 How do you role play military people?, HOW DO ROLE PLAY!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?! |
  |
 Oct 21 2006, 03:28 AM
Post
#126
|
|
|
Runner  Group: Members Posts: 2,526 Joined: 9-April 06 From: McGuire AFB, NJ Member No.: 8,445  |
Currently a 2E0X1, but trying to crosstrain into a 7S0XX Career field.
SAW's are cool, along with the 50CAL. I'll admit that I've only fired pneumatic training rigs, when I went and trained with a bunch of marines, but they were still cool to handle. I'm in Korea right now, and I get to hear the SP's shoot them off every few months during our exercises. As for the M16, It is pretty accurate if you handle it right, from what I've experienced. Course, my experience is firing around 200 rounds a year for qualification. Being in an electronics maintenance field doesn't allow you to handle weapons that much. :P |
 |
 
|
|
Oct 21 2006, 03:32 AM
Post
#127
|
|||
|
Target Group: Members Posts: 96 Joined: 7-January 05 From: Ultra wideband Member No.: 6,944 |
Don't know about the 240B. I think he did mention that he did not fire the SAW as of yet (although this was stated a week or two ago, so that may be different presently). He did say that he was doing quite nicely with the M-16 though, dispite his dislike of the weapon (I actually find it remarkable that he is doing so well, as he seemed to have a somewhat severe respiratory infection of when I last spoke to him). As to the latter question, I think that the differences in amount (perhaps type) of propellent used in the 7.62 and even the design of the machine gun/weapon would contribute to the noise and (specifically) what kind of noise is made. I am sure that the difference in mass between the two rounds makes a difference as well. Although sound propogation is not my field of study, I guess I would have to say that the differences in the noise made is combination of different things operating in tandem. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 21 2006, 10:19 PM
Post
#128
|
|||
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 130 Joined: 25-February 05 Member No.: 7,119 |
*Raises hand* I haven't checked this thread in a couple of days, but most of what's been said recently has seemed fairly spot on. One point of clarification, while several folks have mentioned that most military personnel have a low Bull*&^ tolerance, what is defined as BS can vary widely based on what their specific job is. For example, I'm in an Air Force fighter squadron, and our definition of BS is quite a bit different from what the Personnel or Communications types would call it. We regard the paperwork they make us follow as crap, they consider our stories as to why we haven't turned XYZ form in on time as similar BS. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 22 2006, 05:17 AM
Post
#129
|
|||
|
Mostly Harmless Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 937 Joined: 26-February 02 From: 44.662,-63.469 Member No.: 176 |
Cyclic rate is adjustable (via gas regulator) on both weapons, from about 750-1000 rpm on the M249 and 750-950 rpm on the M240B. I would assume that the SAW was likely set to the "faster" setting when you heard it. The M60 series is much more distinctive, having a ROF of around 550 rpm. It's just the design of the weapon that makes most of the difference. In addition to nearly twice the mass of powder being consumed at slightly lower pressure, muzzle blast from 7.62x51mm weapons also tends to occupy a lower frequency range than 5.56x45mm weapons, which means you'll tend to feel a bit more "BOOM" from them. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:05 PM
Post
#130
|
|||
|
Target Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 3-October 06 Member No.: 9,527 |
"Good training" - anytime you are doing somethign that is particularly stupid or pointless, especially during combat ops "Thats a technique" = thats a really screwed up way to do it and it will probably kill your whole unit, but hey, its your unit FTA - Screw the army ;) BOHICA - Bend Over. Here It Comes Again Sugar Daddy - A supply sergeant that can get anything any time anywhere and get it to you... now if only I can get an ejection seat for my humvee. Or the NSN for a hot redhead. NSN - National Stock Number, what the supply guys use to order stuff Health and Welfare - an inspection that generally pushes contraband up the chain of command. And causes trouble if its done on a sunday while you are passed out in the aftermath of last nights drinking. TOC Ops - A unit that is in the field and has basically lost all cohesion of its own accord, all sections are widely spread and generally asleep, commanders are nowhere to be found and the most junior soldier is on "radio watch" way far away from everyone to provide warning in case someone shows up. One behavior that should be noted is that the military has its own sense of magnetism. NCOs repel soldiers. WHen I see my 1sg wandering around looking bored I find someplace else to be FAST. Trax - BTW 13D and do I Get to sit in the TOC here in Iraq? screw that... I'm on the roads every day all day here in sunny baghdad. With a 13S that no one likes for a TC. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:14 PM
Post
#131
|
|
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,109 Joined: 16-October 03 From: Raleigh, NC Member No.: 5,729 |
6 Years Active Duty as an 11M (Mechanized Infantry), US Army.
I ETSed as a dismount team leader, though I did a lot of squad leading too. I stayed a dismount the whole time (by the hand of God), but still had to do a lot of bitch-work for the Bradley crews, especially during the tank tables. I never saw any real action because my enlistment time slipped right inbetween both gulf wars, and I was stuck at the scrotum of all Army posts (JRTC @ Fort Polk). On the flip side, OPFOR MOUT stuff was always a blast. Now, for the characteristcs of military life: "Cuss like a soldier" -check "Bond with fellow soldiers" -check "Low tolerance for BS" -check "Work hard, play harder" -check "Civvies just won't understand" -big check |
|
|
|
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:29 PM
Post
#132
|
|
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 7-February 03 Member No.: 4,025 |
Lots of movie directors will make their actors go through abbreviated training to give them a taste of the life before they can play soldiers.
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:33 PM
Post
#133
|
|||||
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,109 Joined: 16-October 03 From: Raleigh, NC Member No.: 5,729 |
LOL...I didn't hear that too much during my time in, but it has brought back fine memories.
I've never heard it put that way, but have seen it in practice MANY times. Most specifically in reference to a 12year E-5 welder/CO driver who got promoted and dropped into a Dismount Squad Leader spot. Yeah...that bad. |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:35 PM
Post
#134
|
|||
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,109 Joined: 16-October 03 From: Raleigh, NC Member No.: 5,729 |
Roger that. The boys in the movie Blackhawk Down had to do just that. Great movie, BTW. Very authentic, even though it was a bit overly dramatized and not 100% accurate in it's portrayls of what exactly happened. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:40 PM
Post
#135
|
|
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,286 Joined: 24-May 05 From: A 10x10 room with an orc and a treasure chest Member No.: 7,409 |
Can't believe I forgot good training use that one all the freaking time. Specially when running round in MOP 4 in 100+ degree heat :(
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 26 2006, 06:45 PM
Post
#136
|
|||
|
Target Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 3-October 06 Member No.: 9,527 |
I forgot one too "FALSE MOTIVATION IS THE ONLY MOTIVATION HOOOOAH!" - used when someone asks you when you are motivated when you are clearly having homicidal thoughts about your "NCO support channel" Z |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 26 2006, 07:44 PM
Post
#137
|
|
|
Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,526 Joined: 9-April 06 From: McGuire AFB, NJ Member No.: 8,445 |
"Punishment shall continue until morale increases!"
"I dont know who screwed up, so you're all lining up for Service dress open ranks at 0600 on Saturday. One team, one fight!" |
|
|
|
|
Oct 26 2006, 08:08 PM
Post
#138
|
|
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,109 Joined: 16-October 03 From: Raleigh, NC Member No.: 5,729 |
"Private, you are about as fucked up as a football bat."
"See that Private trying to disassemble the 240G? He looks like a monkey fucking a football." |
|
|
|
|
Oct 26 2006, 10:08 PM
Post
#139
|
|
|
Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
"private, you are ate up like a soup sandwich. chicken noodle on rye, private."
lessee... most of the really good ones, i heard in basic. there was "high-speed, low-drag" as a descriptor, basically meaning latest and greatest (either seriously or sardonically). drills called privates "heroes" and "individuals"--not a compliment. one particularly memorable drill sergeant was heard to shout things like "the target's that-a-way, chowderhead!" in the hilarious Foghorn Leghorn accent that was his normal speaking voice. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 27 2006, 12:07 AM
Post
#140
|
|||
|
Target Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 3-October 06 Member No.: 9,527 |
My first encounter with a drill was when I jumped off the "cattle wagon" loaded with all my duffle bags. I landed, nearly went to my knees and had this immense being of awesome power over me screaming. Then I stood up. I had maybe 2 feet over this guy, His reaction was "DID I TELL YOU TO STAND UP PRY... GET BACK DOWN HERE!" Yeah... Lessee... good nicknames are fun too 1st Infantry - Big Red One, and it works clean or dirty 1st Armor - Dirty Nacho 3rd ID - Broken TV (their patch is a bunch of diagonal bars on a square) 4th ID - Dirty Diamond (4 Ivy leaves on a diamond) also 4 LTs pointing north and a captain deciding who is right. 1st Cav - The horse they never rode, the river they never crossed and the color they showed the enemy Arty - Drop Shorts Infantry - Crunchies and the one thing you can garantee to hear on the radio when the LT is screaming his head off over something stupid "Keep screaming LT... We'll find you" "You can't spell Lost without LT" (we once got lost between the BIAP Victory Chapel and the III Corps dining facility, which are caddy corner from each other thanks to letting 2 lieutenants lead the way) Z EDIT: its corps... not corpse... |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 27 2006, 12:28 AM
Post
#141
|
|||
|
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
All of this reminded me of one of the better jokes we used to toss around in my old unit.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 29 2006, 03:00 AM
Post
#142
|
|
|
Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,001 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Michigan Member No.: 1,514 |
None of this [Thread] directly translates into how to role play a military based character, however if you're paying attention it does help fill in some holes.
Like Derek my background was the Marine Corps, although I spent my time as an 0311 and as such have a bit of a biased view on things. That said role-playing a character with military experience is like anything else right? You make the pieces fit correctly, and it is just one more aspect of the character. What did your character take from the military? Just the training, and he's the same old John-Boy, except now he has some small proficiency in small arms or some such? Or was it more a life changing experience for him or her? Does he keep his hair short because of habit, or because he or she is situationally aware enough-and fashion secure enough!- all the time to know that long hair provides a good grip? Does he or she have any mementos, old buddies or memories? Remember too that Uncle Sam likes to keep track of his people while they're living on his dime-that could (And should in my opinion.) mean dossier on record-you're blood type, and basic vitals are a part of public record now. Role-playing a character who is currently enlisted, or sworn, is an entirely different ball of wick. Your goal isn't to one hundred percent recreate the military as we know it, because that'd be kind of boring, and well you could just enlist. Instead do some background research, all sorts of recommended reading lists are out there-for instance here is the Commandant of the Marine Corps official reading list (Note some of the names on it: Heinlein, Card, Clausewitz, Clausewitz-it runs the spectrum people.)-and read some. Take the best elements that appeal to you and your group and utilize them. Don't be afraid to be a little sensational, a little Hollywood. So what? If you have fun who cares? |
|
|
|
|
Oct 29 2006, 04:43 AM
Post
#143
|
|
|
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 178 Joined: 4-September 05 Member No.: 7,682 |
0311... damn bullet-sponges. All you jarheads ever did was thumb rides on our boats, use up our limited fresh water supplies.... just kidding. I'm biased too; ex-Navy.
Seriously though, it's hard for a person with no military experience to completely understand the subtle (and not so subtle) ways that the military experience will affect a person. My wife constantly picks on me because of the way I fold the laundry. I prefer 24-hour time to the AM/PM system. I believe that Americans are relatively rude and ignorant... and have enough first-hand experience with non-Americans to have a valid basis of comparison. If you annoy your boss, will you get docked half your pay and be unable to leave the building you work in for a month, work an extra 2 hours a day during that month, and take a pay cut after that month is up? You may call it harsh; we called it 30-30-half-and-down, and it was a quite common thing to see happen. By the same token, I have no real idea what it's like to sit in the desert worrying that my Humvee will hit a mine; I spent my time in the Gulf literally IN the Gulf... hoping we didn't hit a mine. My experiences were totally different from those in the other Armed Forces. Don't forget that even soldiers and sailors are people too. Military people can drink and laugh and party just like a college frat boy. And there are people who love their wives and kids... or someone else's wife. They are subject to all the same quirks and foibles as civilians. Of course, they are more likely to have psychiatric and/or substance abuse issues, but the men and women in uniform see and do things civilians can't imagine under conditions civilians refuse to acknowledge a human would ever be subjected to. My own mother refuses to believe I worked 70 hours one 'day'. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 30 2006, 12:20 AM
Post
#144
|
|
|
Target Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 3-October 06 Member No.: 9,527 |
Hmmm... compared to civilians military people tend to be less tolerant (or at least more vocal) about many things. We are used to complaining (and being ignored) about any kind of "stupid stuff" On the other hand as noted military folks have no problem keepign themselves occupied and a veteran rarely says "I'm bored" like its a bad thing (especially while driving, you should have seen me on leave. I was the guy doing 110 down the center stripe on I-80 east of Des Moines swerving around every piece of debris on the road until the cops pulled up and my ex woke up)
I've noticed a lot of tinkerers, and I've heard its worse in a guard unit. Starting at about company level there should be SOMEONE with every skill in the book and a lot of ones that arent in it. National Guard can probably fit in every skill at about the platoon level (nothing like a contract demolitions guy in a rifle platoon... long arms 3, demo 6 WHAT?) but in a regular unit, skill 1 and 2 for a lot of odds & ends skills, for all the "hobbies" (yes, demolitions is a hobby) Z |
|
|
|
|
Oct 30 2006, 04:33 AM
Post
#145
|
|
|
Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,001 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Michigan Member No.: 1,514 |
Again that is in your personal experience, and doesn't really encapsulate the entirety of the military. Like the real world it takes all types. Not every man in my unit was vocal or outspoken, not all of them were self destructive.
Too many people here are confusing their own experiences with the military as a whole, as it is now-since it, like any of us, changes each day. Even if only a little. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 31 2006, 01:06 PM
Post
#146
|
|
|
Prime Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,577 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Gwynedd Valley PA Member No.: 1,221 |
I haven't but my dad and father in law were. Several friends including my best friend's husband were in .
Mainly what I've caught from their stories, was the boredom and how to pass time. Combat units seem to have more of a problem with that than support units. Support people can usually find somethnig that needs doing but combat troops need more direction from above. Look at the early scenes in Black Hawk Down or Wake Island. Try reading Robert Graves' autobiography Good Bye to All That or Sulzbach's With the German Guns. All of them, spread out from wars in 1914 to the 1990's point out the problems with boredom and the importance of officers keeping an eye on the enlisted men. Look at the bawling out the captain gives to a private in Blackhawk' for potentially disrupting the chain of command. Things like saluting remind men of the leaders. it isn't petty. Both Sulzbach and Graves, on different sides of the same war, write with contempt of officers who have let units degrade to where officers are not saluted by men and it is systematic of the poor mindset of the unit. Graves, seconded to a different regiment has his sense of the superiority of his regiment confirmed. Sulzbach, who is pretty even tempered through his memoirs, expresses contempt for all of Austria in seeing how their army has deteriorated. Band of Brothers has already been brought up but one moment that sticks out is in the last episode when the hated Captain Sobal walks past his former subordinate, now Major Winters. Winters insists on a salute form the man who once made his life hell. "Captain Sobal! We salute the ranks, Not the man." It was military curtsey but he also enjoyed it. Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge shows what happens to a unit that becomes too loose as he is a near retirement age Gunny sent in to sort out the mess that the recon platoon has become 'Their last sgt was just marking time to retirement and as a result...the men are less than...motivated." In his book Arnhem Spearhead, James Sims, wrote of the German POW camps he wass sent to there were a couple of really tough NCO's who bullied men into drill every day. They were hated but the men were afraid of them and too well disciplined to say no. By comparison the Americans in the camp had no spirit and abused any NCO who tried to motivate them. Looking back at how they felt and lived, Sims recognized, and blessed, those NCO's who forced the men along and kept them focused. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 31 2006, 01:44 PM
Post
#147
|
|||
|
Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,008 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
I'm personally amazed that saluting still hasn't been forbidden entirely. At least it's been scrapped in combat zones, but I wonder how easy the habit is to break… ~J |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Oct 31 2006, 01:59 PM
Post
#148
|
|
|
Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
I can't tell you about saluting, itself, but I know I was so in the habit of shouting "AT EASE!" (and standing that way) whenever I saw a Drill Sergeant anywhere near me, when I first got home after Basic I had a hell of a time whenever a county deputy walked into my day job. One Smokey The Bear Hat looks like another, when you get used to just identifying the profile.
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 31 2006, 02:38 PM
Post
#149
|
|
|
ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
It's not a habit that you have to break, really. If you leave the service, you stop saluting. If you're not in uniform, you don't salute. If there aren't any ceremonies going on, and you're not six paces away from an officer in a garrison environment, you don't salute.
Why should saluting be "forbidden"? It's a traditional sign of respect from enlisted and lower ranking officers to higher ranking officers, and a traditional part of certain ceremonies. I guess I don't see where you're coming from. |
|
|
|
|
Oct 31 2006, 02:40 PM
Post
#150
|
|||
|
Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,008 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
Modern warfare techniques have made it inadvisable to announce to the world who the officers and other important individuals are. If it really doesn't become automatic/habitual, I guess there's no reason to scrap it when in safe areas. ~J |
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd January 2025 - 04:43 PM |
Topps, Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. Topps, Inc has granted permission to the Dumpshock Forums to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with the Dumpshock Forums in any official capacity whatsoever.