Gnarly Russian Training

B. Lahey

New member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtPif9enfNc&NR=1

1:12 Some kind of strangling-avoidance technique.

3:06 Practicing sewing up wounds by cutting your leg open on purpose.

4:00 Downrange drill.

And my favorite...

4:12 Breaking roof-tiles with a self-piledriving leaping headbutt.:D

All of it is pretty entertaining (mostly because I don't have to do it).
 
Ah, just like basic training. Been there done that...:D
No actually, in my Army basic training days, we were taught some pretty practical things. I ran marathons and half marathons while in the Army. Since basic training taught me how to go the distance, endurance, everything else came easy. And I mean that. My later on husband was an officer pilot, and his training nowhere matched mine, yeah I know back in the day, officers and sargeants didn't...but they did, and often got married. We did, and then got out. I kept running, he didn't. I don't know how basic training is anymore, but I was grateful for it back then.
 
RenTV programs some sensational stuff from Russia. Showing far-fetched military training is a RenTV's bread and butter fare. The fellow cutting and then sewing up his wound is described as a lieutenant colonel combat instructor in St Petersburg. Notice how the two fellows holding a stangling rope move with Lt Col Andrei as he steps forward. A realistic situation would have Andrei on the ground dead or nearly dead. He was probably paid an incentive to suture his self-inflicted wound. The Chinese Spetsnaz breaking tiles with their heads is another stunt. Notice the tiles are ribbed and they are broken along the weak axis. I have done something similar, accidently, with porcelain tile. As an aside, notice that when wood boards are broken during karate demonstrations that they are broken along the structurally weak grain axis not the stronger perpendicular axis.

Take any stuff you read or see from Russian TV with many grains of salt, especially when their special forces are depicted. Some Russian documentaries are factual but these mock-u-mentaries just barely believable.

Lived and worked in that part of the world for several years and would never buy anything labeled "made in Russia" other than art.
 
You ought to understand that the US Army undergoes somewhat more thorough training, at least compared to what I had, these days. My son's tank unit practiced giving one another blood or plasma transfusions.
 
When I was in the guard, . . . one of our officers picked up a copy of a Russian training film. It was on airborne techniques, . . . and went through a lot of different things on it: suiting up, . . . taking stuff with you, . . . properly exiting the aircraft, . . . coming down, . . . landing, . . . etc.

I have only edited a few home videos, . . . but I know I could of, . . . and would of edited that film a whole bunch better than they did, . . . unless of course that was their technique.

Just about every one of their guys did a perfect three point landing, . . . feet, knees, and face.

I never heard my platoon laugh like I did when they saw that flick.

Anyway, . . . may God bless,
Dwight
 
Fun times in Russia

In 1998 I received a gift watch that is touted as the best Russian-made wristwatch, a Commando. The worker's and peasant's paradise did indeed produce a unique watch. A "modern" windup with a floppy winding stem and instead of tick-tocking it goes clink-clanking. Visit the former soviet union and you will see very few Russian-made automobiles, mostly Japanese and German, because no one wants a Russian Lada, Moscvitch, or Volga. Russian-made trucks and busses are still popular because they are cheap and come standard from the factory with ungreased wheel bearings and pre-rusted body panels.

Lack of quality in Russian manufactured goods dates to the 1600's as Russia was trying to emerge as a modern nation. However, from then and up to today the Russian goal of manufacturing is to make something "just good enough." Russians will buy a Russian-made appliance only as the positively last resort. For example, refrigerators produced in Poland or Belarus are preferred and of much higher quality than the Russian stuff.

My work entailed use of two new (16 kilometers on the odometer) de-militarized Russian armored personnel carriers. These machines provided endless amounts of entertainment. The engines leaked so much oil that each driver would bail the oil from the engine compartment and return it to the crankcase. The bulkhead between the driver's compartment and engine bay had a 6" gap at the base and the poor driver suffered a lake of hot oil at his feet and fumes. The transmission is semi-automatic and entails use of a clutch to shift from range to range resulting in bogging down in soft material whenever shifting.

At the local military/civilian airfield Russian military and civilian jets leaked lots of assorted fluids. The toilets in some of the Tupelovs I flew in were procelain (a touch of home). We had to deplane a Tupelov short of the gate one time in Baku because the brakes caught fire. No panic because the crew and regular passengers were used to this type of situation.

Gun related (sort of): did Americans know that Kubrick's movie "Full Metal Jacket" is banned in the US? That is what the captives of the USSR were told when the film debuted across the US. An abortion of an ideology - communism - kept great populations of people shackled by lies, gun prohibition, and force. To a certain extent it continues in Russia.

I flinch every time I see an AK, SKS, and any other Russian firearm and will never own one. Shot a full-house Russian AK47 in 1969 - pretty junky.
 
Nobody ever accused the russians of being smart.

Umm. First off, kinda offensive.
Second off, they did accomplish a lot in art, literature, music, and science.

I've actually lived in the USSR and Russia for about 5 years myself, and have a rather different impression, but then again I am the kind of person who doesn't see only the negative, nor to tell wild and exaggerated tales in an attempt to justify xenophobia.

As for firearms-related, you can't get a better gun, than a Russian gun for they prices they sell for.
 
Umm. First off, kinda offensive.
Second off, they did accomplish a lot in art, literature, music, and science.

I've actually lived in the USSR and Russia for about 5 years myself, and have a rather different impression, but then again I am the kind of person who doesn't see only the negative, nor to tell wild and exaggerated tales in an attempt to justify xenophobia.

As for firearms-related, you can't get a better gun, than a Russian gun for they prices they sell for.

I don't really care if it came across as offensive to you. It sounds as if you need to lighten up. They did create great works of art centuries ago. All of their modern science stems from WWII German technology. The only quality anything they have is from imports. I have done a great deal of business with Gazprom. It is essentailly dealing with the mafia. They truly are the enemy of this country.
 
Most of that comment wasn't directed at you, just the first 2 sentences. It's not offensive to me personally, it's just offensive to the intelligence of gun-owning people.

It is frequently said, that the statements made here can service to represent gun-owners to the rest of the American public, that everyone here is an ambassador of sorts as a result, so when someone basically says "Russians are dumb, and are our enemy." We all look like the types who rode the short busses to school.
 
Привет Вам

Ужасные российской качества. Translation is "crummy Russian quality." This applies to most Russian goods. Their advancements in science, culture, and art came about prior to the bad old days of Lenin and his successors. Any artistic endeavor that did not abide the party line was quite surreptitious. A great deal of their science was developed cheaply through outright theft of western ideas. For example, I read an elementary history text from commie times citing the discovery of the telephone as purely Russian.

As some of you have worked with Russians and lived in Russia or the former soviet union, you have discovered that 70 years of commie indoctrination and philosophy is still much alive in their leadership. My dealings with Russians involve dancing around bribery, patronage, veracity, and honesty. It is near impossible being the Boy Scout that I am and deal with Russians. That said, many Russians are sincere and honest but they are not in control. Until that occurs Russia will continue to remain a relatively backward country plagued by corruption and a sense of inferiority.

Pray for me because I have to return to Russia in the coming months. Спаси меня.
 
I kept running, he didn't. I don't know how basic training is anymore, but I was grateful for it back then.

Not trying to change the subject, but regarding a related story that provides interesting contrast:

A recent accidentally declassified memo indicated a high % of Brits military personnel are too obese to be deployed. They're called PUD's (personnel unable to deploy). Many thousands are LD's. (limited deployment).

Makes you wonder about the rest of NATO.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1065237/UK-troops-'too-fat'-for-Afghanistan
 
If you're to argue their advancement in art, culture, science came prior to the Soviet days, then you're overlooking folks like Rodchenko, Tarkovsky, Shostakovich, Voznesenskiy, Korolev, among many others. Bash their politics, politicians, and the problems that these things have caused (such as outdated consumer goods of debatable quality). But if one thinks they are not a smart people, then one in all seriousness doesn't know what one is talking about.

I lived in Russia during the USSR's collapse, spent the end of the 1980's in Novosibirsk, and the 90's in Moscow. I've driven Russian cars, worn Russian watches, taken pictures with Russian cameras, flown in their planes, and of course dealt and lived with the people. Yes, of course, their consumer goods have been considerably and badly behind the times, but in most cases not really as crappy of quality as is often claimed. I still have 2 Russian watches, one is a quartz movement Slava that I've had since the 80's, and it still keeps perfect time, and I still wear it from time to time, the other is a Komandirskiye mechanical one that's more recent, it's old technology, but definitely dependable enough for me to use nearly every day. I have a Zenit 35mm SLR camera that I've kept too, it's more than 40 years old, still meters accurately and takes photos that will easily impress. All of these things were heavily outdated from the day they were introduced, and far nicer, fancier goods were being made outside of the USSR at the same time, but what do you expect from a society whose consumer goods rarely if ever have had to compete with foreign goods until recently? My impression is, at the very base of things, the Russians know they can't go back to the way things were, regardless of what they nostalgic may say, and recent times have certainly served as a reality check and I hope they do succeed in becoming a more modern and free state, despite the struggles and pains these efforts are experiencing nowadays.
 
Raftman, you are correct in all respects. But recall that Rostopovich, etal, expressed their genius within the constraints of ideology. And all who defected, think Baryshnikov, blossomed in the west when free of ideological shackles. Russian manufactured goods and their poor quality are merely another aspect of that flawed ideology. Capitalism as practiced today in Russia is a near free-for-all whose big winners are those who first claimed the spoils of Russian industry doled out by Yeltsin after 1991.

Many miss the days of Stalin because his buildings were prettier than Krushchev's and many also miss the stability of the soviet system. Those who don't miss the old days don't even remember Yeltsin and relish the freedom to travel, cruise the internet, buy Head and Shoulders shampoo, and (almost) say whatever they wish.

I'll repeat what I said earlier: Russia is still in the grip, however relaxed, of corruption, bribery, etc. This is little different from the commie days when these non-virtues were commonly practiced. By the way, many of my Russian friends feared walking around Moscow as late as about 2002 when the crime rate began to settle down.
 
I guess to bring back to firearms, that's one of few Russian products that DID have to compete with foreign competition and what was produced often stacked up favorably against the competition. This is why Russian-designed weapons such as the AK, SKS, Tokarev, Makarov, Mosin Nagant are rather popular in USA and they have a very solid reputation among the shooters than own them. People get them because they are cheap, but keep them and recommend them because for the price they're very good. They're not the absolute best guns out there, but for the price they sell at, it's just about impossible to get a better gun.
 
I work with a lot of them currently here in Iraq and they have a philosophy, "Only horses and fools work." Maybe that is partly to blame for their situations.
 
Ah my friends and relatives the Russians and the indestructible AK-47.

I saw a film a while back making its way around the Internet. It showed how indestructible the AK-47 was. First the gun was dug out of the mud, see they are rust proof!!, then its dropped out of a building and run over by a truck. Then the army guy picks it up and fires it full auto.

Now I own a couple mil spec AKs (not full auto though), and I can flex the receiver with my fingers, and guess what its sheet metal!! If you really burried on in the mud for a week you would dig up a pile of rust, and if you ran it over with a truck or even a small car, the receiver would be badly bent or crushed and there is no way the gun would fire...

But who am I to cast aspersions on other's fantasies of indestructibility.:)
 
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