A Little Comedy for you all- "Liberian Marksmanship"

[GregC]

I stumbled across this link while checking out AR15.com, and thought I'd post it up over here for the Army.ca folks to enjoy!

http://www.ehowa.com/features/liberianmarksmanship.shtml

I must say, the blue magazine picture is my favourite, closely followed by the guy wearing a bright orange life jacket in a combat zone.

 

[Lance Wiebe]

The blue mag is hilarious!  It gets my vote.

Nice find, thanks for the link.

 

[Dog]

kinda makes you wonder how manys rounds are fired in order to kill a single enemy.

 

[youravatar]

Love the Nautical Protection <3 haha

 

[Sh0rtbUs]

Taking "battle buddy" to an all new level...

 

[youravatar]

Think he's hit or just lazy?

 

[Sh0rtbUs]

Think he's hit or just lazy?

Neither, he's Clearly whispering sweet nothings into his faithful accomplices ear.

"Joo go gets him! Joo needs a lifejackets mon, but we'll worries bout dat later! Say mon, why you smellin like sexy coconut mon?"

Sorry, i got carried away. no pun intended

 

 

[Zartan]

kinda makes you wonder how manys rounds are fired in order to kill a single enemy.

I've heard a figure that during the Vietname war, there was a ratio of 250 rounds per casualty. I'm guessing that at the battle of Monrovia, probably 2500 to 1... At least here is clear evidence of the effect of rap culture on society. Armies fighting with slinkees coming out of Kalishnikovs, Kalishnikovs that they have just rotated 270 degrees into the popular fighting stance of the region. Gee...

 

[career_radio-checker]

is it rap culture? or just plain stupidity. Now as for the lifejacket... there are militia men in Congo, Siera Leon who wear special ammulets they believe protect them from bullets.  :. My guess (and I am truly just guessing) is that parts of Africa still strongly believe in the importance of warriors and this is why they look so ridiculous to us. It looks like the goal is not to make each shot count but to make each shot look cool.

 

[Dog]

'Cause that definitely looks cool....

 

[Gunner]

Gents,

Just remember that the struggle between Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) was a brutal civil war that went on for years (ending in 2003).  I met with both sides when I was in Sierra Leone and while they weren't soldiers by any stretch of the imagination, don't think they were not hard from months and years of conflict. Don't view African warfare from western eyes.  Often the soldiers on both sides were under the influence of drugs and alcohol and their status within their units was dependent on showing bravery in combat.  This accounts from some of the photos with questionable fire positions...  As well, they would have been acting out for the camera trying to show an aggressive male pose.  As well, rank is bestowed based on how they perform in battle, which is why you can find units made up of a multitude of Colonels, Majors, Captain, Lieutenants and only a couple of soldiers.

The youngest combatant I ran into was 8 years old and he had already earned his AK 47 for bravery.

Cheers,

 

[career_radio-checker]

Gunner
Maybe you can bring some good ol' military experience on an discussion I had with a friend. Bassed on the images we see here and those of militants in Iraq, would you agree the 'military culture' (rank based on bravery, warriors) in Africa and the Middle East is one in the same?

Thought?

 

[Gunner]

Gunner
Maybe you can bring some good ol' military experience on an discussion I had with a friend. Bassed on the images we see here and those of militants in Iraq, would you agree the 'military culture' (rank based on bravery, warriors) in Africa and the Middle East is one in the same?
Thought?

My experience in Africa is mainly in West Africa (Sierra Leone and Liberia).  The Sierra Leone conflict was very particular as it was one of the few conflicts that was never about ethnicity, religion, politics, etc.  Charles Taylor in Liberia with support from Libya influenced (through arms and resources) an alienated group called the Revolutionary United Front(RUF).  The RUF came across the border from Liberia in 1991 and began taking control of the remote countryside.  The elites in Freetown did not consider the rebels a threat until they quickly took control of the lucrative diamond mines in the western areas of Sierra Leone.  The army was dispatched but were incapable of stopping the rebels.  The rebels, a conscript army composed of children, used drugs, alcohol and forced atrocities, to control their army as well as the civilian population.  Without going too far out on a tangent, my point is that the traditional tribal system was not used to "levy" combatants. Although there are two major tribes in the country, neither one was primarily for any of four major players in the conflict.  Many of the combatants within two of the major groups went on to fight in the Liberian conflict.  The Kamajors or local defence forces were formed from traditional hunting societies within a tribe and they went on to support the LURD in Liberia.  The hunting societies are interesting as they used witch doctors to concoct brews to make their warriors impervious to bullets...but only if you believed in the magic.  If you were shot, you didn't believe enough...  Many of the RUF rebels (Sam "Mosquito" Bockarie being the most noteworthy) moved on to fight for their old supporter, Charles Taylor.   

The Liberian conflict was more tribal oriented with the Mandingo (sp?) tribe supporting the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (supported by Guinea).  The other major tribe (name escapes me right now) supported Charles Taylor and another minor tribe supported a second and smaller rebel group that was loosely allied with LURD.   My dealings with these groups was sporadic and each consisted of many different factions.  The irregular forces within each organization seemed to focus on bravery in a tradional warrior sense (the Commander led his soldiers from the front).  On the smaller conflicts he would control the RPG and mass AK 47 fire to provide the "shock and awe" against the enemy morale and dislodge them from their position until their leader could rally the troops (here is where drugs and alcohol come in on both sides).

My read of the Iraq and Afghanistan situation has traditional tribal and ethnicity groupings being used by religion to further power bases.  I didn't feel the same way in West Africa as it didn't seem religion (although important) played as dominant role.  I was amazed at the number of Muslem's in West Africa and for some reason I thought Christianity and animialistic religions would have been much more prominent.  Anyone worried about the Green Horde moving around western society should look at Africa!

Not sure if this answers the question.  Conflict in Western Africa is an incredibly interesting area of study if you are ever looking for a good research topic! 

 

[Michael Dorosh]

In addition to Gunner's repsonses which really need no additional commentary, I will add that most "combat" photos in the past, and probably even today, are staged and truly candid photos from battle areas are rare. 

 

[Zartan]

True enough - I can't honestly imagine (probably) experienced soldiers not being aware that either their own, or their bud's magazine has popped out. Furthermore, don't reporters and cameramen in combat zones usually take some protective equipment with them? There are a few caught in the photos, and one looks like dressed to go fishing. Furthermore, Liberians most be really calm people for many of the photos to be real combat stuff - look at the folks walkin' about all casual in the backgrounds. However, some do look like what I would think would be combat - the "soul train" image looks much more chaotic than any other photos, and what's that black wedge buzzing past the head of the guy in the life preserver?

 

[Forgotten_Hero]

kinda makes you wonder how manys rounds are fired in order to kill a single enemy.

Kind of makes me wonder how much barrels they have handy... and how many barrel's they waste trying to hit someone.

 

[SuperTrooper]

:blotto: