Posted on 10/22/2005 5:05:47 PM PDT by strategofr
One interesting thing Americans discovered, while training Iraqi troops, is that most Iraqi men tend to be very familiar with firearms, especially the Russian AK-series. The country is cursed with an abundance of rifles and assault guns.
In some regions, these weapons are so common that even boys of 12 or so may have one. One would think that this would make training them relatively easy, but in fact it doesn’t. While Iraqi recruits tend to know a lot about firearms, even to the extent that they can maintain them reasonably well, they don’t know a thing about weapons safety.
Consider the Arab custom of firing their weapons into the air on happy occasions (they are called “joy bullets” in Arabic), often with deadly consequences. When someone is killed or injured by the bullets that, inevitably come back to earth, the injury is shrugged off, or blamed on a handy enemy (Palestinians blame Israelis, some Iraqis blame any armed foreigners in the vicinity, or nearby Iraqis they don't get along with).
Thus, American trainers quickly learned that safety training is very important for Iraqi recruits. Indeed, it was found that gun safety training needed far more emphasis for Iraqi troops than for Americans, who live in a culture of safety. Resistance to safety training by Iraqi recruits is pretty high, at least initially.
But once they understand the purpose, they become surprisingly good students, perhaps because they all know someone who lost a goat or a family member to a bullet that was simply obeying the law of gravity. The presence of Egyptian or Jordanian trainers is particularly helpful in accelerating the process of getting Iraqi recruits to accept firearms safety; as brother Arabs and Moslems. In this case there’s less resistance to an “infidel” notion of being careful while using assault rifles.
But thanks anyway!
Anyone here own a SIG P-220? I've just been granted appropriations from the War Department (my wife) to buy "another" handgun. I'm debateing between a Kimber Warrior and a SIG P-220.
Thoughts?
Can't see a damned thing in there!
--IIRC, it was just that they were used to the technique seen on TV of "point-in-the-general-direction" and squirt off a full clip---
Yeah, that's right. Max trajectory is less than 45 degrees. I dunno what I was thinkin'.
...sufficient to be lethal...
Yup.
Thanks.
Wrong. Unless you factor in tumble as a portion of air resistance...
Another figure I found indicated a handgun bullet would probably come straight down at 159 MPH, about 20% of muzzle velocity.
Not sure what energy figures are on the end of a maximum trajectory flight. I'll post if I find them.
that's right they're totally cursed. they have an abundance of rifles and assault guns but not an equal amount of pistols. i suffer from the same curse, 8 long guns, 4 pistols. i'll break the curse when i get 4 more pistols.
Not likely, no magazine in the weapon .
there might have been one up the spout.
hehhehheh
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