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Osama’s nightmare has come true In British military vernacular they are called ‘bumpy jumpers’, but they are a sight more chilling to the very hearts of Islamic fundamentalist extremists than an approaching squadron of B-52s wheeling in for an attack run.
Women without veils…
Good looking blonde women without veils…
Good looking blonde women without veils with guns!
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Right then, I am off to Iraq so that I can get arrested if that is what military police look like these days!
Mmmm. Yummy.
This said, there have been problems recently (at least in the US) with women not having to meet the same standards (usually physical) as men in the armed forces. This strikes me as bad for morale, and detracts from the achievements of True Bad Ass Bitches like Major Pavilchenko, et. al.
Looks like the army is taking recruiting advice from the cable news networks…
What exactly do these soldiers do? I thought at first they were paras (or airborne, whatever), but the berets look a bit too light a shade of red for that. Their basque headwear that is closer to fire-engine red than maroon, or at least it appears that way on my monitor.
Oh, and just one more thing (while doing best Peter Falk impersonation)…
Has there been any word yet on how the SA-80 (seen in the gorgeous hands of the Queen’s finest) has performed in Iraq under battlefield conditions? I know the rifle has a reputation for common misfires and jams, apparently due to poor quality control and unresolved problems inherent in bullpub designs.
I remember reading that the UK MOD spent tens of million of pounds to remanufacture parts to the entire inventory of rifles (apparently, the work was contracted out to Heckler and Koch. If there’s anyone who can make a fine firearm, it would be the Krauts). I was wondering if the investment had paid off or not?
Gregory Litchfield: They are ‘red caps’… which is to say, Military Police, hence the bright red berets. The para beret is maroon and looks quite different.
I have read a few remarks about the SA-80 suggesting that whilst it may never be a beloved weapon, the latest iteration is a considerable improvement. After all, the M-16 had a pretty horrendous early history as well but was eventually working into a fairly decent weapon.
From what I have read so far, the three real successes in the British arsenal in Iraq however seem to have been the Fabrique National Minimi LMG, the AS90 SP gun and the Challenger 2 MBT (The Warrior also did very well but experience in Bosnia had already proved that vehicle)
T. J. Madison: I disagree. I regard this as pretty much the perfect role for women in the military, particularly in an internal security role like that confronting the allies in Iraq now. Many situations require female soldiers, for example searching female civilians.
Clarification: Each MOS should have an objective qualifying standard. If being an MP requires being able to do X, Y, and Z within parameters L and M, and these women meet these requirements, all is well. They should clearly get to work Restoring Order(TM).
In the US military, however, there are often two sets of standards based on gender, for political quota purposes. This means either the standards for men are too high, or (more dangerously) the standards for women are too low. This pisses people off and may get people killed (other than the enemy).
Clearly some women are cut out for combat arms. I suspect Pfc. Lynch, having “seen the elephant”, will be ready for some more killin’ after she gets out of the body shop.
Yeah, I read stuff a day or two ago saying the Challanger proved tougher than anyone expected. The only one knocked out in combat was killed by another Challanger in a blue-blue screw up, but several of them took a multiple lickin’ from RPGs and AT missiles but kept on tickin’ regardless. The same article said that compared to the Challengers, the Abrams surprised a few folks by being not quite so tough when they took non-frontal hits but both were pretty much unkillable head on. However both our tanks and the brit tanks made road kill out of all the Iraqi tanks they came up against.
But damn, those women are fine!
Those Iraqi tanks were old and outdated Russian models. The real test for the Challenger and Abrahms will be against the T-8x and T-9x models.
http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/linktrack/t-90-links.htm
The M-16 is still a crappy weapon. It doesn’t jam as often but it still and never will have the needed stopping power.
Any tank is quite vulnerable (with the right kind of weapon) from a non frontal angle.
Does anybody know about the type of armor the Challenger II has? Is it just an improved version of ‘Chobham’ or a new secret recipe you Brits cooked up?
In the US Army, many women officers chose the MP route because it’s the closest they can get to infantry.
One of the top graduates ever from the sniper’s school is a woman …
MPs are okay, but F-16 pilots have more fun
toddk: I know that the Challenger 2 fleet received armour upgrades and survivablity tweaks within the last couple years and pretty much all the pictures of Challenger 2 or Warrior IFVs I saw from Iraq showed them with applique armour packages. I am a bit behind the curve on the latest protection technologies so I do not know what they actually consist of, but like Tyranosaurus Erectus (now is THAT a handle or what?) I also read an account saying a Warrior took multiple RPG hits as they shot their way out of an ambush near Basra, without any penetrating. I also heard a claim that a Challenger took an AT missile hit but suffered only surface damage. Maalox moments I am sure but at least not fatal 🙂
Good looking blonde women without veils with guns who know how to use them and will blow your head off if you give ’em any trouble.
They might be formidible if they dumped those SA80s.
So if any of the fine young ladies pictured is happens to be reading this (specifically the rather attractive one on the right) and happens to be by the Bay Area anytime soon I’d love to buy you a drink.
(That should tell you volumes about the guy/girl ratio here in Silicon Valley that I’m looking as far afield as Iraq to get a date.)
In all seriousness though, I’ve heard from friends with firsthand knowledge (Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children) of the M240G (aka the FN MiniMG) that it’s a beautiful weapon. As far as I know the Corps has been using for a few years now, and it’s organic to the fireteam level.
I could be mistaken though.
-E2
E2: yes, you are in fact mistaken… the M240G is indeed the US (USMC) version of a Fabrique National weapon, but it is the FN MAG (what the Brits call the L7A2 GMPG), which is a 7.62mm NATO machinegun. The US version of the FN Minimi (a 5.56mm Squad Machinegun) is the M249.
Perry,
Curious how this picture induced a debate about M249, etc.
Let’s go back to the main topic: what made you name the post “Osama’s nightmare” ? Osamas do like and enjoy crusader good looking women without burkas. It is only on teir own women that they insist on burkas, maybe with good reasons.
Jacob: these ‘Crusader women’ are in fact wandering around an Islamic country, empowered (yeah I hate that word) and armed… that is Osama’s nigthtmare.
The picture is ‘blonde chicks with guns’, so not surprisingly the comments have been about ‘blonde chicks’… and guns
We have archives here: see my Samizdata article of half a year ago on the SA80.
They look very jolly hockeysticks to me – but I have to say the hockeysticks look pretty powerful.
Oh man. British girls. Fit. Guns. Blonde. Three. Be still my beating heart! <faints>
Let’s not ignore the American cheesecake, fellows!
Chris, I am sure the woman in your link is a fine soldier but couldn’t you have found an example of our armed womanhood who was a bit easier on the eyes?
Ah, charming fresh-faced young women.. MPs eh? No army in the world likes its MPs… Bossy as hell, brutal, and in the worst case scenario, standing somewhere behind the front line ready to shoot you if you waver instead of going over the top to get shot. Still maybe these chicks are OK – shame about their hardware though. “The M-16 is still a crappy weapon. It doesn’t jam as often but it still and never will have the needed stopping power.” somone above wrote – stopping power for what, exactly? Bears? 5.56mm/.223 is a very lethal round with penetration very similar (sometimes superior) to 7.62, lower recoil, etc etc – all the arguments have been gone over a zillion times. But the SA80 is a fundamentally flawed rifle: well assembled, high quality, performs very well on the shooting range but in combat bits don’t work/fall off, because the design is wrong. It’s a political rifle, and the recent retro-improvement was political too – for the huge sums of money, they could have bought twice as many M16-A2s, the rifle of choice of SAS. Can the SA80 now be fired from the left shoulder? I doubt it. What has been the combat experience with it this time round? Looking forward to finding out.