Thursday, May 12, 2011

Stupidity is a universal language.

First, make sure your drop-thigh rig is worn waaayyy low on your leg so that everyone can tell that you're a poser who's never had to run in that ridiculous piece of gear, and then, just in case anybody is still wondering if you're an idiot...



Words fail me.

And just what is the point of this particular evolution, anyway? To prove that it's a good thing your allergies didn't act up while your buddy was demonstrating how much he trusted you?

98 comments:

MyGunCulture said...

Maybe in the next video they will try on each others suicide vests?

nbc said...

I wave my arm about in short sharp jerky motions and the weapon is cocked.

Can't wait to see that at the range...

Loffle

Tam said...

MyGunCulture,

They're just a couple of Turkish gun nuts with a bad case of the tacticool and a worse case of the dumb.

The title of the video translates to "confidence fever". Apparently some Turkish army O-3 got in deep merde recently when a video of his unit playing these kind of games on the range to "develop confidence and trust" got leaked.

Bob S. said...

I spent a little time in Turkey as a kid.

I think that at one point he says no more than 3 stunt doubles were hurt in the making of this video.

Explains why they are wearing the balaclavas.

Anonymous said...

love the inertial slide rack - that's gonna be hella useful - got to go practice... wait - does it require a threaded barrel? :(

North said...

I thought that they were Russian and I was going to say "Just say Nyet".

In Turkish my attempt at humor isn't as much of a delight.

North said...

Oh and a real tough Turk would stand behind the sign.

Anonymous said...

I figured he got the job after he saved the mayor son from being raped at the souk.

A real Turk would have been chain smoking the whole time.

Gerry

Art said...

This level of stupid usually has empty beer cans balanced atop o' noggins, don't it?

Ambulance Driver said...

Muzzled the cameraman too, at one point.

Friggin' idiots.

MyGunCulture said...

Yeah I get they are Turks. Vests, or maybe a good old-fashioned game of "hand grenade toss" just seemed like a next logical step. We used to do water balloon tosses when we were kids, but only because we weren't nearly as manly as these guys.

Sorry, have to run, I need to go order myself a thigh-rig to fit my new Desert Eagle.

Shrimp said...

After he swept the cameraman with the muzzle, I think he said, "It's okay, it's not loaded."

Either that, or "Watch this, I saw this in a cartoon once."

Well, they aren't so stupid as to forget to cover their faces, so maybe there's hope for them after all. I place their collective IQ as somewhere between a houseplant and squirrel. I realize that's an insult to both houseplants and squirrels, but I don't care.

Anonymous said...

Numnuts.

Boat Guy said...

I've seen this done by a couple of foreign "Special Forces" units and it does seem to have originated with the Turks.
That said, I've also seen it done once that I thought was applicable; in a course for folks who were actually gonna be on our own (or with one other person) in some bad places, one of our number (a VERY conventionally-trained guy) was just not gettin the idea. He was still very much in "ready on the right..." decock after every round mode.
Finally the Instructor walked between two of the targets and said "What you have to be ABLE TO DO is 'shoot the bad guy' (pointing to the target) and 'save the good guy' (pointing to himself), you have to be able to do this for real - so do it".
It's the only time I have every seen "Gestalt" occur before my eyes. I was shocked that the Instructor did this - but it DID work; this guy dialed right in, engaged the target (without "engaging" the instructor) and got the no-kidding training he needed out of the course after that.

Mike S said...

Y'ever been in a Turkish prison?

Weer'd Beard said...

Mike S wins the internet!

staghounds said...

Mike S does!

Also proves a bee didn't fly into his ear or eye during that final trigger press.

I like the sound of the ricochet after #2.

Bubblehead Les. said...

So the Village People are doing a Reunion Tour? "Macho, Macho Man. I want to be a Macho Man!"

Vlad said...

One handed slide racks have been done before even in matches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8475ocNvzw

Of course your springs have to be pretty damn light or your upper body strength be some what above average

Tam said...

Vlad,
The point being, of all the ways to get a round into the chamber, that's pretty much the least reliable one I can think of.

og said...

As Python is the rosetta stone of the geek, stupid is the rosetta stone of the mall ninja.

Vlad said...

Oh I agree, and probably it is also a very good way to pull some muscles, ligaments, are other useful bits. I wasn't endorsing the practice.

North said...

Og:

from tactical import brave

reload(pistol)

range(target, round, Turk)

ExurbanKevin said...

Handy Gun Safety Tip:

If you're watching a video where people are wearing balaclavas whilst giving firearms instruction, DON'T DO ANYTHING THEY DO. Ever.

MonteG said...

When did James Yeager start doing videos in Turkish?

Unknown said...

You didn't get the memo? After the Elite Team Fighters got kicked off the YouTubes, they started mobile training teams to get foreign operators up to speed. Word on the streets is they even got noted gunfighter extrordinaire Matthew Temkin to help make the elites even more elite!

Such talent!

Jenny said...

I remember seeing scads of pictures and films of professional entertainers doing this sort of thing over here - when did more mainstream Americans stop seeing "hold the target" sort of games as a blatant safety hazard instead of oohing and aahing at it?

Or has it always been usually seen as idiocy?

Tam said...

Safety in general is a fairly modern invention, and can definitely be taken to extremes.

I am, however, a big believer in simple risk mitigation, and remaining behind the muzzle seems to be a pretty good way of avoiding getting shot that has no real drawbacks. ;)

rand said...

If ya just gotta know what it sounds like to have rounds whizzing overhead and impacting near you, might a suggest a round of volunteering to work the target pits of a CMP Match?

Of course M-1 Garands, '03's and accuraized full stock AR's shooting at bulls eyes from several hundred yards using iron sites isn't tacticool. Sorry, forgot myself.

Outsider said...

@Og

You mean Python as in Monty Python, or Python as language(fun one), or both?

Anonymous said...

In the Peninsular War against Napoleon the British rifle units used to shoot targets being held by their buddies at 200 yards. My bet is that Wellington never held a target in that application.

Or maybe he did, justifying his comment on how his men frightened him.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me.

Anonymous said...

You're right - not wearing safety glasses when shooting is dangerous.

Tam said...

Heh. :)

Stuart the Viking said...

The inertial slide rack is a nice trick if you can pull it off (I sure can't) but I have to agree with Tam, it isn't very useful in the real world and I can't imagine it's incredibly reliable.

s

og said...

monty python is the rosetta stone of geek culture.

Anonymous said...

Oy.
But like Jenny said, you don't have to look to hard to find footage of, well, say Bill Jordan, setting someone else up to be "Second Place Winner"

North said...

Python the language is named after Python the Monty.


WV: Tambitut

Tam said...

...or Charlie Askins commenting that a couple snorts of bourbon settled the nerves right down before a pistol match.

instinct said...

All I can add to this is "The stupid!!!1! It BUUUUURNS!!!"

Seriously, I was expecting them to at some point say "Hey, Rocky,watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"

Anonymous said...

complete loss for words, will be huddled in corner til scary stupid people disappear from screen...

NotClauswitz said...

A nice place to die, on green hills beneath leafy trees...

Anonymous said...

OT: An Indiana court has ruled that one cannot resist and illegal entry of one's home by a cop.

Indiana: Less free than Midevel England.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Well, Bloggers Up, and they wiped most of the comments, I see. And with Cops allowed to raid your place whenever they want to, looks like 1984 has come to Broad Ripple.

Got your Spring Wookie Suit back from the cleaners yet?

Tam said...

Thanks for the legal advice.

You're right. 1984 has come to Broad Ripple, and so this is the end of VFTP.

See ya.

Bye!

loren said...

Cops can also now do a no knock raid whenever they like. Better watch those parking tickets. Never know when SWAT might decide on a little field practice.
A real shame what the country's come to but I suppose after FDR, LBJ and the current asshole anything is possible. Gotta love those for the people democrats.

NotClauswitz said...

It's when Cops decide to go all New Age Trust-Shooting instead of regular qualifications that I begin to worry. If they invite you to a leafy green place, decline.

mariner said...

Stupidity is the universal capital crime: the sentence is death, there is no appeal and execution is carried out automatically and without pity. - Robert A. Heinlein

Sadly Heinlein was mistaken; if he were right leftists would be extinct.

Steve Skubinna said...

Heinlein's error was in discounting the throngs of people, mostly Dems but all Big Government types, who work to insulate people from reality.

Ed Foster said...

I never considered the height of the holster as a factor in mobility. Point well taken.

Of course I never wore anything more dramatic than a G.I web holster with the rawhide tiedown, which was pretty much O.K. for long term wear.

As for the buttheads practicing for the Darwin awards, the only thing I find wrong about it is the bad press for the functional firearms owners.

Anonymous said...

There was a story about a fellow who put a 1911 in an ankle holster.

when he tried to run it made for a tight circle

Old NFO said...

Idjits... plain and simple... sigh...

Kristophr said...

Anonymous: most courts have sided with cops having the power to detain, arrest, and enter buildings and homes.

If this is done unlawfully, you are supposed to be able to sue, or at least have the evidence excluded.

You aren't allowed to gun the cop down for B&E.

Yea, special privileges for cops are not in the Constitution ... this exception is a shock to you? It's been in place for more than a century now.

Will Brown said...

In his quasi-biography Immediate Action, Andy McNab mentions that SAS has/had the policy of training to shoot past a teammate in (at least one of) their shoot house practice scenarios. I seem to recall Richard Marcinko saying much the same thing about that portion of Seal Team Six training. What likelihood is there that this video is a demented version of that same training practice?

My silly question for the day; if the gun/holster is securely attached to the thigh, how is running with it any different from running with a field pack? Admittedly it looks silly to wear a holster that way, but if you don't expect to try to draw from either one while moving, is the objection really anything more than to the silly appearance?

Drang said...

The original comments, which I was not able to add to--BTW, I not that you, also, have acquired weird labels--indicated that these idjits are Turks. that would explain, I suppose, the fact that I kept trying to interpret their speech as Korean--the two languages are related, although not as closely as Korean and Hungarian.

We've all seen the photo of the ChiCom pistol range, with the officers blazing away while some poor worker-peasant privates hold the target stands.

I have been given to understand that Brit Royal bodyguards are required to qualify with randomly selected members of the royal family downrange. A trust/confidence building exercise on both ends of that one...
I know that at least one "gun school" here stateside does the same, I wish I could remember who's so as to avoid it.

wv: DOXYLATE. Gonna go stag, I guess...

FxR said...

"Paging Darwin, party of two, Darwin party of two?"

wv: unpottec - that fool is completely unpottec vs. a stray round...

Anonymous said...

You people are still commenting on the idiots in the video. What about this?

Tam said:

"You're right. 1984 has come to Broad Ripple, and so this is the end of VFTP.

See ya.

Bye!"

Has Tam has gone quiet?

Don said...

Yeager's school got some flack for having people downrange awhile back; if you searched "James Yeager unsafe downrange" or the like you could probably find it. These guys are actually worse than my memory of that.

I thought maybe the surprise ending would be Snake Eyes blasting the camera operator instead of Stormshadow when he was shaking his pistol back and forth and pointing it at everyone in sight.

Kristophr said...

westofthewest:

Dunno. May have been just the blogger "upgrade" that silenced everyone.

Or maybe she made the same decision I did, and decided that actually running a blog has become too dangerous or too conducive to unemployment.

Or we are just getting our legs pulled good and hard.

Time will tell, I guess.

Kristophr said...

And I liked this gem from the comments on Ace of Spades on this new insanity:

"Honestly, anyone can understand the Constitution, but it takes a real genius to interpret the 4th Amendment as the opposite of what is clearly stated."

Anonymous said...

I figured that the reason they aare both wearing shoot-me masks is because both are too embarrassed by the video to want their friends knowing who they are.

Anonymous said...

The riflemen in the Peninsular War used to hold targets for each other at a range of 200 yards. No report that Wellington ever held a target for them.

Thanks for all the fish Tam. See you in Galt's Gulch. I bet they have a heck of a range.

Crotalus (Don't Tread on Me) said...

Darwin, party of two? Darwin, party of two--er, one?

rickn8or said...

"Honestly, anyone can understand the Constitution, but it takes a real genius to interpret the 4th Amendment as the opposite of what is clearly stated."

I personally think things started downhill when the Feddle Gummint decided it could start taxing whiskey.
And I think communism started when that same gummint took over handling the mail.

And if you absolutely, positively gotta get shot, isn't it better to be shot by a friend / comrade in arms??

Odysseus said...

I would like to plead for Tam not to give up, the rest of us aren't as eloquent(snarky) as you are.

Ken said...

I'm with rickn8or on this one. Wrong side won the Whiskey Rebellion (and the Bonus March -- least they coulda done was knock Dugout Doug on the head).

Joseph said...

Don't leave, Tam...we need your voice and I need your humor....

Anonymous said...

Tam,
This morning I didn't even know what html was and...I still don't but thanks to you, at least I can spell it now and with all respect
don't you do it!

Ed Foster said...

See ya.

Bye!



Please say that's a late April Fool's joke. Please!

Cormac said...

Tam, your blog has been my first stop every time I hit my browser since I read your first post (it was linked by somebody...) about a guy in MA (I think) who was hauled off to prison and his guns laid out for a photo op.

you said something along the lines of "he has fewer guns in his entire 'arsenal' than I have, say, mausers."

I hope you're not gone too long. Your blog is akin to my morning (early afternoon?) cup of coffee...

Justthisguy said...

Oh no! The same easygoing Tam who deleted my mean-to-cops post at the old High Road?

Say it ain't so!


WV: grapa. Low-proof grappa? Weird. I've just been reading The Godfather, for the first time.

TinCan Assassin said...

Tam, You've got to keep holdimg up the mirror to Medusa. Ridicule is our greatest weapon, you are the most talented in that division!

Anonymous said...

Well, it really doesn't matter if you stay or if you go. EVERYTHING you put on the intertubes is forever so all you can do at this point is hoist the flag and damn the torpedoes.

There is a reason why I use anon and tag inside...

Gmac

PS... I'll really miss your wit and levity. Thnx for all the laffs if you disappear.

Anonymous said...

...thanks...

Justthisguy said...

To Anonymous @7:15pm: I'm already doomed. I have not only commented at Sipsey Street, but have exchanged emails with Edgar Steele. I just hope they don't shoot my aged kitteh when they come for me.

Anonymous said...

You'll see me there and at WRA as well.
Yeah, the deal is going down but I know the score.
I'm about as anon as my IP.

Gmac

wv = cured Yeah, smoked is about the bottom line.

Ed Foster said...

I had a buddy, a fellow gun bug, who decided to off himself after his divorce. I took it seriously, as both his brother and father did the Hemingway thing.

I spent a long week chainsmoking and playing poker, shooting the breeze and peddling some discrete philosophy. Finally he decided to take back his riflebolts and start over.

The crux of it all? I pointed out that he had the right to end his life, but that he would be missed.

O.K., stopping the blog isn't the same as taking the long jump, but the bottom line is still the same. You would be missed.

You've pulled a lot of people together, made a lot of friends. And if 1984 is here, what better way to oppose it than an occasional sound snarking?

They've only won when we all lay down. You have a lot of friends who will miss you, and the ability to make a difference.

You would be missed.

Anonymous said...

Don't leave. The cops are the good guys. Always defended by mods at places like TFL and THR. This will be a tool. Only used against bad people.

Spud said...

Seems that it was the Bush admin. which eliminated the 4th amendment. Just saying...shouldn't have left that little jewel in there for the Dems to abuse....

John Peddie (Toronto) said...

If VFTP ever went dark, it would be like someone stealing my coffee, candy and my grilled T-bone all at once.

Please continue to share your wit and wisdom with your huge group of admirers.

It's huge for a very good reason.

Discobobby said...

What Ed Foster said. That bastard gets the best lines in first.

Besides, in your heart, you'd even miss the bozos eventually.

And you would be missed in turn.

Everyone has the right to walk away when it's their time. It is really now? If so, we'll name a rock or something VFTP somewhere in the Redoubt. :)

wv: ousec. Being careful who you tell where you hurt. (No shit).

Ken said...

Another "hear, hear," for Ed Foster.

perlhaqr said...

Well, I love you and will miss you if you decide to go. Not implying any sort of obligation on your part, of course, but I know my life will be a duller place without the frequent exposure to your cutting wit, dissecting the idiocy of our modern world.

*cough*

I'll just go brush the fur on my wookiiee suit now...

Dave said...

Am I the only person who took that as an off-the-cuff eye-rolling sarcastic comment and not an announcement of retirement?

Jon said...

Damn it Tam, if you stop the signal, you remove one of the primary ways I keep myself sane on my daily bouts of work and life.

Bring it back Miss K, bring it back.

-Jon

Anonymous said...

Tam, Roberta said you don't respond well to argument. Well, would you respond well to whining and anguished begging? Because I'll do it. I'm not proud and I've got all the time in the world...

Pleeeeaase come back and blog for us! Pleeeeeaase!! C'mon aunty Tam, I've been reading this blog since day one and I've never missed a post! It'll suck without you! Where else would I learn about weird sci-fi, Hungarian .32s and auto-fellating goats? Pleeeeease?

MJ

eeky said...

It seems some of y'all may have missed the joke.

rickn8or said...

Miss the joke or not, I feel pretty much the way Ed Foster and others do about Tam shutting off the free ice cream.

atlharp said...

Tam, without a doubt you are the bestest blogger around. Who else can wax poetic on Venezuelan Mausers and snark the great douche-baggery of the era of hope and change. I can understand if you don't wanna do it anymore, but think of the children out there that will be deprived of your expertise in obscure calibers and spotting Enfield copies! Every day you stay away a Unicorn dies.....Oh the humanity!

Bubblehead Les. said...

As I posted at Bobbie's, I said it LOOKS LIKE, not that it HAS HAPPENED! C'mon Tam, now you're taking Legal Advice from ME? I WOULDN'T HIRE ME! Just ask my wife! Dump Blogger for a better system, yes. Watch for Spy Bots from the Antis, of course. Smack down Trolls ASAP, yes indeed. SWAT Team mustering on the Front Yard, well, it's your place and you know what to do. But to shut down the BLOG? The best Legal Way to fight 1984 is to BLOG! So don't shut it down!
After all, the best way to make Enemy of the State, First Class is to keep telling the Emperor and all within "earshot" is that he has No Clothes, right? Bitching over a cold one at the local Brew Pub is nice, but it doesn't put a bug up their butt like telling the Truth.
Now let's hear some Snark, okay?

John said...

Even heroes get tired.

NotClauswitz said...

When Turkazoidal mall Ninjas assert their mall's superiority (they have malls, rilly?) and start glomming the Hot-Dog-On-a-Stick chicks saying "trust me, baby" (as they all do, from Jersey Shore to Acapulco) and the skirts Upstate in the flappy gowns are going down on the 4th Amendment like cheap black-gowned mall hootchie throat jockeys from the Glamour Counter - then 1984 or not the ripeness of the limburger may call for a breath of fresh air.
Take a break.
I just flew in from Hawaii and boy are my arms tired.

Chas S. Clifton said...

"You're right. 1984 has come to Broad Ripple, and so this is the end of VFTP."

It's a stupid court decision. Don't give up because of it.

But if you do give up, at least offer your readers a better explanation.

kishnevi said...

Tam--please come back. I'm in withdrawal. Tremors. DTs. I'm starting to see..zzzombies!

Seriously, if you go, you'll be missed, and not just for the snark (although you produce some of the best snark in the business). I guess the closer we do get to 1984 the more important it is for your and others to keep on speaking up.

Gay_Cynic said...

Tam -

Yours was one of the first blogs I visited, and that I've enjoyed with great consistency along with the writings of LawDog, AmbulanceDriver, and sundry others.

I don't get to read, let alone comment, other blogs nearly as much as I'd like (the curse of being employed, I expect).

Yours, with a few others, I try to follow - both for insight, and for sheer well-executed free-wheeling snark. I routinely find myself, when visiting, reading back however many posts to where I left off...simply because the writing and the incisiveness is that good.

I'm hoping your comment was a mere moment of jest, but if not, please reconsider. You would be greatly missed.

GayCynic

Bruce said...

Without you Tam, the world is a darker and sadder place. Please come back. I keep looking--and looking--and still, no wit and wisdom from the Mistress of Snark. Tears...

Steve Florman said...

I especially liked the way Camo Dude swept the cameraman about four times when he was loading up for his string.

mc said...

Why aren't they "Planking?"

If he mustered the scrote to plank while vanna whiting the board I might laugh.