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Old 11-10-2011, 07:54   #1
Badger52
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Special Units Do The Dirty Work "Bearded Bastards."

USA Today
November 10, 2011

In Afghanistan, Special Units Do The Dirty Work
But can gains in security last beyond withdrawal?

By Carmen Gentile, Special for USA Today

CHAMKANI, Afghanistan -- Insurgents prowling the steep mountains and narrow valleys of this remote land have a name for the U.S. Special Forces: "Bearded Bastards."

Growing facial hair is one way U.S. Green Berets blend in among the locals here along the Pakistan border. Their specialty is what the military calls the "self-sustaining element," a force able to fight for long periods in extreme conditions.

"We operate in the seams and gaps where conventional forces can't go," says Maj. Eric Wright, a Special Forces advance operational base commander in nearby Khost Province.


More at the LINK HERE.

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Old 11-10-2011, 08:18   #2
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Talking

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CHAMKANI, Afghanistan -- Insurgents prowling the steep mountains and narrow valleys of this remote land have a name for the U.S. Special Forces: "Bearded Bastards."
The "Bone-clone" administration must be furious!

Stay safe.
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Old 11-10-2011, 09:21   #3
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Special Forces, aka, The Green Berets, "Bearded Bastards."

I'm impressed to say the least. A news reporter actually made the link (correctly) between "Special Forces" and the "Green Beret's"...... Well done Carmen Gentile.
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Special Units Do The Dirty Work "Bearded Bastards."
By Carmen Gentile, Special for USA TODAY


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/a...0/1?csp=34news
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Old 11-10-2011, 09:24   #4
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I like the blending in element. When I got to SE Asia, I was told to blend in and keep a low profile. I am 6'4" and weighed 225 pounds back then. Kinda hard to blend in to a population where the average height was 5'4"....

Last edited by mark46th; 11-10-2011 at 23:33.
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Old 11-10-2011, 09:27   #5
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I'm impressed to say the least. A news reporter actually made the link (correctly) between "Special Forces" and the "Green Beret's"...... Well done Carmen Gentile.
Team Sergeant



Special Units Do The Dirty Work "Bearded Bastards."
By Carmen Gentile, Special for USA TODAY


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/a...0/1?csp=34news


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Old 11-10-2011, 09:33   #6
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I lkie the blending in element. When I got to SE Asia, I was told to blend in and keep a low profile. I am 6'4" and weighed 225 pounds back then. Kinda hard to blend in to a population where the average height was 5'4"....
I had the same problem,I was 6'1" and 245 pounds back in the day and to top it off I had blond hair.............

Big Teddy
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I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver

SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
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Old 11-10-2011, 10:39   #7
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I lkie the blending in element. When I got to SE Asia, I was told to blend in and keep a low profile. I am 6'4" and weighed 225 pounds back then. Kinda hard to blend in to a population where the average height was 5'4"....
I'm 5'10", 185lbs. with a tan from hell! And some folks didn't realize that I blended-in, in AFRICA!

"Talk about institutionalized thinking...."

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Old 11-10-2011, 11:01   #8
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"Bearded Bastards" has a nice ring to it though... (for those who can grow a respectable beard )
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:09   #9
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Interesting story, spent 7 months in Chamkani.
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:21   #10
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I'm waiting for the upcoming movie version - "Inglorious MFers" - watch for it.

Early morning. A small farm compound in Afghanistan. Two bearded SF soldiers, a Medic and the Team Sergeant, are kneeling outside a nondescript stone-walled structure, watching and waiting.

Medic - "Ever wonder whether we'll ever leave this place, Top?"

Team Sergeant - "We'll be here fighting until hell freezes over...and then we'll be here fighting them on the ice. Ever learn to skate, Doc?"


And so it goes...

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Old 11-10-2011, 12:01   #11
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The "Bone-clone" administration must be furious!

Stay safe.
'Bone Clone', have not heard that name in years. As long as it is out, might as well throw in 'Rambo' as well. You know wherever they are they are both hating everything about this.
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Old 11-10-2011, 12:10   #12
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I'm impressed to say the least. A news reporter actually made the link (correctly) between "Special Forces" and the "Green Beret's"...... Well done Carmen Gentile.
Team Sergeant
Some Google-Fu shows that he has spent some time embedded with SF, he was wounded by an RPG in 2010. I guess whomever he was embedded with taught him well.
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Old 11-10-2011, 13:19   #13
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"Bearded Bastards" has a nice ring to it though... (for those who can grow a respectable beard )
I'm 43 Y.O. and still can't!
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Old 11-10-2011, 18:39   #14
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Popped my cherry there.
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Old 11-10-2011, 19:30   #15
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I'm 5'10", 185lbs. with a tan from hell! And some folks didn't realize that I blended-in, in AFRICA!

"Talk about institutionalized thinking...."

Stay safe.
I got the same problem...and I was 1/10. I once had a TL tell some local in Kosovo that I was a Africana American Soldaten. I wanted to beat his arsch. I'm AMERICAN DAMN IT!!!
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