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Soldiers in full on camo gear with giant rifles on Stephen Street

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    #62
    Xiney
    Registered Users Posts: 8,085 ✭✭✭Xiney


    starbelgrade wrote: »
    Yes really - I'm not the one making unqualified statements and ridiculous comparisons (unless you count the key remark).

    Anyhow - you gotta love the title of this thread .. "Soldiers in full camo gear with giant rifles on Stephen Street".... How big is a GIANT rifle? 6 foot?!



    The only other time I'd seen an automatic machine gun of the same type was in Frankfurt airport, shortly after September 11, 2001. (They might have been there before that, but I don't know - wasn't there)

    What qualifies as a giant gun is pretty subjective, I understand that. But would I have as easily conveyed the shock and nerves I felt if I'd said something like, "Servicemen with average firearms in uniform on Stephen Street"?

    (I suppose justifying the semantics of my post title qualifies as somewhat on topic?)


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    #63
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭TequilaMockingBird


    starbelgrade wrote: »
    Yes really - I'm not the one making unqualified statements and ridiculous comparisons (unless you count the key remark).

    Anyhow - you gotta love the title of this thread .. "Soldiers in full camo gear with giant rifles on Stephen Street".... How big is a GIANT rifle? 6 foot?!

    Everyone else appears to have got the picture with the thread title. It was a discussion about feeling uncomfortable being around armed men. Simple as. You tried to drag it into a military discussion with Xiney.


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    #64
    r3nu4l
    Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    For the record, these rifles were most likely Steyr AUG assault rifles, standard issue to the Irish defence forces. The overall length of the Steyr issued to the Irish forces is 790mm (31 inches), that's with a 508mm (20 inch) barrel.

    There are other barrel lengths for this weapon but the above is standard for Irish troops.

    ...and yes, for someone not used to seeing armed troops, they can seem very intimidating! Just remember that each of these men and women know that if their weapon discharges without due cause, they are in a world of trouble and they know it :D So they make damn sure it's not going off accidentally.

    Also, on the basis that only a lunatic would try to rob a van with a military escort you are probably safer near vans with an escort than vans without an escort :)

    Finally,two things, try to remember that soldiers are very human and while that escort duty can be very boring in some ways, most are quite happy to be out and doing something different and they aren't looking for a fight! Secondly, remember that they look physically bigger than they are, they are wearing bulky camo (disrupted pattern material) jackets and usually have some sort of protective vest on underneath. My granny used to see them out and about and tell them that they looked like they were only skin and bone under their jackets. She used to ask them if they were being 'fed enough in the barracks'. "Are yiz on rations? Ya poor tings, sure yizzer only skin an' bone is all.' :D


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    #65
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    sueme wrote: »
    Everyone else appears to have got the picture with the thread title. It was a discussion about feeling uncomfortable being around armed men. Simple as. You tried to drag it into a military discussion with Xiney.


    Hang on a second - I'm not trying to get involved in a personal argument here, but she did say

    "I don't like seeing military personel at all. It's a personal bias, but I don't like soldiers. They scare the crap out of me. And as various scandals (Canada in Somalia, US in Abu Ghraib Prison) have prooved, military training does not a good person holding a gun make."

    Now, I took exception to that, because, as I pointed out, there is a huge difference between armies that are trained to invade countries and armies that are trained as peace keeping forces.

    And as she later admitted her fear is based on the "problem with seeing military presence on the streets of Sligo is in fact (her) admitted ignorance of military issues."

    I think you'll find that most fears & predjudices are based on ignorance. What I was trying to point out is that the presence of the military to protect Securicor vans in Ireland is not just a world away from the US presence in foreign countries, but an entire galaxy... and as I said earlier - which is the worse evil? - a few trained soldiers with (whatever size guns) or armed gangs firing willy nilly in public places during armed robberies? The army guys might LOOK scarey, but if you really are afraid of people with guns, the ones I'd be properly scared of would be the bank robbers, who unlike the military, probably wouldn't worry too much about a few civilian casualties.


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    #66
    Xiney
    Registered Users Posts: 8,085 ✭✭✭Xiney


    (The reasons soldiers scare the crap out of me has very little to do with current military training or purposes and more to do with being "half" German and listening to that side of the family's nightmare inducing stories about WWII since I was little.)


    (This may also be why I have a tendency of zoning out whenever things like NATO come on the news)


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    #67
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭TequilaMockingBird


    starbelgrade wrote: »
    Hang on a second - I'm not trying to get involved in a personal argument here, but she did say

    "I don't like seeing military personel at all. It's a personal bias, but I don't like soldiers. They scare the crap out of me. And as various scandals (Canada in Somalia, US in Abu Ghraib Prison) have prooved, military training does not a good person holding a gun make."

    Now, I took exception to that, because, as I pointed out, there is a huge difference between armies that are trained to invade countries and armies that are trained as peace keeping forces.

    And as she later admitted her fear is based on the "problem with seeing military presence on the streets of Sligo is in fact (her) admitted ignorance of military issues."

    I think you'll find that most fears & predjudices are based on ignorance. What I was trying to point out is that the presence of the military to protect Securicor vans in Ireland is not just a world away from the US presence in foreign countries, but an entire galaxy... and as I said earlier - which is the worse evil? - a few trained soldiers with (whatever size guns) or armed gangs firing willy nilly in public places during armed robberies? The army guys might LOOK scarey, but if you really are afraid of people with guns, the ones I'd be properly scared of would be the bank robbers, who unlike the military, probably wouldn't worry too much about a few civilian casualties.


    Could you please stop implying Xiney is ignorant and silly. Its rude.


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    #68
    Xiney
    Registered Users Posts: 8,085 ✭✭✭Xiney


    I have no problem with the fact that I'm ignorant and silly, though :)

    I wish I weren't, but hey.


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    #69
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    sueme wrote: »
    Now my Virtual Soldier Protector has "Issues"... I'm doomed.

    No, no issues at all although i can see how it might look like that but that post of mine was ripped from a colum in the daily mail.

    A journalists humorous slant on modern day britain .

    Superhero virtual soldier protectors dont take sides or pass judgements ;)


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    #70
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭TequilaMockingBird


    latchyco wrote: »
    Superhero virtual soldier protectors dont take sides or pass judgements ;)

    Phew. :)


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    #71
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    sueme wrote: »
    Could you please stop implying Xiney is ignorant and silly. Its rude.

    I made no implication that Xiney was silly. She has perfectly valid & personal reasons for her fear of Military with guns & that's not something I would argue with.

    I did, however, state outright that she was ignorant about the activities of NATO, which she is & freely admits to & I argued that the comparsions she made were unfair, to which she made some concession.

    Your constant butting in, in "protective mode" is hardly warranted - Xiney seems well capable of holding her own in a discussion & as with any level headed person in a free discussion, she's also got the free will to change her opinion based on the discussion that's been debated.

    We don't need the "sisters standing up for each other" buzz.


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    #72
    Latchy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    sueme wrote: »
    Phew. :)

    All in a days work :)


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    #73
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭TequilaMockingBird


    starbelgrade wrote: »
    Yes really - I'm not the one making unqualified statements and ridiculous comparisons (unless you count the key remark).

    Anyhow - you gotta love the title of this thread .. "Soldiers in full camo gear with giant rifles on Stephen Street".... How big is a GIANT rifle? 6 foot?!

    You are implying she is silly here. I'm not getting into an argument about it, but I do think you could moderate your tone a little, there is no need for it.



    A personal discussion, off topic on the Sligo Forum :eek: I will take it on the chin. :o


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    #74
    CountingCrows
    Registered Users Posts: 1,830 ✭✭✭CountingCrows


    You think those soldiers time might have been better spent rescuing this chap!!


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    #75
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    sueme wrote: »
    You are implying she is silly here. I'm not getting into an argument about it, but I do think you could moderate your tone a little, there is no need for it.

    It's not your job to tell people what there is a need or not for posting - I will moderate my tone only if asked to do so by the moderators.. the comment I made was a trite remark, intended to inject a little humour & to bring the discussion back on topic (as it was veering off) & was not intended at as a dig at anyone... tbh, when I posted it, I didn't even remember who'd started the thread. For someone who claims they don't want to get into an argument, you're doing quite a good job at starting one.


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    #76
    r3nu4l
    Registered Users Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    May I suggest (not as a mod, I don't mod this forum!) that people step away from the keyboards for a while :D

    Otherwise we'll be calling in the army to this thread as peacekeepers and that'll only upset the OP further :D

    Try to give it a rest lads, 'tis only the internet after all and next week, this thread won't have changed the world or made it a better place*



    *Maybe it will, I could be wrong!


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    #77
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    r3nu4l wrote: »
    May I suggest (not as a mod, I don't mod this forum!) that people step away from the keyboards for a while :D

    Otherwise we'll be calling in the army to this thread as peacekeepers and that'll only upset the OP further :D

    Try to give it a rest lads, 'tis only the internet after all and next week, this thread won't have changed the world or made it a better place*



    *Maybe it will, I could be wrong!


    "Are you coming up to bed honey?"

    "I can't darling - someone on the internet is WRONG!"


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    #78
    TequilaMockingBird
    Registered Users Posts: 4,392 ✭✭✭TequilaMockingBird


    r3nu4l wrote: »
    May I suggest (not as a mod, I don't mod this forum!) that people step away from the keyboards for a while :D


    I'm stepping away as we speak (type)! :)


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    #79
    Basq
    Registered Users Posts: 43,891 ✭✭✭✭Basq


    r3nu4l is spot on..

    .. I stepped away from this thread for a few hours and it's all gone a bit nuts!

    This thread will just stray further into off-topic insanity.. so i'm gonna have to lock it!


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    #80
    muffler
    Registered Users Posts: 46,094 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    In the name of all that is holy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What in the name of hell happened here.

    basquille - good call with locking this thread.


    I read through the mound of off topic posts and sadly quite a few of you are guilty. Some people should know better than to react to trolling.



    And finally:
    starbelgrade wrote: »
    I will moderate my tone only if asked to do so by the moderators.
    Not being asked this time but you are being told to. No more.


This discussion has been closed.
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