Patterico's Pontifications

2/23/2015

Hollywood On Snipers: It All Depends On Whose Ass Is Being Protected

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:52 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Untitled-1
(via The Hollywood Reporter)

–Dana

35 Responses to “Hollywood On Snipers: It All Depends On Whose Ass Is Being Protected”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (86e864) — 2/23/2015 @ 5:52 pm

  2. Heh! LAPD. Hollywood Reporter. Snicker.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/23/2015 @ 5:59 pm

  3. Wow, they won’t even stop to consider that the potential assassin might just be a misguided soul who needs a good job? They’ll just kill them straight off from a safe distance?

    JVW (854318) — 2/23/2015 @ 6:29 pm

  4. Which is why I always maintain the Secret Service is a massive at a cost of $1.5B per annum. If someone wants TFG gone, he’s gone. Seriously, Cankles had a 65 car cavalcade whilst on her day job speaking to losers in Canada. Even The Queen often flies commercial.

    Gazzer (db2fec) — 2/23/2015 @ 6:51 pm

  5. Sniper shooters never get used enough.

    mg (31009b) — 2/23/2015 @ 7:03 pm

  6. Police snipers trying to make an 1800-yard shot? Why? Law enforcement has no reason to take that long of a shot. Different ROE’s between civilian and military.

    Russ from Winterset (19e701) — 2/24/2015 @ 4:57 am

  7. Yeah, that’s pretty much nonsense. The average police SWAT sniper shot is approx 70 yards. Urban venues seldom provide shooting lanes longer than 200.

    SPQR (4764ea) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:14 am

  8. Saw “American Sniper” Sunday night. Still thinking about it.

    My main visceral sensation exiting the theater was pride in my home state, actually.

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/24/2015 @ 11:06 am

  9. Islamic State Raids Three Northeastern Syria Villages; Takes More Than 90 Men, Women, and Children Captive… another random act for the conjoined Psaki-Harf twins…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/24/2015 @ 11:14 am

  10. Beldar (fa637a) — 2/24/2015 @ 11:06 am

    I saw it last night. I was totally unprepared for how ubruptly (IMO) it ended. I was much moved by the film. Yes, pride in my home state, as well.

    Possible (?) spoiler alert.

    I imagine that the scene with the cocked pistol pointed at the wife caused many liberal heads to explode!

    felipe (b5e0f4) — 2/24/2015 @ 11:36 am

  11. 8. Saw “American Sniper” Sunday night. Still thinking about it.

    My main visceral sensation exiting the theater was pride in my home state, actually.
    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/24/2015 @ 11:06 am

    I did adopt your state. And I do share your pride in it. Most people aren’t ever going to meet a SEAL. There are, what, three in Texas? Including Marcus Lutrell?

    How is Texas special in this regard?

    In my small way I had the opportunity to meet SEALs. They come from all over.

    Steve57 (e16ed8) — 2/24/2015 @ 11:58 am

  12. Retired SEALs.

    Steve57 (e16ed8) — 2/24/2015 @ 12:00 pm

  13. Which is why I always maintain the Secret Service is a massive at a cost of $1.5B per annum. If someone wants TFG gone, he’s gone. Seriously, Cankles had a 65 car cavalcade whilst on her day job speaking to losers in Canada. Even The Queen often flies commercial.

    Gazzer (db2fec) — 2/23/2015 @ 6:51 pm

    Hi Gazzer. “Cankles?” Making fun of women for their looks is not cool, and patently offensive. You might consider not doing that.

    carlitos (c24ed5) — 2/24/2015 @ 12:56 pm

  14. I agree, Steve57. In my opinion, Texas is not special for having any SEALS, it is special because of the way Texans show their appreciation for heroes – any heroes, from anywhere.

    felipe (56556d) — 2/24/2015 @ 2:09 pm

  15. MAJOR SPOILER ALERT.

    *****
    *****
    *****

    Steve57: I wasn’t remarking on how many SEALs or special forces or special operators or soldiers or anything else Texas produces. Although Texas has held our own (and then some) overall in producing warriors for this country, from the days of the Texas Republic on, you’re absolutely right that good guys come from all over the country.

    I really was remarking on the rest of the movie, actually, that (in my head) explains why Chris Kyle was the sheepdog he became, especially the scenes early in the movie with him hunting with his dad and in church and on the playground and rodeo riding; secondarily, on the closing scenes in the credits, RL shots from Kyle’s funeral procession.

    All of that struck me as absolutely authentic, and unlike the combat scenes, I have a basis to judge that authenticity, so it touched me very powerfully and connected with my own memories and experience.

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:26 pm

  16. And by the way, Chris Kyle’s murderer was convicted a few moments ago.

    Beldar (fa637a) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:29 pm

  17. there is a little justice in the world, that Hollywood Reporter piece on the other thread, which described how Eastwood saw it as a modern day Western, was on point,

    narciso (ee1f88) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:45 pm

  18. being the handmaiden for Saudi businessman and Russian oligarch is somewhat more offensive, abandoning men in the Libyan desert, which is now thick with ISIS’s prey, is a little more on point,

    narciso (ee1f88) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:49 pm

  19. Thanks for clearing that up for me, Beldar.

    Texas does hold its own when it comes to producing warriors.

    In my experience, though, for what its worth Kali actually produces more SEALs.

    Surfers.

    Steve57 (e16ed8) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:52 pm

  20. this fellow, comes to mind, sort of the real life Mitch Rapp,* Syracuse U grad.

    http://caaspeakers.com/rorke-denver/

    narciso (ee1f88) — 2/24/2015 @ 7:56 pm

  21. The most BS book and movie ever was “The Dirty Dozen”. Commando types are not crazies. They’re guys like Kyle who grew up with guns and learned to use them according to the rules. Country boys mostly, because that’s where you mostly find that upbringing.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:03 pm

  22. marvin’s character was OSS, but apparently it was inspired loosely on these events,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filthy_Thirteen

    years later, the author E.M, Nathanson, would collaborate with another OSS man, Aaron Bank who is the father of the Green Beret

    narciso (ee1f88) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:11 pm

  23. SEALs are different. Most of the Recon Marines I met were country boys. But not the SEALs. Many of them, most of the ones I met, were city boys who practically grew up on the water.

    Obviously Chris Kyle and Marcus Luttrell didn’t fit the pattern.

    Steve57 (e16ed8) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:14 pm

  24. 21. …Commando types are not crazies…

    nk (dbc370) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:03 pm

    Nutjobs don’t make the cut. By design.

    You might make it through BUD/S with some sort of defect. But that’s why SEALs have a six month probationary period.

    The one Green Beret I knew said it worked pretty much the same way in the Army. You might meet all the listed standards. You could be an absolute animal when it comes to athletic ability. But if the guys who someday might have to go into the field with you have a bad feeling about you then you won’t make the team.

    They will make you quit. Unless they think that would take too much time, then they’ll just kick you out.

    Steve57 (f800ed) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:42 pm

  25. And I’m sure you know that it was your paisanos who were the first frogmen. One guy in particular, whose name I can’t remember, who went around sticking limpet mines on British ships. One more Italian contribution, although nothing will beat ice cream.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:43 pm

  26. Luigi Durand De La Penne.

    Steve57 (f800ed) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:48 pm

  27. they were from this outfit,

    http://www.regiamarina.net/detail_text.asp?nid=26&lid=1

    narciso (ee1f88) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:52 pm

  28. La Decima Flotiglia Mas.

    The skipper of the HMS Valiant, CAPT Morgan, actually recommended De La Penne for an award for sinking his own ship in Alexandria! That’s how impressed he was with De La Penne’s gallantry.

    The RN refused to grant the request. They thought, no doubt correctly, that it would set a bad precedent to hand out medals to Italians who sank British warships what with there being a war on and all.

    After Italy switched sides the King of Italy presented De La Penne with their equivalent of the Medal of Honor. CAPT Morgan was De La Penne’s guest.

    Steve57 (f800ed) — 2/24/2015 @ 8:56 pm

  29. The Italians actually fielded some good units. The Tenth Light Flotilla being just one of them. The Germans actually asked them to train their own naval commandos.

    The Italian Air Force torpedo bomber pilots had a reputation for flying their three-engined bombers like fighters.

    But perhaps the best was the Parachute Division Folgore.

    http://www.comandosupremo.com/italian-folgore-at-el-alamein-unbreakable.html

    They regularly humiliated British commanders. Who refused to admit they had been beaten by Italians. But in reality this was undoubtedly the best Axis unit at El Alamein. The Italians got a bad rap because when the Germans called it quits and bugged out, they took all the supplies and transport with them. Most of the Italians then lost heart and surrendered, because they were stuck.

    But the soldiers of the Folgore fought to the last round of ammo. The British general who accepted their surrender had to grant them Honore Del Armi, the honor of arms, as they refused to give up their weapons. He said they were the bravest soldiers he had ever seen.

    Steve57 (f800ed) — 2/24/2015 @ 9:43 pm

  30. Most Italian units lived down to their reputation, though. Most militaries are like that. A few elite units, and then a lot of guys who just don’t want to be there. I had a friend from Milan who was well into his twenties before he even saw an Italian flag. That was at the World Cup.

    They just don’t do the patriotism thing. They think its ridiculous.

    Steve57 (f800ed) — 2/24/2015 @ 9:46 pm

  31. I agree. A lot of jokes are made about the Italians in WWII, but their shortcomings can be laid squarely on two things, in my view: Officers were appointed not for their competence but for their political loyalty to Mussolini; and Mussolini used conscription in place of prisons and workcamps for his dissenters, criminals, and shiftless. Diluting his armed forces from the top and from the bottom. Too many soldiers didn’t want to fight, and too many officers didn’t know how. Maybe not the majority but enough to drag down the rest.

    And then they had the misfortune to face the Greeks on land and the British at sea. 😉

    nk (dbc370) — 2/24/2015 @ 9:51 pm

  32. The thought of facing the British at sea made the Italian Navy sweat bullets. Italian sailors nicknamed their navy the “cardboard fleet.” They expected the RN to go through them like a hot knife through butter. And they weren’t wrong.

    But then the Tenth Light Flotilla demonstrated they could put together very capable fighting units. The best Italian troops are among the best. It’s just that there aren’t a lot of them. But their alpine troops, the Alpini, the Bersaglieri, the Folgore, the Italian Marines (San Marco brigade) are outstanding.

    The Carabinieri are also an elite force, but they’re hard to characterize. Essentially they’re a national police force that also forms a front-line element of the army (as well as specialized rear area units). But they’re an independent service.

    They impressed the US Army in Iraq. So much so that there were (and still are for all I know) serious ideas about forming an Army organization modeled on the Carabinieri.

    Steve57 (f800ed) — 2/24/2015 @ 10:22 pm

  33. This just in: Michael Moore wets his pants. Film at 11…”

    IGotBupkis, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." (225d0d) — 2/24/2015 @ 10:39 pm

  34. I agree. A lot of jokes are made about the Italians in WWII

    They lost to Ethiopia in WWII.
    The jokes are well-deserved. 😀

    IGotBupkis, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." (225d0d) — 2/24/2015 @ 10:41 pm

  35. Err, no, IGB. They lost to the Greeks and the British.

    nk (dbc370) — 2/24/2015 @ 10:52 pm


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