Ask a soldier absolutely anything.

[Free Guns For All]

Too late...

[Echolilia]

Nov 8, 2007 6:21:09 GMT -5 Boltor said:

If you could have any weapon which one would it be?

and why?

Hand hand fingers thumb

[Bad Infinitum]

That's all you need, really.

[Free Guns For All]

My mind just went to a really bad place.

[La Vida De Sangre]

I'm with you there.

[Echolilia]

Group? Ew.

[Echolilia]

I'm interested to know your reaction to this: militaryadvocacy.com/about/why-i-defend-servicemembers/?

[Bad Infinitum]

It's tricky, that. I've never known what to think about defense attorneys... like, I see their purpose, but at the same time, the skill and/or cunning of a certain defense attorney could mean that a serial killer will continue to walk the streets or an innocent man goes to jail. There's a lot on their shoulders, and with the legal system the way it is, if they don't win more than they lose, they're going to be unemployed real quickly. That makes me uneasy.

At the same time, though, military defense attorneys are generally stuck with defending clients against AWOL or dereliction of duty cases. Those are pretty cut-and-dry: You either showed up for duty or you didn't. The few that get stuck with the alleged war criminals generally plea bargain or settle, which, to me, is plenty fair. Not saying that soldiers don't deserve to be sentenced according to the crime, but seriously... any human being placed in an extreme situation under the most extreme circumstances is going to react in an extreme fashion. There is no "just doing your job" in the service, you either man up or chicken out. Sometimes things happen in combat that can't be explained in a courtroom, but you gotta give props to the lawyers that try to piece it all together.

I'm pretty much talking in circles here, mostly because I've never really formulated my own opinion on the matter. I don't disagree with anything the author of that piece wrote... he seems to have thought it through and the conclusions at which he had arrived at the time of the writing are soundly backed up by logic and firm ideals.

Hope that answers something?

(Short version: I don't know.)

[Boltor]

What are you doing for a living these days?

[Bad Infinitum]

I hunt for food and blackmail my landlord for rent.

Kidding.

The entirety of my last three years in the service I was flooded with job offers from police departments, PMCs, the border patrol, the Coast Guard (that one threw me off), the ATF, DHS, basically any organization that handles firearms. Except the air marshals, which I'm kinda bummed about, but that job probably would have been really boring. Plus, the burnout on those guys is insanely quick. I don't want to burn out.

So I ended up looking for a job where I could travel the world, set my own hours, and still practice my trade. That narrowed my horizons significantly. I didn't want to be a cop (nothing against our boys in blue, but writing speeding tickets is not my idea of fun), and I sure as hell didn't want to be a mercenary. I do think I found the perfect gig though... an international kidnap & ransom insurance company was looking for a marksman for one of their hostage recovery teams. One quick interview and three extremely intensive field practicum tests later, I get paid to be ready to fly to the Middle East, former Soviet bloc, or Russia proper to save pretty princesses from the clutches of evil.

To be fair, that's my employer. You asked what I do for a living. I spend 99.999% of my time reading Russian newspapers to stay up-to-date with the ne'er-do-wells of that area, I spend about four hours a day on the shooting range, I do about an hour of PT a day, I clean my weapons and double check my go-bag daily, and about once a month I meet up with the rest of the team to train.

It's pretty fun. It's basically the same as what I was doing in the Army, just a lot less frequently. I've gone from 48 on duty/48 off to about five days of action every three or four months.

[Boltor]

Wow you got a pretty sweet job PAI.
Save any pretty princesses from the clutches of evil? If so how many?

Russian newspaper eh? Their news must be "interesting"...
How many languages are you fluent in?

[Bad Infinitum]

Yeah, it's pretty fun. Scary dangerous at times, but mostly fun.

As far as princesses, so far all my recoveries have been middle-aged captains of industry. One guy in Bulgaria was the only kidnap victim, since then I've been to Haiti (earthquake), Egypt (riots), and Libya (uprising) to extract clients from potential danger. From what I'm hearing from my team, 99% of the operations we go on are just for preventative measures like that. Actual kidnappings are fairly rare.

Russian newspapers are pretty awesome. It's a lot of fun trying to separate the actual news from the watered-down propaganda sometimes, and it can be especially challenging on occasion simply because it's in Russian.

As far as languages, I'm fluent in English (der) and Russian, conversational in Farsi and Pashto, I know the basics of about a half dozen other Arabic dialects, and I'm rusty but functional in French & Spanish. Mostly just stuff I've picked up through the years, but Russian is the only language I've actually sat down and learned front to back. It's a pain in the neck.

[Boltor]

Ok, Medvedev vs Putin, your pick for who wins the next presidency? which one would win in a cage match? which one is better at spinning the propaganda? which one is more likly to start WW3? which one looks more "proud to be Russian" in this picture....

??

Ok seriously , not sure if you've answered these already but what's your favourite: food? drink? color? thing to do on a beach? Song? TV Series?

[Bad Infinitum]

Putin for all of those things. Medvadev is a political punk, Putin was a counter-intelligence operative in the KGB... which makes him uniquely qualified to both cause and prevent WW3.

Food: Cheeseburgers. Or pasta. Or... pepperoni pizza.
Drink: Whiskey, Thai iced tea, sweet tea.
Color: Green, yo. Might as well like it, since it's f**king everywhere.
Beach: Sleep. I have a lot of possibly misplaced faith in the honesty of my fellow beach-goers.
Song: Oh man. Hardest question ever asked. Anything by Elliott Smith or Pixies.
TV: Firefly might be my all-time favorite, but I've been getting way too into Thursday night NBC shows this past year. Community, Parks, like that. Oh, and Burn Notice is pretty hot shit.

[Echolilia]

I've never heard of Burn Notice