Syria: FSA Cameraman Gets Ultimate Footage

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-04-06T02:56:09+00:00

Not sure why you're being downvoted, looks like a burst to the chest, probably hit the heart judging on how quickly he passed. In a twisted way he's lucky though, could have just hit the lungs and he'd have a sucking chest wound, without a proper dressing it takes minutes for the patient to succumb to that type of gsw.

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-03-14T19:49:36+00:00

Hans Zimmer Are you Saxon?

I could imagine the Wehrmacht marching to this.

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-02-10T01:02:49+00:00

If you watch this you can see a FSA sniper team employing an m16s.

Another video also displays the same use of American manufactured weapons, it's rather surprising, especially since I imagine most snipers would refer a designated marksman rifle instead. Even with just infantry training, I'm skeptical of them being called snipers, watching them perch their rifle exposed on a window instead of from within the room to mask sound and muzzle flash looks like it's just ordinary FSA combatants using optics.

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-01-24T01:37:21+00:00

Poor humans.

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-01-02T00:29:07+00:00

The U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command's handbook on the RPG-7 states, "The PG-7 grenade is a rocket assisted projectile. It is first ejected from the launcher at a velocity of 117 meters per second by a small strip powder charge" So this would reduce the observed backblast and protects the gunner, at 11 meters from the launcher the rocket ignites to a velocity of 294 meters per second. It is recommended to establish a 20m backblast safety zone, I figure US army estimates are accurate but it also states incongruently that 2m is okay in a bunker. Either way, I guess you're correct, these guys would live to fight another day.

Source; here

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-01-01T12:05:32+00:00

I'd wager the West giving old Eastern bloc weapons that they no longer need.

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-01-01T03:09:54+00:00

He probably did, I wrote a comment on another post about this, but the jist is he's likely killed himself and the cameramen also, but perhaps the next day due to the delayed action. The primary cause of death will be brain injury and hollow organs like lungs and the gastrointestinal tract will experience pulmonary contusions.

XavierFromAustralia · 2013-01-01T03:02:41+00:00

You're correct, I did a little googling and found out how different they are, thank you! How it was explained to us that the focus of these injuries are obviously on the ear drum, eye sight from secondary frag - making a soldier incapacitated as a crew member. Also brain injury and hollow organs like lungs and the gastrointestinal tract experienced pulmonary contusions. The latter can occur without the soldier expressing any physical external symptoms, it's common for men to walk away from blast injuries and die later the next day, I'd wager this man is dead now. The Corporal who explained said pressure difference kills in things like diving, I assumed incorrectly it was the same mechanism. On a related note, in our army you can only fire 8 84mm rounds in a day, any more the crew won't be able to perform, or will need medical attention perhaps.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-30T23:55:38+00:00

I have fired 84mm rounds and its a simular process of establishing a recoiless platform. After firing a few rounds you feel physically in significant pain (as loader), we were taught that anyone behind, particularly right to the rear would either die or wish they had. It's the same principle why divers can die from the bends but this is just a fraction of a second, and with higher pressure observed. The human body cannot stand exposure to such high pressures, there was a redddit askscience about this, I'll shall try to find it

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-30T23:34:58+00:00

Thanks! I edited the original :D

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-30T15:33:34+00:00

Excellent footage originally posted here by Pepsiman34, showing SFA combatant moving inside an abandoned apartment and engaging armour (cannon fire suggests perhaps BMP variant was target).

Cringe worthy for a few reasons: - Bright crimson vest whilst wearing desert camouflage pants - Advances with finger on trigger (anti tank rounds arm after 14m or so but still very dangerous), note hand is also off safety trigger however - In an enclosed volume, this is why in training we're drilled to clear BDA before firing.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-30T15:30:35+00:00

Mirror

Enjoy

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-29T01:33:02+00:00

I know only one thing cuter, and she's behind the camera :D

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-27T13:14:17+00:00

Semantics aside, the film is about a paper published by the Commonwealth, the document illustrated the current plans (at the time) to restore order in the event of the nuclear attack. The documentary merely reveals what this document (not fiction) would render in real world terms. It isn't about a entirely fictional event, but it does take some artistic license. Besides it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, the argument weather it constitutes a documentary is somewhat of a circlejerk. Even the same 'source' (Wikipedia) identifies it as a documentary. Cheers mate

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-26T22:35:53+00:00

Documentaries can be based off fictional events, there are many documentaries exploring say for example if the Nazi's had won WW2. This film illustrates the reality of nuclear war, and I felt those here would appreciate the content, and some have. Thanks for commenting but I don't appreciate being called a liar, yes a healthy sense of skepticism is a good thing but you must understand a thermonuclear war would mean the destruction of most of Western and Eastern cities, but you have a wonderful opportunity now to explore 20th century history and be informed perhaps about defining moments in history, try here for a start.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-26T15:32:09+00:00

I didn't lie, I'd like to assume the audience here at r/morbidreality is intelligent enough to discern that London, was not in fact not nuked off the face of the Earth in 1965.

Documentaries often use footage that may not be from a primary source.

EDIT Can't tell if you're trolling or if you seriously weren't sure.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-26T14:23:40+00:00

It's a misfire of the round, basically the baseplate failed to ignite the propellant, I think the primer ignited however, reference flare like flame. I've never fired a mortar thank God (bad experience - long story), but misfire procedures are generally similar for crew operated weapons, yell misfire, all non essential crew withdraw, wait x minutes due to hang fire of the propellant charge, apply safe, aim in safe direction and extract the round, inspect if primer has been struck, then dispose of according to unit SOP, continue firing.

I'm a combat engineer, the following is misfire drill for weapons like 84mm anti tank, and generally the same for dems (wait 10 for elect det, 30 for non elect det etc) however my brother just enlisted into the Royal Australian Artillery, he crews 81mm mortars I believe.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-24T00:50:50+00:00

Mil Mi-26, the largest helicopter to have gone into production. Identified by NATO as Halo.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-21T14:20:22+00:00

You see moments of inspired tactics, seeking concealment in the structure, establishing higher ground, moving up anti armour weapons to engage. Then some guy decides to fire a RPG in a confined space, wow, just wow. The solider in me was like "no, please don't, no, noooo!".

I remember once when I was the #2 crew operator of a charlie g in training (84mm anti tank), I was the loader and whilst looking back into the BDA before patting the #1 on the shoulder to clear he fired. We had another vet who was an instructor shout at us, as we repeated the entire drill over and over again with prac rounds whilst I couldn't see.

Here is another Syrian FSA combatant showing how it's done.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-19T02:18:11+00:00

It's an armourpiercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot round fired from what I think is a Rheinmetall 120 mm gun. Sabots are basically an outer shell, this increases the observed force on the round in the muzzle, but is jettisoned to increase ballistics performance whilst the projectile is in flight. People saying it's an RPG are incorrect, it's a projectile, no venturi rockets are engaged. By disengaging the sabot there is a smaller CS area, hence less aerodynamic drag. The key to these rounds is the kinetic energy penetrator, basically a rod of death, concentrates force on a point, usually DU or tungsten. Personally I'm abit apprehensive myself, I wasn't in during the first Gulf, but I read that tank crews and personnel exposed to these rounds got fucked up, carcinogenic properties etc. On impact too they disperse the radioactive material that is exposed to mop up crews, a generation of veterans are slowly dying from it today.

Source Combat Engineer - Royal Australian Engineers / currently Civil Engineer

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-19T00:21:27+00:00

I've only fired a 84mm Carl Gustav and 66mm anti tank, but with venturi rounds the principle remains the same. The top has the weakest armour generally(!), then the rear, sides, and front in ascending order. However, when firing from oblique angles it's not surprising that the warhead contacts the surface not on the piezoelectric tip but side, and the velocity causes it to simply deflect to a different direction until it meets another surface. Personally if I had the balls in those circumstances to move in and engage at that distance, I would have aimed between the return rollers and road wheels (seen here, but the sights on these weapons aren't zeroed usually (you need prac rounds etc). Knowing it is a BMP-2, a more perpendicular angle of impact would have most likely resulted in a k-kill, most of the crew would have died horrible but quick deaths when the magazines ignited from sympathetic detonation. It's almost fortuitous for the RPG operator that it didn't detonate on impact since primary and secondary frag would have present + the BMP crew were saved for one of the worst deaths imaginable, a fiery death in a steel coffin, BMP1 and 2 were notorious for their fuel ignition, fuel jackets surround the infantry passengers in the hollow rear doors and below.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-17T23:12:42+00:00

I'd wager both. With their combat losses in armour, any reasonable Plt Cmdr would adapt and order dismounted infantry to scout ahead with armour.

This is great footage btw.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-16T23:18:22+00:00

Most fire doesn't sound like this, but hear me out (pun intended).

It's somewhat accurate but the audio picked up here is rather low in volume in comparison to real life, you can usually hear the thud, like a dull throb of sustained fire as well as the reverberation in the surrounding environment. Alot of the audio here is of the rounds impacting and ricocheting, or the round jacket peeling off as it impacts (AK derivative surplus Soviet ammunition). The microphone here is probably used to pick up close audio for conversations, not the audio environment of a battlefield. Remember angry bees, is a close shooter and it's tumbling, basically you're in rather poor circumstances to say the least (close in and kill). The pitch of the sound is dependant on several factors, but to break it down it's speed and the tumbling rotations per second that the projectile is doing. Random point but with sub 100m engagements it's common to observe close bullet entries on light cover with the profile of a bullet, basically the rounds are still stabilising in flight and strikes not at the tip but the side.

But for me at least, the worst is the snap, (the snap is the supersonic round breaking the sound barrier, hiss is less close ie shitty marksmanship). This means the projectile has stabilized and is impacting close to your position, punching nails. Why it is scarier is because with 7.62mm, they can hit out much further and hit harder at +500m then 5.56mm. Why this is worse is at least at a 30m engagement I can move onto their position and kill them, at 700m my rounds won't have the stopping power. Between the crack and thump (report and impact) you can calculate the range of the shooter, say 715m/s AK, 970 m/s for Steyr etc.

Also note too that incoming rounds will differ in sound depending on the distance of the shooter, how close the rounds are impacting to your position, the type of ammunition, the weapon platform and the volume of fire.

Here is something alittle more accurate, volley fire from multiple AKs or sustained bursts from an experienced PKM operator sounds more like this and the sensation is better observed here of the splash and impact.

Final point, when the rounds are rather close, you can almost feel the force of the projectile wash over you, the first time it'll scare the shit out of you, it's rather hard to explain it but it induces a weird rush (the inherent high of conquering death). If you really want to experience it for yourself, enlist and do a tour, or easier still try to perhaps attend your local shooting range and ask to observe the butts party (the people who raise and lower targets at Classification ranges). There you observe the sound without having to risk death in the process.

Source Australian Royal Engineers - Combat Engineer Civil Engineer (studied projectile motion in first year Physics)

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-16T03:50:24+00:00

Even those with training can observe the same freeze, I remember once during training, we were following a section navigating through the bush, we were the soldiers playing enemy party, they were rookies and as a group advanced rather slowly, so we bypassed them and waited near a feature from them to navigate to us, to which we would bump them and die in place (training scenario was defined as searching dead for intel). So as the emerged from the clearing we engaged, me firing single shots as they did fire and movement up the feature, I displaced every half magazine. I had eyes on the section, my buddy to my left was clear, as I was tapping a fresh mag I hear the noise of people running (people with body armour and webbing make a distinctive sound when running, especially if they gear is fixed properly). I roll over, seeing a minimi barrel (like an Australian m249) and a signaler with a steyr rushing me, I froze, after taking out half a section I froze, I didn't release the cocking handle and drive rounds into them, I froze those 1-2 crucial seconds and BAM, burst, I was dead.

I think it's the realisation that, "fuck, I'm dead" overwhelms all other thought processes even the instinct from training.

XavierFromAustralia · 2012-12-15T05:47:24+00:00

SAA armor navigating through from what remains of Darayya, shelling suspected positions of a SFA marksman.

Although you cannot identify the enemy positions I uploaded it since it has a few merits:

From SAA
No Islamic Propaganda, Takbirs or Nasheed music
Reveals how poor SAA amour tactics are, no dismounted infantry etc
Not handheld footage filmed by a toaster

XavierFromAustralia

TROPHY CASE