Machine Gun fire from Military Helicopters over Florida

reply to post by Grimpachi


Thanks for the insight into the mind of the American soldier. I'll watch for a follow up out of Houston.

reply to post by roadgravel


There is just something about firing an M2 with blanks that makes you laugh. It is fun.

You have no idea the pranks we would pull. Have you ever water ballooned apposition from a helicopter. It’s hard but can be done. Try to remember these are mostly kids that would be in college most of them aren’t much older than 19 or 20 hell they can’t even buy beer yet.


I will admit the older we got the more ballsy we would get with pranks. I lost rank once over one

So what happens if during one these "military/police drills" a war vet or very scared civilian opens fire? Not knowing what is really happening or thinking we were being invaded or attacked. What's protocol then? Return fire on a scared or confused citizen? Ill take it a step further, what if that citizen had family and friends and then they retaliate and so forth? The outcome could lead to much bigger things. Perhaps, its all a part of the plan.

reply to post by Gerizo


That is a lot of what ifs. The problem with what ifs is you can come up with millions of scenarios.

To answer shortly If someone fires on the military while they are on maneuvers then the police will handle it because military doesn’t have jurisdiction and they don’t carry around live rounds.

Originally posted by Grimpachi
reply to post by roadgravel

 

I could think of a few reasons to train but they may not be the reasons they are training in that environment. The training wouldn’t have to be for a foreign invasion. Drug cartels, terrorists, come to mind but that is just a couple thoughts.

iI the drug cartels and terrorists are such a threat that the government envisons fighting them with helicopter gunships over major cities, then we are in deeper &*^% than I thought. THAT would be a reason why civilians need AR-15's.

You sure wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that 50 cal., firing from a mile and a half away you wouldn't even know what hit you.
With that flir in doesn't matter day or night, the helll with the tank parked on the corner, it would be death from above.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
It looks as if they were firing over a busy highway at that as well. WTF were these guys thinking?

This is more than enough to distract drivers and cause an accident.

Funny how threatening to shoot someone with a bubble gun makes you a terrorist and this sort of behaviour makes you a hero.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Judging by some of your comments, I get the impression that you think this is funny. Like it is some sort of game when there are major drills being played over interstates and US soldiers terrorize US citizens.

It is not funny. I am starting to wonder actually who's side you would be on when TSHTF.

There are many other things besides 50 cal bullets and military drills that terrorize US citizens that YOU HAVE SWORN AN OATH TO PROTECT.

So quit acting like a big shot, because your human value is worth none more than any of ours. It is not normal for anyone to go and fire a fifty cal from an aircraft over highways even if they are blanks.

Yeah, Im gonna go ahead and edit this some more.

If the US military is so high and mighty, why are you on ATS making fun of people with reasonable concerns?
If you were actually fighting for your country, you would be fighting the war against the f#ers next door to us importing coke, heroin, prostitution, laundering and stealing money, murdering and raping girls, beheading them and killing us citizens?

You are nothing to be respected or to be hoped for. At the end of the day you would probably fire on your neighbor or your own family even, its #ing despicable how you think this is a joke.

We have neighbors who rape and make US citizens where is your concern about that?

Youd rather shoot some caveman in afghanistan than protect your own neighbor I suspect.
All in the name of fun.

None of this is fun for anyone accept maybe you.
Soldier.

reply to post by txinfidel


Point to that post was. If we can fly drones to afghanistan and take out civilians and children and write it off like nothing happened. Then what is to stop us from actually protecting our borders for once?

Are we afraid that our neighbors might get mad?

Or is it because the cowards in DC love the cartels and would sell their souls to keep them in business? Cause I can almost guarantee more lives would be saved if we pointed our weapons to the border instead of playing video games with human lives over seas.

Yet we do nothing, the military goes on practicing drills to kill american civilians like the poster above me that doesn't fight for his country, but he fights for the New World Order.

Obamas gonna tackle gun control, but before he does that, he is going to legalize all of the illegal immigrants and what is to stop him after that from importing a few terrorists in the name of amnesty?

And the poster above me agrees with it. Because its fun to shoot off a few rounds from a fifty cal.

Originally posted by Grimpachi
reply to post by roadgravel

 

There is just something about firing an M2 with blanks that makes you laugh. It is fun.

You have no idea the pranks we would pull. Have you ever water ballooned apposition from a helicopter. It’s hard but can be done. Try to remember these are mostly kids that would be in college most of them aren’t much older than 19 or 20 hell they can’t even buy beer yet.


I will admit the older we got the more ballsy we would get with pranks. I lost rank once over one

Being an older vet and going by your posts on the matter at hand, I find it sad. You are just the type that I would not want to serve with. No honor in loosing rank for any reason what so ever. No honor in thinking it funny to scare regular folks trying to be a G.I. Joe badass.

I guess with your types there is just no Honor in serving the citizens of this country, you would much rather serve it's Government at whatever cost.

Playing with real weapons and blanks against unsuspecting citizens is not funny, it is terror.

They are also provoking by live firing blanks with the hope that someone will open fire on them. This is a risky proposition because when they hover a single hunter with a long gun and scope could kill the pilot with a single shot. Causing the chopper to go down in heavily populated area. The conditioning aspect is guaranteed. They are also training their pilots to shoot at civilians. This is the scary part. It means that most of the military people will shoot civilians when the shooting actually starts. They are honorless, gutless, cowards if they do and are on the wrong side of the law. The shame is on their parents for not raising them better.

reply to post by j2000


I'm thinking that Grim is E4 or lower. I never found firing blanks being fun. Dirtying up my weapon with no real benifit. Pull the trigger once and spend the next 1/2 hour or so cleaning the damn thing. I hated blanks throughout my career. Grenade and artillery simulators however were quite fun while being a O/C at Hohenfels and NTC.

He'll learn as time goes by (I hope)...we all did some stupid stuff as young Joes. Been up and down the rank structure myself a few times.

As for the playing of jokes, we did plenty of that, but always against each other, never included civvies.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by j2000

 

I'm thinking that Grim is E4 or lower. I never found firing blanks being fun.

Nothing beats an M2 or a Mark 19 for fun and relaxation. Maybe the Dragon simulator.

As for the playing of jokes, we did plenty of that, but always against each other, never included civvies.

Seriously? We burned up a fountain pump in Munich with a pint of Photo-flo out of the imaging lab. That stuff makes bubbles like you wouldn't believe.

And I know some guys out of Stuttgart that were doing a training rotation through a SAP in Middle Tennessee that had a lot of fun with the locals by speaking in Russian or German in town all the time. It got them some practice, and the locals were convinced that the Rooskies were taking over out at the "UFO landing base", which they had also spread rumors about.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
Listening to the rate of fire from one of the helicopters I would say that it was a .50 cal. I have to wonder where those links and brass are falling.

I know I would be suing if one of those pieces of metal injured me or even damaged my car. (for repairs at least)

It looks as if they were firing over a busy highway at that as well. WTF were these guys thinking?

ETA: I know that they're blanks, but they still eject casings and links.

edit on 27-1-2013 by TDawgRex because: Need more coffee

It sounds very much like a .50 cal. If in fact it was the casings are rather large. I'd be surprised with them flying over the high way or near it that casings didn't hit anyone car or person.

Either way, training or not they don't need to be flying over public areas firing blanks or not. I hope the residents of this are aren't complacent with this.

reply to post by Sly1one


its called highly realistic training...

do you really expect them to build an entire city full of sky scrapers just for practice? That seems like it would be a giant waste of tax payer money.

I used to live near a giant army base. We saw and heard them practicing all the time. I cant tell you how many simulated dog fights ive seen with A10's.

Point is, I wouldnt get to worried about it.

Originally posted by Bedlam

Seriously? We burned up a fountain pump in Munich with a pint of Photo-flo out of the imaging lab. That stuff makes bubbles like you wouldn't believe.

And I know some guys out of Stuttgart that were doing a training rotation through a SAP in Middle Tennessee that had a lot of fun with the locals by speaking in Russian or German in town all the time. It got them some practice, and the locals were convinced that the Rooskies were taking over out at the "UFO landing base", which they had also spread rumors about.

I knew guys that would take simulators or smoke grenades out of the gate. Rarely ended well for them.

But yep, we used to do the language thing all the time. My old unit still does that during Intel gathering exercises amongst the local towns. The reaction is often hilarious and it's hard to keep a straight face. Russian, German and French were my unit's forte, though over the years they have added Pashto and Arabic for the obvious reasons.

But we were dressed in civvies, not carrying weapons. And all to often were confronted by the police who were wondering what we were doing in town. Even after clearing the exercise with the Towns government and Police Chief. Either they didn't tell their patrolmen what was going on, or they were piggybacking off our exercise to see how their own officers would react.

You guys are to paranoid and your speculation of my honor or rank is unfounded. I agree about blanks in the weapons being a pain to clean but with the M2 which I was talking about is a crew serve weapon that should be cleaned regardless. If you never had fun firing it then there is something wrong with you. I lost rank once from corporal back to spec because of a prank and because I wouldn’t rat out my platoon which would have caused my staff Sgt to lose rank but it was company grade so I made it back fast and went on to PLDC this was all in peace time. I have served in three combat theaters and I am only speaking the truth of young soldier’s mentalities. I have been out for 7 years now because I lost most sight in my right eye in combat so try to keep your speculation to a minimum or you can keep speaking ill of those who served their country which will show something of your honor.

Someone popped off 7 rounds of blanks and some of you are acting like they killed someone. So yeah I find it funny how some of the paranoid delusional and those who have 0 military experience on here are over reacting. You guys are making a big deal out of this like you were there. Some of you are acting like you have PTSD from watching a video and listening to other people talk about it. Get a grip and grow some balls you guys make me wonder if you have nightmares from watching movies. What I read from some is wha, wha, wha. That is funny.

Originally posted by VonDoomen
reply to post by Sly1one

 

its called highly realistic training...

do you really expect them to build an entire city full of sky scrapers just for practice? That seems like it would be a giant waste of tax payer money.

I used to live near a giant army base. We saw and heard them practicing all the time. I cant tell you how many simulated dog fights ive seen with A10's.

Point is, I wouldnt get to worried about it.

I guess my main concern is US cities being militarized for "practice"...I lived next to Ft. Carson my whole life and never once did they take their training outside their DoD land...

Military style training in and over our major civilian population and US cities? Really? is THIS a precedence we want to start making??

If that's is the case maybe we should start building cities on DoD training grounds...because apparently the distinction is or has lost its meaning.

The Houston report sounds like it was a large number of shots. The term 'long time' and 'war zone' used by people talking to reporters most likely means more than 3 and 7 numbers someone has used here.

I suspect we should get used to this type of activity. Welcome to the future.

Contrary to some one speculating this happens often in Houston, it doesn't. Obviously something has changed in the mindset of the US Army and local police. Might as well add the mayor and city council in.

reply to post by Grimpachi


I'll probably be put on a list for saying this, but I will anyway. If a helicopter was over my house firing(blanks or not), you can bet your sweet ass I'd grab a rifle and return fire. One well placed .308 round would make this funny game not so funny.

No, I'm no Billy bad ass, but I am very accurate with many weapons and I take my, my families and my friends safety, very, very seriously.

How am I to know it's just military kids(as you put it) playing around and not something more nefarious?

Ignorant situations like this would land me in prison or dead. Glad you think that's funny.