What the hell....did anyone see those plain closed policeman with those automatic rifles....this is becoming a military zone in London. I hope those helicopters park up soon as they are making a racket. Yep there goes yet another police car by the window....hopefully it’s just drunken yobs...i never thought I would say that with a positive spin.
Hey englander, surely thet are not the SAS...there far too visible
No, I think they were part of that new anti terrorist firearms unit they set up a couple of months ago, they were wearing police caps, so I’d assume they were part of a specialist TRU unit. The SAS wouldn’t get called in unless there was a standoff, like Beslan.
Yes it did mine too. I was watching the World Championship Snooker final when they switched over to live coverage of the assault. Imagine the coverage that news organisations would have given an event like that happening now? I remember feeling very proud that day. If my memory serves me well didn’t the failed assault by the American forces in Iran take place round about that time? That was awful. That sank Carter completely.
Yes it did mine too. I was watching the World Championship Snooker final when they switched over to live coverage of the assault. Imagine the coverage that news organisations would have given an event like that happening now? I remember feeling very proud that day. If my memory serves me well didn’t the failed assault by the American forces in Iran take place round about that time? That was awful. That sank Carter completely.
Yeah, I think you’re right, Iran was around the same time.
I don’t think it would happen today, there hasn’t been a hi-jacking/siege in the UK since that. These days it’s easier to just blow themselves up, how do you defend against that?
You cannot....however we must not go too far in relation to having masses of security forces on the streets. This will only increase the tention that is already thriving on our suspicious streets. I have to be honest if those bombs had gone off yesterday I would have really feared for the muslim community in London. We have to hope that no more incidents occur. I heard horrendous stories of pregnant muslim women not being allowed by passengers onto tube trains because they appeared to be carrying something under their dress...maybe the baby was holding the bomb?
Speaking of automatic rifles, I was quite jealous of my British counterparts and their SA80 rifles when I was in the sandbox. I got to handle a few of them, quite a work of beauty. I also liked the Aussies’ Steyr Aug too.
Maybe so. I never did get to fire one. Of course, my M16 jammed at times too. Being in the back of hummer churning up sand on everything will tend to do that..
I f I’m correct there was a lot of unhappiness in the war with its performance in sandy conditions. However i think the point you make in regard to gun and sand not mixing well is a fair one.
Besides Kalashnikov variant rifles, I doubt you’d find too many other firearms capable of firing in the extremely sandy conditions. The problem is that during the early days of the war, everyone was always on the move and not always on hardball (paved roads). The fast pace and sand from moving across the desert wreaked havoc on weapons. It didn’t help that the standard lubricant (CLP) used actually seemed to attract dust and dirt. Depending on the conditions, one may need to clean their weapons once an hour to keep it functional. Now that travel is mostly over hardball, however, I’m sure that malfunctions are less common.
Thanks for that detailed info sarge. I’m going to be honest with you here I have only ever fired an air pistol myself and have absolutely no expertise in firearms and their use. It is however very interesting to hear from someone who does. I have only recently joined the forum here so I do not know much about anybody. This may seem like a dumb question but you seem to have had some experience of the conditions in Iraq? Whithout giving any imformation away that would inflict on your privacy, what was that experience. Please accept my appologies in advance if i have overstepped the line by asking?.
I served in Iraq during the initial invasion and following months throughout Iraq, including Basrah, Nasiriyah, Hillah, Kut, and Baghdad, with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (known as Task Force Tarawa) and with the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
I no I have led a sheltered life when I here where you have served over there. Cripes you have my respect for what it’s worth coming from a civvy. What where the Iraqi people like? I have to say what they have had to put up with in regard to these insurgents they seem to be very brave in attempting to get on with their daily lives?
The Iraqi people are no different than any one of us. They want to be free, safe, and prosperous. They are also extremely hospitable. I can’t tell you how many times I was offered an invitation to dinner in an Iraqi home. People would come up on the streets and offer us free flat bread, cigarettes, or fruit. These people who have suffered for so long under Saddam and have so few possessions, but will gladly offer up the little they have to you. They are amazingly resilient and I have no doubt they will outlast the criminal thugs who are currently terrorizing and attempting to oppress them as Saddam did.
The Iraqi people are no different than any one of us. They want to be free, safe, and prosperous. They are also extremely hospitable. I can’t tell you how many times I was offered an invitation to dinner in an Iraqi home. People would come up on the streets and offer us free flat bread, cigarettes, or fruit. These people who have suffered for so long under Saddam and have so few possessions, but will gladly offer up the little they have to you. They are amazingly resilient and I have no doubt they will outlast the criminal thugs who are currently terrorizing and attempting to oppress them as Saddam did.
I hereby nominate this post for the MooreWatch Hall of Fame. Good to hear that on the boards Sarge. I’ve been corresponding with soldiers in Aghanistan and Iraq for a couple of years now, and out of the hundreds of email exchanges I’ve had with them more or less at random, it’s running about a 10 - 1 ratio of upbeat and optimistic observations like yours Sarge. And of that group representing the “1” in that ratio, they are not negative per se. They’re mostly just reserved and dropping a line to say thanks for writing. The strong, silent types I guess you could say. I have yet to recieve a note bitchin’ and moanin’ about anything, not the conditions they live in, not the war itself, not the sand, definitely not the Iraqi people, not nothin’.
I doubt I’m alone in saying that many of us here would enjoy hearing more Sarge, if’n it’s not an imposition. Great post in any case.
Thanks sarge...its great to hear from someone on the front line who has not had his words twisted by some news organisation. Thanks for giving some detail there. Your angle on the average Iraqi people does not suprise me. They seem a fine bunch. I just cannot get out of my head these awful executions that take place at the hands of that scummer zaqowi or whatever he is called, its just awful. When that mother get’s nailed the Champagne corks will be popped I can tell you.
Great to hear you keep in touch with the forces there Blues and again its no suprise to hear that most troops are positive in the job the are doing. Channel 4 in the UK will be producing a documentary soon that will tell this positive side of the story from both the perspective of the Iraqi’s and the allied troops serving out there. It will make a pleasant change from the garbage that the BBC usually puts out. Always a negative message about moral in general
As fror you Soul, well the last I heard, this guy was being trailed as a suspect linked to the original bombings in London. He was trailed by three plain clothes officers. He was wearing a big jacket and was heading for a tube station. They took no chances and confronted him at the tube station and told him to hit the ground. The guy instead chose to fare dodge by leaping the barriers and running down the escalators. These policeman where confronted by a extremely difficult situation, they chased him and caught him irunning onto one of the trains. I guess there training led them to beleive that the likelyhood was that he would set a bomb off and they took no chances. However 5 shots does seem a trifle extreme, I would not be suprised if there was more than one gun fired. It tells you however two things, one we have some real last resource police forces out on the streets in London and secondly it iwould be wise to freeze and hit the deck when they tell you too. It’s a hardline message but that’s the level we are at here in London and I support it 100%
One questioni I want to ask you in the states, I heard an american on one of our radio shows stating that we were the most big brother nation in the world because we have so many security cameras around (something that I am delighted about to be honest, seeing the mugshots of those four would-be bombers plastered all over our news organisations), what is it like in the USA, in particular on your subways, do you use security cameras and how do you feel about CCTV in general?
As for the shooting - some reports have also claimed that there were wires protrouding from the guy’s coat, but I haven’t found any proof of that yet. The five shots were also necessary - one bullet is not necessarily enough to kill someone instantly, and so the police had the risk that the dying subject could still have detonated an explosive device. Five shots would ensure the death of the subject. I believe most special forces using automatics are told to ‘double-tap’, that is, to shoot the subject with a burst of three bullets in the head, to ensure a kill. It might be that the rules of engagement with a handgun require a larger number of shots for a ‘clean’ takedown.
