Here is a video by a guy that says this is the DEA FAST Operator loadout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf81_nAXCgQ
Is this true???
Last edited by slapout9; 06-05-2013 at 07:45 AM. Reason: stuff
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
Probably is the case. iirc, FAST was first created to work in Afghanistan. Of interest: http://sofrep.com/14889/afghan-drug-war-mission-month/
A fascinating subculture, isn't it? Somebody should do a dissertation on them.
“[S]omething in his tone now reminded her of his explanations of asymmetric warfare, a topic in which he had a keen and abiding interest. She remembered him telling her how terrorism was almost exclusively about branding, but only slightly less so about the psychology of lotteries…” - Zero History, William Gibson
Curious from "over the water". I know Airsoft is a development of paintball, but this emulation of the 'real thing' is rather more developed, so are they "mall ninjas" then?
davidbfpo
Airsoft folk have also crossed into World War 2 reenacting and a number of other areas. And I suspect that some of 'em are either Mall Ninjas or closely related to same...
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
I don't know ganulv but I am sure somebody hear does know. All this neat stuff happened a long time after I got out. The only thing fancy I had was a pair of Ranger Eyes (two pieces of florescent tape) on the back of my patrol cap so the other team members could see me at night.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
I was on a snowmaking crew this winter and we used little chestpacks for our radios, multi-tools, and flint-and-steels. (Here’s a pic of one of my coworkers with one on.) When the boss handed mine out to me I was like, “What a great idea! Everything is going to be right there!” But turned out that things were pretty awkward to get at.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
They are in a way an unintentional parody and off-spring of the Gucci/COTS gear subculture that formed among Western soldiers during the 90's (when adding privately bought extras to the equipment became really fashionable).
Last year I embedded a really hilarious parody made by airsofters in my blog.
I think airsoft is originally a Japanese thing - seems to be pretty big over there.
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“[S]omething in his tone now reminded her of his explanations of asymmetric warfare, a topic in which he had a keen and abiding interest. She remembered him telling her how terrorism was almost exclusively about branding, but only slightly less so about the psychology of lotteries…” - Zero History, William Gibson
Probably. Many in DEA refer to the FAST guys as Fake Ass Seal Team. All I know is the guy in the video is a dork and air soft is uber dorkish.
After 9/11 DEA decided it wanted fire up it's SnoCap program again so I traveled from my posting in Islamabad to Afghanistan to meet with BG Mattis and discuss the possibility of anti narcotics missions. Mattis and the MEU were on the way out so he told me to talk to the 101st. So I did, but the 101 wasn't interested. The 101 told me to talk to Task Force K-Bar and they were completely onboard. I returned to Islamabad, wrote it up with suggestions and recommendations and sent it to HQs where it went poof. A couple of years later DEA HQs pulled FAST out of its orifice. The first teams worked with the Brits quite a bit because the USA wasn't interested and we were busy with Iraq. It made sense for the Brits because most of the heroin from that part of the world goes to Europe. At some point the FAST guys started working with the Seals and modeling themselves after the Seals, hence, Fake Ass Seal Team. I find the nickname funny, but I don't have an axe to grind with the FAST guys - they are just doing something they enjoy. I thought about it, but you have to PCS to Quantico and I hate that frickin place.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
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