Ranger, Big Buck, others who have seen combat, what did you think of Blackhawk Down?

[Frackal]

Ranger you can probably give the best answer. Rangers are an elite army unit but it seemed as though the Rangers potrayed in this movie, at least some of them were kind of "green," but well trained. Is this realistic? Are most rangers really around the age of 18-20? What did you think of the actual situation in Somalia? Who screwed up, or was it not the fault of our guys, just a series of bad events?

 

[lilperronis]

hey bro

my uncle was going to go to somalia but then he retired from the army as a major and he said that is very accurate to the real thing and he said that it was just an series of bad events

 

[The Almighty]

My buddy was there, said the movie was pretty much right on.

 

[jnuts]

I haven't fought on the ground, but I have in the air. Remember those scenes where the guys in the helicopter were relaying to the vehicles when to turn? If you read the book, it goes into much greater detail what happened there. The point being, communication is always an issue, either intra-unit or inter-unit. Air Force, Army, Navy, etc. Comms stability/channel overload is a huge pain in the ass. I've used the most high tech stuff there is and sometimes just plain line of site radio works better. The AF lives over the radio. On a busy strike freq. it's absolutely amazing that you can get a word in edgwise when the the push is on and everybody is pressing towards the targets. When an aircraft starts talking to a guy on the ground, with the intention of delivering ordinance, you not only WANT good comms, you NEED them or you might just royally fuck yourself for the last time.

my 2 cents for now...

-nuts

 

[Frackal]

One interesting thing I noticed is that the actors/soldiers seemed less dramatic and emotional than other movies I've seen. Almost calm and rather than flipping out when someone was shot or for example when that RPG hit the convoy vehicle, they just accepted it and handled the situation...that seemed more realistic than some guy screaming and falling to his knees "noooooooooooooooooooo"

 

[jnuts]

I'll find some audio for you. The pitch/tone in a person's voice over a radio is very telling on their stress/overload level, especially if you've heard their voice during normal conversation. It's a much more antiseptic war 30,000 feet in the air, but it can be just as deadly.

 

[jnuts]

Okay, go to :

http://deltahawks.org/index.htm

Then, click on "LAN & OTHER COMMS"

Then, click on "Other Comms"

Listen to the "Kosovo Radio Comms"

(Interesting story on these radio intercepts at http://groups.google.com/[email protected]&rnum=4)

Though my voice isn't in there, I know they are authentic - I know the voices and callsigns and recognise them all.

 

[CAGED whiteman]

good movie...

while it does sadden me to see how many men we lost when we could have just nuked the place and no one would have cared...my smile always pops back when i think about all the skinnies that died!!!hehehe

 

[3Vandoo]

Look at what I posted on the same thread

 

[Imnotdutch]

Re: good movie...

while it does sadden me to see how many men we lost when we could have just nuked the place and no one would have cared...my smile always pops back when i think about all the skinnies that died!!!hehehe

When you coulda nuked the place and nobody woulda cared...???? Tell me you didn't mean that. If you did mean it, you must have absolutely no idea about the repercussions of just nuking a place that apparently nobody cares about.