Terrorists in Iraq hold American action figure hostage

[Hayoo]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/iraq_soldier

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050201/capt.ny11802012115.iraq_soldier_ny118.jpg

[Ivan]

Ok Hayoo, lets get a squad together. We got to get our boy back! :D

[Red October]

If you look at the "wall" he's resting back on and then look just right to the flag and just underneath the "gun", you can see the tell tale space of a cinder block. If you then look at where it "connects" to the floor, the outline is dead obvious that its a cinder block.

[Hayoo]

Ok Hayoo, lets get a squad together. We got to get our boy back! :D

:cool: Lock and load. We'll rescue his plastic ass in no time and return him to his collector's edition figure box.

[Biohazzard56]

Silly terrorists dont have piccanty rails on their guns.

[Hayoo]

Silly terrorists dont have piccanty rails on their guns.

:) Well the story goes that they were pointing his own gun at his head. What gaves it away is that you can't see any hands holding the gun properly.

...plus the fact that in the larger picture Reuters posted you could see the hair looked like plastic.

[Biohazzard56]

:) Well the story goes that they were pointing his own gun at his head. What gaves it away is that you can't see any hands holding the gun properly.

...plus the fact that in the larger picture Reuters posted you could see the hair looked like plastic.

You can still see the vertical grip, and they cant hold the grip in the first place. How do you hold a fully loaded M4 with a SOPMOD rail with one hand. You dont.

[Hayoo]

Found the original picture:

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20050202/capt.sge.gwm89.020205000847.photo00.photo.default-380x285.jpg

[Firefly]

Okay, it's "Picatinny". And I can hold an M4 SOPMOD with one hand. Anyone with decent strength can. Especially when your M4 doesn't even have any components from the KRAS on there.

As far as the picture, from an expert standpoint:

One, the M4 pictured is sporting a 15-round magazine. We haven't used 15-round magazines since just after Vietnam. Although one time in Basic, we were using a handful of them just because it was the end of the fiscal year and budgeting constraints meant that we got the leftover old shit.

Two, the BDUs are wrong.

Three, the boots are wrong, unless the dumbass has actually drawn lines on them (and for most soldiers, you're going to get your ass fried by higher-ups for illegal modifications of government property) and placed unauthorized soles on the boots.

Four, the tac-vest is wrong. We don't have gear with that color scheme, unless - again - it's an illegal modification.

Five - only a tactically-stupid retread is going to hold a hostage who's wearing a bulky vest with a lot of pockets that may contain a weapon. And say what you will about our adversarial threats in Iraq, but they are far from stupid.

Six - the uniform has no identifying unit or sleeve features, such as a patch, a flag, a combat patch, Air Force rank, etc. That sterilized-fatigue garbage is Hollywood horseshit, unless you're spec-ops. And no spec-ops guy is going to be taken alive unless he's a fucking sissy, in which case they should have shot the SOB on sight.

Seven - I may be wrong, but I can only see the small picture - his tac-vest looks like there are at least six flashbangs/pyro/grenades hanging off it. A, that shit doesn't happen like that in real life unless you're a n00b rambo wanna-be and B, see number five.

[Biohazzard56]

Okay, it's "Picatinny". And I can hold an M4 SOPMOD with one hand. Anyone with decent strength can. Especially when your M4 doesn't even have any components from the KRAS on there.

I can hold mine in one hand but I mean its unweidly as hell. Much less firing a 5.56mm round. The whole way the scene is setup doesnt make any sense, and isnt it illegal to do a cammo paint job on a rifle that technically isnt even yours?

I know my first post before this didnt make much sense about holding the M4 with one hand.

[Firefly]

Aren't you supposed to be, like, 15?

What's a teenager doing with an actual M4 SOPMOD? And after-market civilian knock-offs don't count.

In answer to your question - there are many spec-ops personnel who paint their weapons systems. The realm of SOCOM falls above and beyond the realm of standard military regs. Painting a weapon to add to your camoflage level isn't outside of their ideals.

You're right, that the scene looked didn't make sense. I'd hold a pistol one handed to indicate impending threat to someone. Not a rifle. I'd hold it two-handed to ensure that my round hit where I wanted. By the way - whoever said it that the figures couldn't hold it two-handed - you're wrong. They can. I have a bunch of action figures who can hold a weapon two-handed and make it look quasi-realistic.

As far as the weapon being unwieldy - again, it's arm strength. A fifteen-round magazine weighs half as much as a 30-rd magazine. An M16 weighs eight pounds *with the magazine*. And an empty M4 weighs, on average, like five pounds. An M4 with a fifteen round magazine, minus all the KRAS trappings, is slightly more than six pounds, if I recall.

Sissy. ;)

[Biohazzard56]

I can hold it in one hand but its stupid because for me, I cant get sight picture like that. The M4 I have isnt real steel, its Airsoft but it weighs 6 1/2 pounds, because its full metal. The only plastic part is the handguards.

[Hamma]

I can't believe this actually came out as a real story :lol:

[Ivan]

That's the media for ya...