I think that goes for most vets. The more combat experience, the less they tend to open up about those experiences.
LOL! This thread reminded me of the former sniper who worked the Walmart counter in Missouri who didn't know anything about hunting because he wasn't interested in hunting anything that couldn't shoot back anymore.
Your just jealous cause you played with tubes...Just like a gun bunny, always trying to compensate for something.
Much respect for the boys in the Battleships...Marine snipers, boot throwers, wrist rockets, Abraham 120mm toys, pocket mortars and M270's.....
All toys.
One of grandpa's lobbed a 16 inch shell from a battleship (South Dakota I think) 20 miles inland on targets as small as a dining room table. All while rocking and rolling.
A fairly easy way to tell a Combat Vet from a "Combat Vet" is the Fobbits always have the best stories. While the guys who were out in the suck can tell you where every place to get a Drink was at...As long as the stories are REAL, I will shake the hand of the man who has been in combat, but pity the fool I shun for trying to embellish his life with false valor.
I was never in the Corps but they hired me and paid me millions as a guest sniper because I was so awesome. I once hit a guy at 1500 meters with a .22 derringer because my rifle got too hot from shooting the first 456 guys. The .22 was just sitting there with nowhere to go so I figured what the heck?!
Yup...Just for the record, LOTS of veterans lose the desire to hunt. That's a very common response to having been in combat.
So... you guys gonna bring this stuff to the next INGO NFA Day, or what? I can't bring any ammo, but I'd kick in a couple of bucks...Abrams are toys....
Now my M270 Launcher, now that is what is manly...
Your 120 is nice but I could smash a square kilometer in a minute or less....
Same applies for:
SEALs
Special Forces (Delta of course)
LRRPs
Marine Recon
etc
Ran into a former "LRRP" the other day who was trying to tell me that SF/ Delta guys use hockey helmets. I said Really? He went on how well connected he was etc. After about 5 min told him that the almost 3 years I was in Iraq all I saw them wearing, as far as out of the ordinary, were things like the Crye "Airframe helmets. He got up and left. It was the best fun I've had at Christmas for a while
Bob
One M28 Training Rocket (The conventional munitions are replaced by smoke in these) costs upwards of $25K...So... you guys gonna bring this stuff to the next INGO NFA Day, or what? I can't bring any ammo, but I'd kick in a couple of bucks...
You right, you are not a Sniper. You are A Rifleman! Be proud of that fact. It is what Made America...I can hit a liter pop bottle at 500 yds. but that does not make me a "Sniper"....Just an average shot with a very nice rifle.
Ex-military isn't hard to spot, they're always built a certain way, and don't share stories easily. Every soldier I've known has always quit wearing camos once they left the service, or were on leave. Even National Guard.
I worked with a guy who claimed to be Special Forces, even had a military ID with "void" stamped on it. Supposedly was "on base when the twin towers were hit, and him and some ex-Spetnaz SpecOps were wanting to go "off the reservation" and wipe out Saddam, but President Bush called the General and told them to stand down. They were in the cafeteria making flags and eagles out of C4....". He spent a lot of time making ghillie suits from burlap bags, and playing with random knives.
He had this great story about being lead driver in a military convoy, and a local cop stopped them, throwing a fit about them slowing traffic. About 15 minutes passed and a Apache showed up, and P.A.'d the cop to move. The cop pulled his sidearm on the chopper, and the pilot cut his patrol car in half with gunfire. The cop was placed under military arrest, and marched back to his station on foot.....since his car was split in twain. Didn't make a lot of sense, but was still funny, and he was so sincere with the telling of it.
On the other side......
My paternal grand-dad was in WW1, never talked about it. Still would randomly wake up screaming until the day he died. My last memory of him was him and my Dad skinning a squirrel, and my Mom hustling me away before I got "scarred for life". He snuck me a piece of cooked squirrel later, wasn't too bad. Mom threw a fit when she found out what I was eating, though. Everybody was warned about making loud noises around him, on threat of whipping.
Uncle Charlie was in the Navy, he got the last part of WW2, would tell us kids about seeing Europe by train.
Got a nephew who served in the second Iraq war, still in the Marines working on choppers.
None of them talked about actual action, and rarely non-combat action. I wish all of them could sleep well at night.
Ex-military isn't hard to spot, they're always built a certain way, and don't share stories easily. Every soldier I've known has always quit wearing camos once they left the service, or were on leave. Even National Guard.
I worked with a guy who claimed to be Special Forces, even had a military ID with "void" stamped on it. Supposedly was "on base when the twin towers were hit, and him and some ex-Spetnaz SpecOps were wanting to go "off the reservation" and wipe out Saddam, but President Bush called the General and told them to stand down. They were in the cafeteria making flags and eagles out of C4....". He spent a lot of time making ghillie suits from burlap bags, and playing with random knives.
He had this great story about being lead driver in a military convoy, and a local cop stopped them, throwing a fit about them slowing traffic. About 15 minutes passed and a Apache showed up, and P.A.'d the cop to move. The cop pulled his sidearm on the chopper, and the pilot cut his patrol car in half with gunfire. The cop was placed under military arrest, and marched back to his station on foot.....since his car was split in twain. Didn't make a lot of sense, but was still funny, and he was so sincere with the telling of it.
On the other side......
My paternal grand-dad was in WW1, never talked about it. Still would randomly wake up screaming until the day he died. My last memory of him was him and my Dad skinning a squirrel, and my Mom hustling me away before I got "scarred for life". He snuck me a piece of cooked squirrel later, wasn't too bad. Mom threw a fit when she found out what I was eating, though. Everybody was warned about making loud noises around him, on threat of whipping.
Uncle Charlie was in the Navy, he got the last part of WW2, would tell us kids about seeing Europe by train.
Got a nephew who served in the second Iraq war, still in the Marines working on choppers.
None of them talked about actual action, and rarely non-combat action. I wish all of them could sleep well at night.