View From The Porch: It's a strange world...

Saturday, October 03, 2009

It's a strange world...

...and it keeps getting stranger every time I check.

Can someone explain to me why the Maximum Leader of Guinea is wearing what appears to be a Jerry fallschirmjäger badge on his red beanie?

24 comments:

Unknown said...: It doesn't have the black, red & gold flag in between the oak wreaths, so it's not a Bundeswehr Fallschirmjaeger badge, but a WWII one. He's also wearing it on a red beanie instead of a maroon one...but it does seem like a case of "that looks cool!" historical surplus syndrome.; 9:00 PM, October 03, 2009
Tam said...: Yeah, but it doesn't have the swastika either (although that would have scored big-time clueless irony points...)

I guess when you're maximum leader, you just get to design uniforms based on what you think looks swoopy.; 9:05 PM, October 03, 2009
Jeffro said...: Because he thinks it matches his Official Team America World Police Extra Kewl Intimidator Shades?; 9:12 PM, October 03, 2009
Steve - The Firearm Blog said...: The more third world the army ... the
more "cool" the generals need to look.

They also feel the need to have about the same generals:privates ratio as western nations have captains:privates.; 9:13 PM, October 03, 2009
Kristophr said...: Well ... at least he isn't wearing a life jacket or carrying a feather duster.; 10:15 PM, October 03, 2009
TBeck said...: He also has perfect attendance and won a spelling bee!; 10:15 PM, October 03, 2009
mts1 said...: The raspberry beret and Ray Ban Aviators would go quite well with a Members Only jacket and Hammer pants, since it's obvious he's channeling the 80's. Since the photo was cropped to his head, I can only guess that's what he's wearing. Though the collar screams Nehru Jacket.; 10:19 PM, October 03, 2009
Rick R. said...: Marko -- could it be a DDR, rather than BRD, para badge?

The shape is wrong for a WWII badge, and the bird isn't gold. Plus, of course, the missing swastika.; 10:50 PM, October 03, 2009
Ken said...: "The raspberry beret and Ray Ban Aviators would go quite well with a Members Only jacket and Hammer pants, since it's obvious he's channeling the 80's."

Daaaaa duh duh dun--da dun--da dun
Can't blame this
Daaaaa duh duh dun--da dun--da dun
Can't blame this; 11:22 PM, October 03, 2009
Anonymous said...: Even in the third world, pimpin' ain't easy?

Jim; 12:01 AM, October 04, 2009
joewarrant said...: I thought he looked like one of the participants at the gang leaders summit in "The Warriors"...

WV:Zedingoy non-kosher zombies?; 1:19 AM, October 04, 2009
Noah D said...: "Daaaaa duh duh dun--da dun--da dun
Can't blame this"

Halt! Hammerzeit!; 1:50 AM, October 04, 2009
Ed Foster said...: Kristopher wins. The pictures were hilarious. Worse than some I saw from Santo Domingo back in the 60's.

I was still in high school when we had to visit those folks and explain to them the error of their ways, but an NCO I had at Lejeune bought some great pictures off a French photographer who'd been with the locals at the "battle" for the University campus.

Picture, if you will, a 95 pound college girl, who had never touched a firearm in her life, squeezing the trigger on a 98 Mauser for the second time, with the rifle's butt somewhere between her shoulder and elbow. The look on her face said it all.

He also had pictures of the Domincan Republic's tank corp, a single 1930's Renault made out of either cold rolled steel or paper-mache. The Ma Deuce boys didn't even use AP on it, the ball ammo went through both sides.

But I have to get Kristopher's Gangsta pics forwarded to my son, who deals with yobboes like that all day for a living. He'll split a gut. I owe you Sir.; 2:33 AM, October 04, 2009
Anonymous said...: Well, apparently he studied in a German military management school and according to his own words, completed a parachute training course there.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moussa_Dadis_Camara

pun; 4:05 AM, October 04, 2009
Tam said...: Anon 4:05,

Ah-hah.

Unsurprising; up-and-comers get shipped off to school in foreign lands and come home with grandiose ideas, which is how you wind up with a captain from a logistics outfit running the coup.; 7:02 AM, October 04, 2009
T.Stahl said...: Hey Tam, posting at 7am on a Sunday?

Best I could find out about those flag-less emblems is that they are old-style. But from what I remember they are quite popular among the conservative (i.e. gung-ho) Fallis I met over the years.
But to combine one of them with a coral-red Notausschalter (emergency shut-off switch) is *eek*.
Hopefully he'll come across a few German paras. Might be one of the few instances when they could be helpful. ;-); 7:23 AM, October 04, 2009
Robert Langham said...: I thought his emblem was a crossed knife and fork behind a skull..; 7:56 AM, October 04, 2009
Noah D said...: a captain from a logistics outfit running the coup.

Well, what was that about amateurs vs. professionals?; 9:42 AM, October 04, 2009
pistolsmithing contest said...: Good design is good design. I'm still laughing at Hammerzeit.; 11:54 AM, October 04, 2009
tjbbpgobIII said...: Idi Amin (supper daddy) also wore a paratrooper badge. His was from Israel though and was awarded even though he failed to finish. He was scared to jump.; 3:56 PM, October 04, 2009
Mr. Fixit said...: looks like with Michael gone, Jermaine's ready to take the world by storm.

Mr Fixit; 4:20 PM, October 04, 2009
Brian Dale said...: Mussolini and that German guy back then dressed like posers but they actually did real evil. It looks as though that kind of thing still happens.; 2:53 AM, October 05, 2009
Anonymous said...: Need the right look for overthrowing your Third World cesspool in Africa, Asia, South America, or Chicago?

Come on in to Strong Man Warehouse, just down the street from T.J. Maximum Leader.

Shootin' Buddy; 6:39 AM, October 05, 2009
Ian Argent said...: HE just got a StG44 and wants to make sure his hat matches?; 9:32 AM, October 05, 2009