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GZG Special Forces, was Re: [semi OT] Women wargamers

From: laserlight <laserlight@m...>
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1998 11:31:14 -0400
Subject: GZG Special Forces, was Re: [semi OT] Women wargamers

> HERE COMES A DISSERTATION ON THE TYPICAL SOLDIER.....
> 
> This statement Quoted above alludes to the sad trap that what we see
in
the movies is true in real life. Are there any civilian types that don't
believe this? It's amazing how often you hear it. The typical soldier,
even
in special forces, has always been an average looking guy, somewhere
between 5'6" and 5'9" 135lb to 180 lbs, not a Bruce Willis type. That's
purely a figment of Hollywood's imagination. Endurance has always been
the
primary critical physical trait fo a good soldier, not
> brute strength. Size has never helped anyone hump a rucksack 20 miles,
which is the overriding single most improtant thing an infnatryman has
done
since long before the Romans.  If you saw any guy on my Operational
detachment walking down the street on his own, it would not necessarily
occur to you that he is in Special Forces. Nothing would stand out about
any one of them that would strike you as the archetypical Hollywood SF
soldier. I suppose it doesn't help when you get clowns like
> Marcinco writing these complete BS accounts of how all the guys on his
team brench press "500lbs and go into town every night looking for
fights
in order to build small unit cohesion". This type of stuff is pure
fantasy.
Staright out of Sgt Rock-type comics.
> 
> In all the time I've been in neither	myself nor anyone else I know
has
ever been able to look at a guy getting ready to go through Special
Forces
Selection and say: That dude is definately goingh to make it based on
appearance. Sure the Bruce Willis, Schwartzenegger types think they
will,
but it often is not so. It's easy to point of people that definately
won't
make it. Most of your cocky types, most of your pudgy types, any one
who's
out of shape, poeple that like to draw attention to
> themselves. But I've never been able to view a "perfect looking"
soldier
type and say, this guy is definaetly gonna make it and be 100% sure.
Some
of the most toughest surest, looking guys crap out, while walter middy
who
kept his mouth shut, didn't get hurt, and did what he needed to help
himself and his team get through.
> 
A number of my friends are SEALs.  If you see them swimming or climbing
walls, it's pretty clear that they're in better shape than an average
desk
pilot like myself; however, it's not so much that it would show while
they're in street clothes.  They're mostly average looking guys, mild
mannered, who happen to have a job they can't talk a lot about.  The one
characteristic they do seem to have is extraordinarily high
determination
to set and accomplish their goals.

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