Would you join the territorial army?

[Drago]

I'd be a bit nervous about going now at 43, remarried with a baby.

That said I've kept myself in shape and if my papers came tomorrow and the Chief Constable released me then I'd go. You'd have to be a bit thick not to realise that by joining an armed service you might get to go to war.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

You'd have to be a bit thick not to realise that by joining an armed service you might get to go to war.

Or poor and desperate with few options that offer all the 'perks' that you see in the recruiting ads. There's a good reason why the majorityy of the ordinary soldiers in the army are from the (ex-) industrial areas of the UK, and its much the same reason why African Americans are overrepresented in the US army.

 

[Arch]

You'd have to be a bit thick not to realise that by joining an armed service you might get to go to war.

At the time of Iraq and the start of Afghanistan, I got the feeling a lot of regulars were a bit surprised to find that they actually had to go and risk being shot at. Perhaps now they're a bit more aware of the deal.

But then the other day, we found a booklet in a recycling box, apparently a pamphlet on how to maintain your SA80 assault rifle, and something I have to assume was actually aimed at soldiers. All done in a cartoon style suited to a 10 year old. If that's the quality of the average soldier, then 'a bit thick' might be about right.

 

[Rob3rt]

No way would I join any armed force.

Drago's comments in this thread combined with his general penchant for "violent" comment's on the boards really do inspire concern!

 

[Drago]

Christ, call it the 'SA80' in my regiment and you'd get a dry slap. It's the 'five-five-six'. SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980's) was the name if the MoD minimum spec when the project went out to manufacturers for tender and has never been the name of the actual weapon.

People still come out with that crap about the UK dropping the the .762 because the .556 is more likely to injure than kill, and thus is a greater drain on enemy resources. Bull. It's Simpky a more appropriate round for an assault rifle, and just happened to have been the standard of our NATO allies since the 60's, so there were logistical and cost advantages as well.

 

[Arch]

Christ, call it the 'SA80' in my regiment and you'd get a dry slap. It's the 'five-five-six'. SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980's) was the name if the MoD minimum spec when the project went out to manufacturers for tender and has never been the name of the actual weapon.

People still come out with that crap about the UK dropping the the .762 because the .556 is more likely to injure than kill, and thus is a greater drain on enemy resources. Bull. It's Simpky a more appropriate round for an assault rifle, and just happened to have been the standard of our NATO allies since the 60's, so there were logistical and cost advantages as well.

Well, that's what the pamphlet called it, I'm just reporting...

The point was not what the thing was called, it was the assumed intelligence of the people wielding it!

 

[Drago]

No way would I join any armed force.

Drago's comments in this thread combined with his general penchant for "violent" comment's on the boards really do inspire concern!

Oh yeah, saw Predator 6 times at the cinema! The only reason you live in a free society and can make such comments is because there are men prepared to use violence on your behalf.

Now, I'm off to take sone steroids and ponce around town in a cammy smock for a bit.

 

[Rob3rt]

Okay

 

[Saddle bum]

5.56 is the round for NATO and NW Europe, ie up to 600m.7.62 is being deployed "out there" as the extra range is needed. As for terminal effect, the old 303 was a vicious beast, probably the most effective mass-produced bullet ever. It is down to bullet design and the position of the CofG.

BTW, I'm with Drago.

 

[Rob3rt]

BTW, it is quite the assumption that said people are acting on my behalf, I don't necessarily consider it the case! However, my opinion is mostly informed by the beefcake pro-violence comment's elsewhere (not primarily the military aspect), now given that people with such mindsets (at least as perpetuated by their internet persona's anyway) are licensed to kill and are acting on the "behalf" of us pussies back home, my conclusion to the matter is that this is not really the mindset I would want shooting at someone on "my behalf".

 

[Hover Fly]

...But then the other day, we found a booklet in a recycling box, apparently a pamphlet on how to maintain your SA80 assault rifle, and something I have to assume was actually aimed at soldiers. All done in a cartoon style suited to a 10 year old. If that's the quality of the average soldier, then 'a bit thick' might be about right.

i know the style you mean and frankly it's a bit irritating. That cartoon style is used for all sorts of things including radar and complex missile maintenance done by people who have done the course highly trained personnel, where someone a "bit thick" could easily do thousands of pounds worth of damage.
But I have to admit some of the infantry I had to instruct left me wondering where they got them from, such as a map-reading lesson when someone just couldn't get the point that if to go between two points you had to cross 3 kilometre squares they must be more than 2.5 km apart despite what he measured with a bit oth paper. Oh, hang on, bad example, that was a UOTC cadet..

 

[theclaud]

Christ, call it the 'SA80' in my regiment and you'd get a dry slap. It's the 'five-five-six'. SA80 (Small Arms for the 1980's) was the name if the MoD minimum spec when the project went out to manufacturers for tender and has never been the name of the actual weapon.

People still come out with that crap about the UK dropping the the .762 because the .556 is more likely to injure than kill, and thus is a greater drain on enemy resources. Bull. It's Simpky a more appropriate round for an assault rifle, and just happened to have been the standard of our NATO allies since the 60's, so there were logistical and cost advantages as well.

5.56 is the round for NATO and NW Europe, ie up to 600m.7.62 is being deployed "out there" as the extra range is needed. As for terminal effect, the old 303 was a vicious beast, probably the most effective mass-produced bullet ever. It is down to bullet design and the position of the CofG.

BTW, I'm with Drago.

The creepy firearms nerd forum is thataway>>>>>

Having said that, I have noticed that @Canrider also knows a whole lot of Stuff About Guns and suchlike. I exclude him from the creepy firearms nerd thing on grounds of shameless favouritism.

 

[Saddle bum]

The creepy firearms nerd forum is thataway>>>>>

Having said that, I have noticed that @Canrider also knows a whole lot of Stuff About Guns and suchlike. I exclude him from the creepy firearms nerd thing on grounds of shameless favouritism.

Learn some manners. I happen to be a Professional in that business.

 

[swee'pea99]

5.56 is the round for NATO and NW Europe, ie up to 600m.7.62 is being deployed "out there" as the extra range is needed. As for terminal effect, the old 303 was a vicious beast, probably the most effective mass-produced bullet ever. It is down to bullet design and the position of the CofG.

BTW, I'm with Drago.

Gosh. Imagine our surprise.


"There's a good reason why the majority of the ordinary soldiers in the army are from the (ex-) industrial areas of the UK, and its much the same reason why African Americans are overrepresented in the US army."

As you said in an earlier post, 'twas ever thus.

And it's easily forgotten how today's cheap veneration for the armed services (eg, carrying flags around at the Olympics - WTF does a job description that reads 'killing foreigners' have to do with the Olympic ideal?...but I digress...) is a relatively recent phenomenon. Witness Kipling's 'Tommy':

"I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play."

 

[theclaud]

Learn some manners. I happen to be a Professional in that business.

In the creepy firearms nerd business? Bit rich, the manners thing, given your first post on this thread...