I found an old documentary in English about Norwegian special forces. Most special forces are trained and equiped pretty much the same all over the world, but it's an interesting look into cold war era conscripts in these units in the far north. I think it was made in the 1980s. This documentary doesn't distinguish at all between army (HJK) and navy (MJK) and the term "jeger" is really a generic term for most light infantry and irregual warfare units regardless if they're infantry, artillery or special forces. Anyway, it's a good documentary.
Although I never handled one the G3 did not have a very good reputation with soldiers in my army. I remember it was not liked because it was seen to be not as good as build quality as other rifles. It was not in general service anyway.
The rifles I am speaking about will have been very early models though, and most likely not made in Germany but in another country. This I think may have been the problem.
I don't have anything else to compare it with since I've never fired other assault (battle?) rifles, but I don't remember anyone having much trouble with it. The AG3 was obviously overpowerd for most needs and could actually fire through young trees. it was uncomfortable and impractical wearing it in a sling in front of you when skiing, something we often did.
I don't have anything else to compare it with since I've never fired other assault (battle?) rifles, but I don't remember anyone having much trouble with it. The AG3 was obviously overpowerd for most needs and could actually fire through young trees. it was uncomfortable and impractical wearing it in a sling in front of you when skiing, something we often did.
And I am only repeating what I heard. I don't know if I would have had a different opinion. I can not really remember what was said. I heard no stories about how the rifle shot, or its power (those in service with my army will have been 7.62mm calibre) but that it was not made well. I only presume the rifles were not made in Germany, but I think this will be the case. They were old as well, which will not help, and perhaps this was the reason.
The G3 was produced outside of Germany after being given a license to do so. According to Wikipedia, the fountain of all knowledge ( :v ), the G3 was produced in Brazil, France, Mexico, Turkey, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Pakistan, Myanmar and Iran. It makes sense not all were of the same quality as the ones produced by the Germans. I remember my rifle was more than twenty years old and older than me. What type of rifle did you use?
The G3 was produced outside of Germany after being given a license to do so. According to Wikipedia, the fountain of all knowledge ( :v ), the G3 was produced in Brazil, France, Mexico, Turkey, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Pakistan, Myanmar and Iran. It makes sense not all were of the same quality as the ones produced by the Germans. I remember my rifle was more than twenty years old and older than me. What type of rifle did you use?
My apologies for the late reply. I have been very busy at work.
Our issue rifle was the AK47. Although we had other rifles in the armoury, the AK47 was the one we almost always used. It was ideal for the very harsh conditions. It too was old but still good.
Even on exercise we were issued with live ammunition because our main training areas were very dangerous (there were even no tribes people living there). I am not sure if you too would have live ammunition on exercise? The reason why we carried it in our rifles at all times was because of the danger of attack by wild animals. I never had to fire at any predators and neither did anyone I was with, but other soldiers did. You had to sign for the ammunition and hand it back. If you used any you would have to hand the empty cases in and report why they had been fired. The officers were very strict about this.
Did you know Prince Fredrik, the heir to the Danish crown, served as a combat diver in the military? He qualified for Frømandskorset (litterally "Frogman corps") back in the mid 90's. Impressive.
Did you know Prince Fredrik, the heir to the Danish crown, served as a combat diver in the military? He qualified for Frømandskorset (litterally "Frogman corps") back in the mid 90's. Impressive.
PINGU!
"I mean, she almost kills bond...with her ass."
-Mr Arlington Beech
Yes, that's him! To give non-Nordic members some context: Once his diver's suit got a hole in it and the lower part was filled with water, giving the Crown Prince a penguine-like walk. This incident gave the rest of the unit the inspiration to call him "Pingu". )
i did JLR RCT basic in 88
then posted to BÜnde in germany 1adtr 2sqn
medicine hat incanada 6 months
then 10 months in the Gulf war 90 91
left the forces in 93
stayed in germany
i was deployed to saudi 2 days after sadam marched on kuwuit
after 3 weeks in saudi on the port we deployed to the desert where we spent about 8 months out there
i was detached to the SDGs recce group was one of the first 50 men across the enemy line
Sorry, but what is SDG?
I didn't serve in the British army, so I don't know all the abbreviations.
Did you feel you got the desert training you needed before you were deployed to the Middle East? You were part of the tip of the spear back then. How did you feel about Saddam's military at the time, and were you very surprised by how fast it collapsed?
SDG scots dragoon guards ( jock regiment for tanks ) i was SDG recce so way in front of the tank regiments
a lot was learning by doing we were not kitted out good for the desert and the bad winter weather cost a few guys there lives ( its was said we had the worst winter there in 50 years - 10 with snow storms )
saddams forces well lets just say you cant speak sence into fanatics
most of the forces we bumbed into wear just poor souls they did not want to be there they fought more against each other than with us
the few times we came under fire were from a few fanatic jobs withing a pow group these were dealt with in the right way
we lost 3 guys from our 8 man group in 8 months 2 under fire one from hyperthermia
I was in INGBN 2 of the BRIG N ….. I'm kidding. I did my national service in the combat engineers in the Norwegian army 1991-92, mostly in the north. That was cold too, but I belive a lot of other things were different. The main differences could be that we had better winter gear and and a total absence of people shooting at us.
I'm surprised fanatics in the Iraqi military were a problem, but I many of them were veterans from their war against Iran in the 80's. What you say about badly motivated soldiers sounds more like what I read in the news at the time. Did you have training in Norway like many British units do? Could have been useful in Iraq, judging by what you write.
we did cold weather training on breacon ( but i lived just 20 miles from there being welsh ) the biggest proplem witht he winter in the gulf was we had no winter kit with us ( we were kited out in desert combats ) and during ops we left are magotbags and bivvy bags at base as so to travel light quite a few yomps on foot the bad weather came in quick and got us off guard
That sounds terrible. I'm reminded of something my father told me from his national service. He was in the infantry in the same camp I was in thirty years later. Once the unit he was in was ordered to march to the top of a mountain as quickly as possible for some reason. They didn't bring their tents or sleeping bags to march faster because they didn't expect to stay there. But they had to spend the night on that mountain, and my father got a frost burn. The cold and darkness of winter can really influence your energy and mentality.
I never thought the British army would have problems with their issues of kit or materials! I thought it was confined to armies like the one I was in. Thinking about it though I suppose it happens in every army.
Because we had to carry much water and other kit when on exercise, often we would only take a blanket or a ponsho to sleep on. Dig a small scrape in the ground for the hip to go in and you have your night shelter.
I never thought the British army would have problems with their issues of kit or materials! I thought it was confined to armies like the one I was in. Thinking about it though I suppose it happens in every army.
Not ours, well not with the cold weather gear anyways. In Finland, you risk hypothermia approximately 11 moths out of a year. So when you first sign for your issued gear, every single piece of kit is inspected that you have it and it is as it's supposed to be. Yes there is always some bloke who complains that "(insert brand name for gucci kit) -has better stuff" than the issued. But the issued is perfectly functional, and you will not be lacking. For those interested here's a link to a file that describes the current clothing items : https://puolustusvoimat.fi/documents/1948673/2258487/PEVIESTOS-TaistelijanVaatetusM05-2013.pdf/e756573d-0ebe-4157-84a9-cb28bef3e30e/PEVIESTOS-TaistelijanVaatetusM05-2013.pdf It is in finnish though, so might want run some of it through the G-trans. What is sh1t though is hot weather gear, because there is none. All of that kit goes to peace keepers and international missions, but then again; there is no sense in blowing money to hot weather gear, that you'll need 2-4 times a year.... ) ) )
"I mean, she almost kills bond...with her ass."
-Mr Arlington Beech
The US Marines have been doing cold weather training near Trondheim for 2-3 years now. I think they've concluded the US winter kit needs an update badly . The Norwegian kit is really good.
We also get our share of soldiers from NATO countries looking for cooler climes.
Our Jaeger Brigade in Sodankylä trains every year a contingent of foreign special forces in the finer art of freezing, more precisely in a SERE B course. The 24/7 darkness and -30c temperatures can be quite a challenge as it is, imagine having to try to maintain some level of operational functionality under those circumstances. )
I never thought the British army would have problems with their issues of kit or materials! I thought it was confined to armies like the one I was in. Thinking about it though I suppose it happens in every army.
HAHAHA sorry got to laugh at this there was always proplems with getting the right kit and not only kit radios ammo we had to steal from other units and thats NO JOKE
the gulf war was a total clusterfuck from the logistic side
so much went wrong but somehow we still pulled it all back together
I am glad I provided you with some amusement. If I can make someone smile then my day has not been wasted!
A little (hopefully other funny) story about boots. On basic training induction, when we got our issue if uniform and other kit, we were issued with one pair of boots only. These boots were to be worn for everything in training including parades. They were old boots, worn by many recruits before us, so they were not stiff and uncomfortable. That was the good thing. The bad thing was they had to be polished to the standard for parades, but they would be - I don't know the correct word - but very dirty and worn through the day. Evening time was the time to bring them to parade standard for the morning. This was a great task and not a welcome one because if they were not to standard the recruit would be in trouble.
At the end of basic training, these boots were handed in - after we smashed the polish off them - for the next intake to polish!
Comments
Now that's a beast to lug around the fjords and the mountains!!!
-Mr Arlington Beech
The rifles I am speaking about will have been very early models though, and most likely not made in Germany but in another country. This I think may have been the problem.
And when you attach that "Noob Tube" underbarrel, it adds another 1,5kg.
And I thought we had it rough with the 4,2kg (loaded) Valmet M62
-Mr Arlington Beech
My apologies for the late reply. I have been very busy at work.
Our issue rifle was the AK47. Although we had other rifles in the armoury, the AK47 was the one we almost always used. It was ideal for the very harsh conditions. It too was old but still good.
Even on exercise we were issued with live ammunition because our main training areas were very dangerous (there were even no tribes people living there). I am not sure if you too would have live ammunition on exercise? The reason why we carried it in our rifles at all times was because of the danger of attack by wild animals. I never had to fire at any predators and neither did anyone I was with, but other soldiers did. You had to sign for the ammunition and hand it back. If you used any you would have to hand the empty cases in and report why they had been fired. The officers were very strict about this.
PINGU!
-Mr Arlington Beech
then posted to BÜnde in germany 1adtr 2sqn
medicine hat incanada 6 months
then 10 months in the Gulf war 90 91
left the forces in 93
stayed in germany
and not the noemal 9 weeks bassic
after 3 weeks in saudi on the port we deployed to the desert where we spent about 8 months out there
i was detached to the SDGs recce group was one of the first 50 men across the enemy line
I didn't serve in the British army, so I don't know all the abbreviations.
Did you feel you got the desert training you needed before you were deployed to the Middle East? You were part of the tip of the spear back then. How did you feel about Saddam's military at the time, and were you very surprised by how fast it collapsed?
a lot was learning by doing we were not kitted out good for the desert and the bad winter weather cost a few guys there lives ( its was said we had the worst winter there in 50 years - 10 with snow storms )
saddams forces well lets just say you cant speak sence into fanatics
most of the forces we bumbed into wear just poor souls they did not want to be there they fought more against each other than with us
the few times we came under fire were from a few fanatic jobs withing a pow group these were dealt with in the right way
we lost 3 guys from our 8 man group in 8 months 2 under fire one from hyperthermia
I'm surprised fanatics in the Iraqi military were a problem, but I many of them were veterans from their war against Iran in the 80's. What you say about badly motivated soldiers sounds more like what I read in the news at the time. Did you have training in Norway like many British units do? Could have been useful in Iraq, judging by what you write.
Because we had to carry much water and other kit when on exercise, often we would only take a blanket or a ponsho to sleep on. Dig a small scrape in the ground for the hip to go in and you have your night shelter.
Not ours, well not with the cold weather gear anyways. In Finland, you risk hypothermia approximately 11 moths out of a year. So when you first sign for your issued gear, every single piece of kit is inspected that you have it and it is as it's supposed to be. Yes there is always some bloke who complains that "(insert brand name for gucci kit) -has better stuff" than the issued. But the issued is perfectly functional, and you will not be lacking. For those interested here's a link to a file that describes the current clothing items : https://puolustusvoimat.fi/documents/1948673/2258487/PEVIESTOS-TaistelijanVaatetusM05-2013.pdf/e756573d-0ebe-4157-84a9-cb28bef3e30e/PEVIESTOS-TaistelijanVaatetusM05-2013.pdf It is in finnish though, so might want run some of it through the G-trans. What is sh1t though is hot weather gear, because there is none. All of that kit goes to peace keepers and international missions, but then again; there is no sense in blowing money to hot weather gear, that you'll need 2-4 times a year....
-Mr Arlington Beech
Our Jaeger Brigade in Sodankylä trains every year a contingent of foreign special forces in the finer art of freezing, more precisely in a SERE B course. The 24/7 darkness and -30c temperatures can be quite a challenge as it is, imagine having to try to maintain some level of operational functionality under those circumstances.
Here's an old Russian TV spot about the Jaeger Brigade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-zVQgUD9L4
-Mr Arlington Beech
HAHAHA sorry got to laugh at this there was always proplems with getting the right kit and not only kit radios ammo we had to steal from other units and thats NO JOKE
the gulf war was a total clusterfuck from the logistic side
so much went wrong but somehow we still pulled it all back together
A little (hopefully other funny) story about boots. On basic training induction, when we got our issue if uniform and other kit, we were issued with one pair of boots only. These boots were to be worn for everything in training including parades. They were old boots, worn by many recruits before us, so they were not stiff and uncomfortable. That was the good thing. The bad thing was they had to be polished to the standard for parades, but they would be - I don't know the correct word - but very dirty and worn through the day. Evening time was the time to bring them to parade standard for the morning. This was a great task and not a welcome one because if they were not to standard the recruit would be in trouble.
At the end of basic training, these boots were handed in - after we smashed the polish off them - for the next intake to polish!