Special Forces without bodyarmour / helmets

[Afro-European]

Hey guys I have a question:

Some elite special forces like the Special Air Service , Special boat service and the US NAVY SEALS are often caught on camera without any protection like bodyarmour or helmets. My question is:
Why don't they wear any protection?
Here you can see the UK special boat service / US special forces in a heavy fire fight without helmets or bodyarmour
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=028_1179764609
It just caught my curiosity.

[DevilDogHopeful]

SF camo, yo.

[benbach]

Berserkers in the ancient Norse/Vikings lands never wore armor.....and they slaughtered hundreds...

[Stan187]

Hey guys I have a question:

Some elite special forces like the Special Air Service , Special boat service and the US NAVY SEALS are often caught on camera without any protection like bodyarmour or helmets. My question is:
Why don't they wear any protection?
Here you can see the UK special boat service / US special forces in a heavy fire fight without helmets or bodyarmour
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=028_1179764609
It just caught my curiosity.

Kinda hard to blend in covertly and look like an Afghani if you got a nice Western helmet and bulky body armor set on over your traditional robes don't you think? They could always be wearing plate carrier underneath for all you know.

[JKinnaird]

they might be wearing low. vis. armor, or something like that.

[Trenk]

they just don´t give a f.ck... they wanna get somep-)

[JC0352]

"caught on camera?":cantbeli: They have OMFGD3LTA water in their camelbaks that makes them small arms and shrapnel proof.

[JC0352]

...and thier beards are bullet-proof too

[Hollis]

This only proves, "Humor, never leave home without it."

^^^ all the above is true.

[Playtime]

http://www.mycarforum.com/forum/Others_C20/Lite_%26_EZ_F15/Female_Darth_Vader_P2289186/gforum.cgi/hellovader.jpg?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=57435;guest=62321025


he he he :) ... best SF in the universe

[Nephilim]

*cough*

hi-speed low-drag

-insert any other daeggdigl-junk here :

isnt it obvious?

[kongman]

up until a while ago most armies didnt wear body armour .........maybe some flak jackets but nothing compared to what they wear now .in my day it was webbing pack weapon .thats about it ..........alot of armies still do that .................alot of SF have to be mobile and travel long distances ...........i would want to do that carring all the weight of body armour plus kit..............

[UW145]

Bloody media hungry boaties. Look like that can't afford any bod or lids in Poole as they've just received the entire 5.11 line.

Are those blackhawk packs?

[KEEPER0311]

Berserkers in the ancient Norse/Vikings lands never wore armor.....and they slaughtered hundreds...

rofl

Best smart as remark ever!

rofl

[James]

Bloody media hungry boaties. Look like that can't afford any bod or lids in Poole as they've just received the entire 5.11 line.

Are those blackhawk packs?

I think all those videos are from November 2001.

[justagoodolboy]

Because that **** is rediculously heavy and uncomfortable and after like a week of wearing it in the heat it begins to smell like a bag of smashed asshole.

Seriously though, all that highspeed kevlar has it's place where it's needed and it's place where it's not.\


edit: After viewing the video and seeing the context, you have to remember that a lot of SOF operations (Atleast SF, PSYOP/CA) is all about building *******. You're not going to be too respected if you out there in full battle rattle fighting next to an afghan fighter whose only body armor is a mandress.

[IMTT]

"SOF guys don't wear helmets and body armor because.....

1. They like to watch the conventional army CSMs and Commanders get pissed and pull what little hair they have out.
2. Like to be called undisciplined cowboys.
3. It is a great recruiting tool.
and last but not least....
4. They do what they want.

Well at least US SOF. :-)"

This guy is now my hero..I love the part about p-ssing off the CSMs!

We wore sappy plates in plate carriers. All the locals use AKs so soft body armor to begin with won't stop this round. The soft body armor works well for IEDs in the vehicles but its a pain is the a-- during foot / running movement through villages and to and from meetings with the councils and the like. Soft body armor saved two of our guys from IEDs. One was hit while on convoy the other was riding turret gun. Our SOP at the time was inside military vehicles we armored up with helmet and IBA we dropped this stuff in the vehicle at the target location. We also wore ball caps / local head wear because we were attempting to soften our appearance to the locals. This helped us fit in better in my opinion and change our appearance from the regular folks. Yes we did get chewed out at main installations from more than one CSM.

Just one opinion
Respectfully

[SOF]

"SOF guys don't wear helmets and body armor because.....

1. They like to watch the conventional army CSMs and Commanders get pissed and pull what little hair they have out.
2. Like to be called undisciplined cowboys.
3. It is a great recruiting tool.
and last but not least....
4. They do what they want.

Well at least US SOF. :-)"

This guy is now my hero..I love the part about p-ssing off the CSMs!

We wore sappy plates in plate carriers. All the locals use AKs so soft body armor to begin with won't stop this round. The soft body armor works well for IEDs in the vehicles but its a pain is the a-- during foot / running movement through villages and to and from meetings with the councils and the like. Soft body armor saved two of our guys from IEDs. One was hit while on convoy the other was riding turret gun. Our SOP at the time was inside military vehicles we armored up with helmet and IBA we dropped this stuff in the vehicle at the target location. We also wore ball caps / local head wear because we were attempting to soften our appearance to the locals. This helped us fit in better in my opinion and change our appearance from the regular folks. Yes we did get chewed out at main installations from more than one CSM.

Just one opinion
Respectfully


Interesting. You know situation changed a lot from 2002, couse now ewerybody wears body armor. Main threat is IED, everybody wants to be armored as much as it could be. I don't know how much secret you want to be, but nobody wears a local clothing anymore, couse no-one wants to be striked by one CAS. Well, I might be wrong, it could be some HUMINT in the area, but SEALS and SBS don't do that at the moment.
Usualy we are taking plates out of body armor then we have a foot patrol, but it is a personal thing. And what a hell is "ball caps"? :D
Maybe you would have some advise, it would be interesting to know, but anyway> most of the times one bullet is enought p-)
P.S. excuse me my english, I will try to improve :)

[Rudolph]

...and thier beards are bullet-proof too

I read the recce's usually had beards because sunshine can compromise your position if you are clean shaven, eg. glare...

[ArmyJonHall]

I read the recce's usually had beards because sunshine can compromise your position if you are clean shaven, eg. glare...
Bah ha ha ha! Beards are worn in Afghanistan for cultural reasons mostly, not tactical.

[Rudolph]

Bah ha ha ha! Beards are worn in Afghanistan for cultural reasons mostly, not tactical.

And what does that have to do with anything??

[Rudolph]

Bah ha ha ha! Beards are worn in Afghanistan for cultural reasons mostly, not tactical.

"Special Forces Operators usually wore beards because they were unable to shave during their deployments. Shaving would waste precious water, and the enemy would be able to smell the shaving cream or soap if it was used. The beards also helped with camouflage of the face for both black and white Operators, as the sun would not reflect off a beard like it would off a shaven face. Similarly, the long hair as seen in some photographs of the Recces is as result of the long periods the Operators spent behind the enemy lines on operations, where they could not cut their hair."

South African Special Forces League. (http://www.recce.co.za/index.php?module=ContentExpress&file=index&func=display&ceid=19&meid=27)

[ArmyJonHall]

Right, well without inflaming Rudolph who obviously knows everything there is to know about the SF world, the beards worn by operators in Afghanistan were due to the fact that adult males see beards as a sort of cultural status symbol- similar to men seeing a woman with larger breasts as a 'status symbol'. With the SF working in close relationship with the locals, this only made sense.


To get the job done right here, controllers operating downrange in small select teams must work with Afghan village leaders, and that is where the beards are important. In Afghan culture, men worthy of respect wear full beards. It is also a sign of respect to the local people and their ways.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123008899

Common-issue camouflage cream is used to hide the shine and shape of the human face. The fact that SF wear beards in other theaters outside of the Sandbox is because they can.

[Rudolph]

Right, well without inflaming Rudolph who obviously knows everything there is to know about the SF world, the beards worn by operators in Afghanistan were due to the fact that adult males see beards as a sort of cultural status symbol- similar to men seeing a woman with larger breasts as a 'status symbol'. With the SF working in close relationship with the locals, this only made sense.


http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123008899

Common-issue camouflage cream is used to hide the shine and shape of the human face. The fact that SF wear beards in other theaters outside of the Sandbox is because they can.

I was not speaking of Aghanistan... why would you assume so? Why not Mexico, Brazil, or China? I was obviously referring to the Border War in Angola, or should I have written 'recce' with a capital 'R' to make it clearer?

[ArmyJonHall]

I was not speaking of Aghanistan... why would you assume so? Why not Mexico, Brazil, or China? I was obviously referring to the Border War in Angola, or should I have written 'recce' with a capital 'R' to make it clearer?
Yeah, having the capital R to make it a noun would have cleared this up.

[IMTT]

SOF,

04-05 in Afghanistan was my last tour. I don't have any advice for anyone, I was responding to a question. I'm not qualified to hand out free advice I don't caim to be an "expert" or "consultant". My limited experience is several years old now. I would assume the the TTPs have changed.

When working with the French SF they never made a habit of wearing body armor. Occasionally they wore lite armor but I never saw them in full IBA in fact it often hung from their vehicle seats. The Dutch SF and the Romanian regular grunts, Canadians and our (US Infantry and the like) regular kids always wore it. The Australians it depended on the day. Like I said this was 04-05. Now there is main battle tanks, armored carriers, LAVs and big guns on the ground in my old areas. Which to us at the time and even now is hard to fathom. We used Non-tactical vehicles (NTVs) many times and drove where we pleased. Things have changed a little around my old stomping grounds.

As for facial hair; The beard commands respect with the tribal elders and the like in the remote villages, particularly in the south. Men wear facial hair and to their minds boys have clean faces because they can't grow a beard among other reasons. It was a cultural thing. The relaxed grooming standard has been changed as well with the advent of regular forces controlling more. I'm sure the gentleman from South Africa had other reasons for the same in his AOR(S).

SOF,
I'm unsure what your question was and what "one bullet is enough" means. Anyway all the best.

Respectfully, for what it's worth which might be d-mn little.

[Stan187]

Interesting. You know situation changed a lot from 2002, couse now ewerybody wears body armor. Main threat is IED, everybody wants to be armored as much as it could be. I don't know how much secret you want to be, but nobody wears a local clothing anymore, couse no-one wants to be striked by one CAS. Well, I might be wrong, it could be some HUMINT in the area, but SEALS and SBS don't do that at the moment.
Usualy we are taking plates out of body armor then we have a foot patrol, but it is a personal thing. And what a hell is "ball caps"? :D
Maybe you would have some advise, it would be interesting to know, but anyway> most of the times one bullet is enought p-)
P.S. excuse me my english, I will try to improve :)

Is this not recent?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=028_1179764609

Looks like SBS does do it at the moment, unless this video is quite dated.

[justagoodolboy]

Anyone at Bragg knows they have a hard time getting SF to get haircuts in garrison, much less deployed.p-)

[IMTT]

Roger that Sergeant Major!

[justagoodolboy]

Roger that Sergeant Major!

hahaha. I'm not going to lie, my hair wouldn't cut it in a regular unit either.

[James]

I was not speaking of Aghanistan... why would you assume so? Why not Mexico, Brazil, or China? I was obviously referring to the Border War in Angola, or should I have written 'recce' with a capital 'R' to make it clearer?

I guess you're special. Everyone else in this thread was talking about Afghanistan.

[SOF]

Is this not recent?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=028_1179764609

Looks like SBS does do it at the moment, unless this video is quite dated.

sh*** thats 2001. Now is 2008. And thouse fellows live on the other side of the road, I'm not saying that we work together, but we meet sometimes like they comming in we going out... so they do wear armor p-)

[SOF]

SOF,

04-05 in Afghanistan was my last tour. I don't have any advice for anyone, I was responding to a question. I'm not qualified to hand out free advice I don't caim to be an "expert" or "consultant". My limited experience is several years old now. I would assume the the TTPs have changed.

When working with the French SF they never made a habit of wearing body armor. Occasionally they wore lite armor but I never saw them in full IBA in fact it often hung from their vehicle seats. The Dutch SF and the Romanian regular grunts, Canadians and our (US Infantry and the like) regular kids always wore it. The Australians it depended on the day. Like I said this was 04-05. Now there is main battle tanks, armored carriers, LAVs and big guns on the ground in my old areas. Which to us at the time and even now is hard to fathom. We used Non-tactical vehicles (NTVs) many times and drove where we pleased. Things have changed a little around my old stomping grounds.

As for facial hair; The beard commands respect with the tribal elders and the like in the remote villages, particularly in the south. Men wear facial hair and to their minds boys have clean faces because they can't grow a beard among other reasons. It was a cultural thing. The relaxed grooming standard has been changed as well with the advent of regular forces controlling more. I'm sure the gentleman from South Africa had other reasons for the same in his AOR(S).

SOF,
I'm unsure what your question was and what "one bullet is enough" means. Anyway all the best.

Respectfully, for what it's worth which might be d-mn little.


Thanks for your answer.
Last time I was here in 04. As I sad, situation changed a lot. Last time lots of our guys were riding without an armor. In 04 it was elections and when we were leeving we thought that our work is done and conwentional forces can take over. So I came here again in 08 and saw tanks and armored wehicles roling.....
"One bulet is enough" is not a question. I'm just saying that sometimes you can wear all posible armor, but if you are hit > it doesn't help a lot.
I would say it is just a question of good/bad luck p-) One of my bodies was driving armored humvie, the only one armored vehicle in 14 vehicle CRP. We got ambushed, and that only armored vehicle was hit by RPG. But RPG hit the mirror on the driver side and detonated roflNo one was hurt from our side. So that was good luck

good luck to all

[Rudolph]

Yeah, having the capital R to make it a noun would have cleared this up.

K, sorry then!!

[wildheart]

Chuck Norris never wore bodyarmour or anything so maybe they like to use the 'Chuck loadout' (patent pending)

[playtym]

And all this time I thought it was their special kit, rather than their special skills, that made them special forces. :cantbeli:

[kongman]

i remb that the sasr , whenever they got a warning order the stopped shaving ...i dont know if this is true now ...i got a chance to work with them in the support role during kangaroo 89 and this was what i was told by one of the guys.........maybe its to blend in with the locals or looks badass who cares they can do pretty much what they want anyway , who are we to argue...........

[gafkiwi]

In the past when we recieved a warning order, shaving and showering stopped, Basically (as some guys pointed out) so that the guys won't take any un-natural odours into the bush. In a jungle environment scents/odours are quite obvious.

On top of that unless you have a NBC threat, there is no real reason to shave, its a waste of water, especially if your dismounted and carrying all your water.

As for body armour and helmets, Its just a trade off, Sometimes you need to go as light as possible, Its a bit hard doing a close target recce in body armour and helmet. Once the sneaky stuff is done and its time to "Knock on doors" the armour comes out.

[BrianT]

Since your being paid to learn a language right now you may not know this, but when your team daddy or company SGM tells you to get a haircut you get one, even while deployed.
Funny how guys think they'll go SF and do whatever the **** they want. I've got a bad habit of growing my hair way too long. I just take the bitchings these days and go trim it up. It didn't use to be a big deal, but then we got this new Batt. SGM. Anyways, the SF guys I saw not too long ago had shorter hair than me and either clean shaved or rocked that magnum PI mustache.

[Argyll]

The 70's **** star Tache seems to be doing the rounds again, saw some SF guys here in Basra...

[justagoodolboy]

Since your being paid to learn a language right now you may not know this, but when your team daddy or company SGM tells you to get a haircut you get one, even while deployed.

When the SGM tells me to do anything, it gets done.

[juju]

I've seen people from some French SF units wearing light beards and long hair.
This is intended to blend into the population and avoid being identified as a military guy.

[gafkiwi]

Yeah, Longer hair and a beard may help blend in if your wearing local clothing with all kit concealed,

It doesn't help though if your wearing a chest rig, a mix of high end civi and military clothing, carrying an M-4 with all manor of accessories, the obligatory tan baseball cap and having stepped out of a cut down Hummvee or hilux covered on antennae's and Support weapons.

[Sloppy Joe2]

Yeah, Longer hair and a beard may help blend in if your wearing local clothing with all kit concealed,

It doesn't help though if your wearing a chest rig, a mix of high end civi and military clothing, carrying an M-4 with all manor of accessories, the obligatory tan baseball cap and having stepped out of a cut down Hummvee or hilux covered on antennae's and Support weapons.hell i saw ODA riding around in bongo trucks with AK's, which almost led to some pretty bad EOF moments.


It all depends on how far away from the flag pole you are and how easy going your chain of command is .....say for instance you are at a firebase out in the middle of nowhere and dont have many visitors you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want and nobody will know, but if your close to (or at) a major base ie...BAF, KAF, JAF, BIAP, Ballad or others and you do get a lot of visitors then you pretty much stay clean shaven and do all those army things that nobody thinks is cool or your leadership may find themselves on a bird going back to do some staff time......
Brian, I bet when Triple H was down there everyone had heartache with getting haircuts and doing the uniform thing (Triple H may have been a bit before your time though not sure how long you have been at HAAF).that was the best thing about living on COP's, all we had there was our platoon and know body ****ed with us unless the SCO and CSM were coming with the supply.

it was a **** life, with **** food and housing but i wouldnt have it any other way.

[gafkiwi]

In Timor, prior to the change from the UNTAET to the UNMISET mission soldiers were not required by the UN to be distinguishable by wearing uniform, So we would do village stays and use the village as a Ptl base. The only time we would be in uniform was on Ptl or Sentry. With the large amount of Maori and Pasific Islanders in the NZ army the only thing that set us apart was weapons and the fact we were "slightly" larger than your average Timorese.
It was quite funny when civi UN workers or Civ pol would ask one of the boys where the kiwi soldiers were.

Our head shed were pretty cool about it too, No shaving was required so long as the ptl was cleaned up after the post task admin was done after the patrol got back to the FOB.

[IMTT]

SOF,

Agreed!

arc487,

I would rather never hear the phrase BAF again in this life time, I just went into a cold sweat. We must have been ambushed five times on Disney just going to the PX for ice cream or the Green bean for coffee by a CSM hiding in the bushes to go up in us. Leave the wieght room, better have proper PT gear with reflective belt (I don't care who or what you are), walk on the right side of the road and any number of daily new regs / SOPs. Eggers was a close second. KAF wasn't as bad but close, fewer SGMs unemployed running around looking for work. We started drawing straws on who had to go to KAF just to draw funds. Out of control, but once again if I may; "Roger that Sergeant Major, three bags full" off to the barber shop we go, again today. Dress right dress! Ah, the back rub made it all worth it by the little Russian girls.

Clue; don't leave the FOB to go near the flag pole.

[Beowulf]

SOF,

Agreed!

arc487,

I would rather never hear the phrase BAF again in this life time, I just went into a cold sweat. We must have been ambushed five times on Disney just going to the PX for ice cream or the Green bean for coffee by a CSM hiding in the bushes to go up in us. Leave the wieght room, better have proper PT gear with reflective belt (I don't care who or what you are), walk on the right side of the road and any number of daily new regs / SOPs. Eggers was a close second. KAF wasn't as bad but close, fewer SGMs unemployed running around looking for work. We started drawing straws on who had to go to KAF just to draw funds. Out of control, but once again if I may; "Roger that Sergeant Major, three bags full" off to the barber shop we go, again today. Dress right dress! Ah, the back rub made it all worth it by the little Russian girls.

Clue; don't leave the FOB to go near the flag pole.

woot to relaxed grooming/civvies. Hah.

I liked that imitation pizza place. There were also a lot of hot chicks wandering about unattended as well, and the massages were legit.

BAF was good for about 3 days max then back to the FOB. Anything more than that and you start to lose it.

[ArmyJonHall]

Our head shed were pretty cool about it too, No shaving was required so long as the ptl was cleaned up after the post task admin was done after the patrol got back to the FOB.

You lucky motherf*cker. You don't get that now. Not in Dili, anyway.

[gafkiwi]

Well that was a "different" Timor, some of our boys who done recent tours say there are more rules and regs than back home.

Talking with mates who have worked in BAF say its a whole other world, People throwing salutes around, dress nazis hiding all over the place, better vacilities than we have at home, and all food deep fried. Luckily people don't seem to mind a few bloody Kiwis comming in, in banged up hilux's, Asking to have a look at that flash weapon or vehicle that you have and the disapearing having loaded up the hilux's with anything that wasn't nailed down.

[kongman]

Well that was a "different" Timor, some of our boys who done recent tours say there are more rules and regs than back home.

Talking with mates who have worked in BAF say its a whole other world, People throwing salutes around, dress nazis hiding all over the place, better vacilities than we have at home, and all food deep fried. Luckily people don't seem to mind a few bloody Kiwis comming in, in banged up hilux's, Asking to have a look at that flash weapon or vehicle that you have and the disapearing having loaded up the hilux's with anything that wasn't nailed down.


the great scoungers.................

[Cam]

In the Middle East a full beard is a sign of authority and maturity. SF wears their beards to acheive this, and not to seem weak, or not equal to Tribesmen and such that they interact with.

[Royal]

We must have been ambushed five times on Disney just going to the PX for ice cream or the Green bean for coffee by a CSM hiding in the bushes to go up in us. Leave the wieght room, better have proper PT gear with reflective belt (I don't care who or what you are), walk on the right side of the road and any number of daily new regs / SOPs. Eggers was a close second. KAF wasn't as bad but close, fewer SGMs unemployed running around looking for work. We started drawing straws on who had to go to KAF just to draw funds. Out of control, but once again if I may; "Roger that Sergeant Major, three bags full" off to the barber shop we go, again today. Dress right dress! Ah, the back rub made it all worth it by the little Russian girls.

Clue; don't leave the FOB to go near the flag pole.

I always found that the simplest way of dealing with it was to smile at the CSM in question and say "the word you are searching for, Sergeant Major, is Sir" and then wait for the salute. Never found one REMF with the balls to ask me to prove it.

The other option is to ignore them.

[Beowulf]

Imitation pizza???? There is a pizza hut now, which is always packed...there are also some good pizza places in Kabul, the only bad thing is that they put corn on the pizzas...

Everyone loves relaxed grooming standards, but here is what most people dont know, or abide by.....You are only allowed to grow a beard if you can grow a full one. No patchy spots, goatees, or faddish shyt. All beards must be trimmed to one inch length and you and your hair should still present some military standard. Like I said though everyone tries to get away with all this crazy shyte and that is when the Commanders and CSMs get pissed, and try to take those standards away.

There was some pizza place on baf, near the big PX, but it wasn't like normal pizza, hard to describe....

I had some stuff in kandahar that was pretty good, eggs, red sauce and cheese with kebab meat. Surprisingly it didn't make me sick....

[Beowulf]

I always found that the simplest way of dealing with it was to smile at the CSM in question and say "the word you are searching for, Sergeant Major, is Sir" and then wait for the salute. Never found one REMF with the balls to ask me to prove it.

The other option is to ignore them.

Brilliant!

[gafkiwi]

Our guys just stopped wearing rank, firstly people didn't seem to question you if you arn't wearing any, and due to the difference between what rank equivilant between armies it just seemed like a waste of time, unless your a rupert of course.

Mind you kiwis have a less than impressive history with foriegn/Allies senior Officers...

In the western desert during the second world war, General Montgomery was reviewing elements of the 8th armies. As each unit would march past they would salute the general, that was until troops from the kiwi Bde marched past. General montgomery turns to the commander of the Kiwis General Freyberg and says,
"I say, Your men marched past and didn't salute."
Freybergs reply "don't let it worry you Sir, Wave and they'll wave back."

[Hippo]

In the Middle East a full beard is a sign of authority and maturity. SF wears their beards to acheive this, and not to seem weak, or not equal to Tribesmen and such that they interact with.

stay in your lane. It has already been posted

[Gunz76]

Folks, Special doesn't mean any better than anyone else. Special by definition simply means designed for a specific purpose. SOF operators have become so proficient at their skills because they have practiced the basics of combat over and over and oover again so that they can manouver in their sleep. Now that being said (keeping in mind "basic very well") SOF operators fully recognize the need for certain protection in certain situations. They adapt to the situation and dress in accordance to. Due to the nature of their missions they are then in turn given the lea-way to dress or not dress the way they feel they need to, also keeping in mind that these people are highly professional individuals. As for the beards, Really what ever is it really worht debating. They do it, regulars dont and each has their reasons. Respectfully

[Royal]

stay in your lane. It has already been posted

How 'bout you stay in yours?

This is becoming a habit. Are you incapable of learning from your mistakes?

[SOF]

SOF,

Agreed!

arc487,

I would rather never hear the phrase BAF again in this life time, I just went into a cold sweat. We must have been ambushed five times on Disney just going to the PX for ice cream or the Green bean for coffee by a CSM hiding in the bushes to go up in us. Leave the wieght room, better have proper PT gear with reflective belt (I don't care who or what you are), walk on the right side of the road and any number of daily new regs / SOPs. Eggers was a close second. KAF wasn't as bad but close, fewer SGMs unemployed running around looking for work. We started drawing straws on who had to go to KAF just to draw funds. Out of control, but once again if I may; "Roger that Sergeant Major, three bags full" off to the barber shop we go, again today. Dress right dress! Ah, the back rub made it all worth it by the little Russian girls.

Clue; don't leave the FOB to go near the flag pole.



Believe me, to many MP in KAF. F***ing rules and regulations, speed limits.... Best place to stay now is LAGHMAN or SWEENEY. Most of KAF "citiziens" forgot that they are at war... And no "special forces way" anymore.
One constant thing is same faces in the mess and BX rofl

[IMTT]

I'm laughing out loud right now. Amen!

[James]

The 70's **** star Tache seems to be doing the rounds again, saw some SF guys here in Basra...

I like to think that I helped start that trend. Unfortunately I have to shave when I'm home... :roll: But when I'm on a trip? Glory.

[Argyll]

I can relate to that James, I go from goatee, to full, to **** Tache usually in one rotation !!

[muttbutt]

I can relate to that James, I go from goatee, to full, to **** Tache usually in one rotation !!
We've all seen the pant's bulge:oops:...........ever thought of it as a career?

[gafkiwi]

I had to grow a **** Tache earlier this year (against my own will), and every time I looked in the mirror I wanted to throw up. Some guys can pull it off I unfortunately can not.

Yeah, Had the same thing. We did a month long exercise last year and someone had the bright idear all the NCOs and the boss should all grow one, Its was a bit of a laugh with some of the results, Mind you it didnt look to good during the urban phase with all these "Tached Up" guys having to operate around and talk with civi's looking like guys out of a police line up. It lasted approx 5 min after gettin home, the wife couldn't even look at me till it was gone. (that after being away for a month)

[Argyll]

I'm usually clean shaven when at home, but when here in Iraq, I chop and change like a pair of sox, the current contract says clean shaven, or full beards, no designer beards, such as goatees, and I always look at myself, and look at the tache and think, fcuking hell, Freddy Mercury's alive!

Funny how I went through my Military career with a tache, but don't really like them now.....I just used to grow the **** star ones to piss the folks off back home!!

[James]

...and I always look at myself, and look at the tache and think, fcuking hell, Freddy Mercury's alive!

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3584/freddyrl3.jpg

That's what I'm talking about. p-)

[IMTT]

Funniest thread yet...tooo funny!