method would be useful just in case all those battery powered gizmos run out of juice or they get broken when diving into a hole.
maybe the glove comes from the factory with the trigger finger looking that way- a retro fashion statement like pre-faded/pre-torn jeans?
Well, you'll be glad to know that our new SecDef says that any further cuts to 'Defense' spending will leave us vulnerable!
"Leon Panetta: Bigger Defense Cuts Triggered By Debt Deal Would Have Devastating Effects On Security
WASHINGTON -- Large new cuts in defense spending would "terribly weaken" U.S. national security, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday as he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used a rare joint interview to argue that the nation cannot afford to keep playing partisan chicken with its finances.
Panetta expressed optimism about progress by American-led forces against the Taliban in Afghanistan and by NATO forces in support of anti-government rebels in Libya. He cited those conflicts as examples of why severe cuts to spending on defense and diplomacy would be dangerous.
Panetta said the Pentagon is prepared to make $350 billion in cuts over the next 10 years, as agreed by Congress. But he warned of dangers to the national defense if bigger reductions are required."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/16/panetta-defense-cuts_n_928355.html
Can someone PLEASE get me off this merry-go-round? I swear to God, I never thought I would live to know exactly what the Late Roman Imperials felt when they watched their society disintegrating before their eyes due to constant military adventurism.
And on a 'lighter' note...its Snuggly the Homeland Insecurity Teddy Bear!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDGg073-dIo&feature=player_embedded
"Jesus don't like killin,
no matter what the reasons for
and your flag decal..."
John Prine
Well, y'all know the song,sing along...
"won't get you intoooooo
heaven anymooore."
Doesn't matter about the toys on the boys--money honey, thats all I want.
From current issue of Foreign Policy...
The Empire at Dusk
American pundits decry the onset of sharp defense cuts,
but the Pentagon can’t even account for $1 trillion in its own spending. Isn't it time to rein in the beast?
Some of it on that GI's peashooter.
Read it and weep, right there:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/16/the_empire_at_dusk
NOw even the neocons ae yappin' about how crude it is..
There it is,
Deryle
Heeeeeelo Folks,
Have not been here for a spell and just wanted to make a couple of quick notes.
For CQB and Hostage Rescue... Laser Sights are a necessity period. The Seals have a ton of specific mission packages just like all SOF units do so "don't judge a book by it's cover" (sorry couldn't help my self)
You may not know this Jim but to quibble over a cutout glove when all those brand spanking new F-22 Raptors are grounded and useless (hell despite years of combat... at 400+ million apiece The Air Farce is too scared of losing one.) is kind of silly. But I am just teasing you so easy does it. :)
So there you have it... Billions of Dollars of Hi-Tech Super Duper Planes sitting on the tarmac and Panetta wants to go after the Military Retirement System as "inefficient" Gotta Love being a Lobbyist for The Military Industrial Complex. ;)
On a Personal Note It was a story and cover photo on US Army Rangers in Popular Mechanics back in the 70's that motivated little old me to be a triple volunteer. :)
Kewl Ya? :)
William Ranger Hazen
RWH,
Hell i joined SF b/c of the GREEN BERETS-joke.
The glove is a great little point T-that's just no way to treat an expensive glove.
I disagree about the sights you shouldn't be knocking down doors and doing dynamic entries if you can't shoot instinctively.Don't you watch Mel Gibson movies?
The DOD gets a free pass and the rest of the country is suffering big time.
jim
RWH,
As for the 70's article on the Rangers this just proves that we must protect weak minds from propaganda.
jim
Hi Ranger Hazen,
Jim's point re. the glove tips seems minor, and he is into minutiae. I could tell you about his fashion observations on the lengths of women's pants, things that would make Mr. Blackwell quail, but I shall reserve that for a later date.
Not to defend minutiae, but I will merely say, a glove was the difference between Mr. Jackson's pop star status and the relative minor status of his kinsmen; the difference between O.J.'s incarceration and freedom.
As Deryle would say, there ya have it.
(Neat that Pop Mech inspired you.)
To all,
While researching a reply to RWH i came across a pic of the wreck and it focused on a black rifle remnant that is marked H&K and Made in Germany.
Now what kind of bullshit is that?
We have unemployment in America and our SOF is using Stoner designed clones from ANOTHER friggin country.
Give jobs to the Germans- now that's a plan.
jim
Hi Jim and Lisa,
I think all the paraphernalia on the hardware, along with all the gadgets and whatchamacallits have not made our forces more efficient killing machines...nope, I think they've made them lazy killing machines.
I mean seriously, throw some white armor on the guy, white helmet, keep the pop-gun, and he'd be the spitting image of a Star Wars Storm Trooper.
Besides, our vaunted SF's are the new "enforcers" of American policy in the world...diplomats, we don't need no stinking diplomats, we have SEALS bitches!
Do as we say or boogetiboo they'll come for you!
My coworker and I are trying to out depress the other with articles about the militarization of robotics...give it a few years...then we won't need seals, we'll have little tiny robots who will squeeze into small little crevices between wall and joint, door and floor...and with one little needle injection...voila...a new government is installed!
It's going to be a very messy future.
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