Has anyone see the AC-130 Gunship video making the rounds on the net lately? Supposedly it was made over Afghanistan, and it shows a Taliban or Al Quida compound having the ever-loving sh*t blasted out of it, The voices reference a mosque and caves, so the audio seems to match the story.
My questions:
Wouldn’t this be classified? It lays out exactly what our capabilities are.
And if so, is it something that the government would release to scare any potential future enemies?
I have a link, but I’m not posting it at this time. I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to do so here. The footage contains graphic violence in infra-red and will probably offend some people.
Mods feel free to move this thread, I had a hard time chosing the appropriate forum. I do have questions about it so that’s why it’s here.
IIRC this is not exactly “new” technology. The fire control system may be more advanced, and the actual weapon used may be refined but the basic idea dates back to at least the Vietnam War era. Take a weapon with an extremely high rate of fire and mount it on an airborne platform for use as ground support. In Vietnam the troops called it “Puff The Magic Dragon”.
>> The footage contains graphic violence in infra-red and will probably offend some people.
I read this after posting the link. I can’t think anyone might watch it by mistake and be offended, and, personally I do not think it is graphic in the sense that you see anything clearly. You have to imagine most of it. But anyway, I guess a warning to the squeamish is in order. Don’t watch the video if you do not like to see infrared images of bombs being dropped on buildings and people.
Perhaps he’s proud of the job they’re doing? I’ve heard cops yell similar things when they’re working, so it seems possible to me that Air Force personnel might express themselves in a similar manner.
It sounds more like the crew announcing the firing of the weapons, like the crew of a tank yelling when the target is acquired and the round is away. I can’t hear what is behing said, but I thought I heard “TWO” and “THREE”, or “AWAY” or some such command. Once the crew has worked together, enunciation can go out the window, as long as the announcement is clear to the rest of the crew.
I’d guess your video game comment is spot-on, if the gulf war is any example. Soldiers interviewed about Iraq said that it was all like playing a video game, since all our weapons systems are really very similar to a glorified video game. Listening to radio chatter from the war also shows how casual our armed forces were about everything they were doing. Technology has separated the soldier from the killing. You’re not killing a person, you’re just making the red dot dissapear from your radar. Well played.
Still, after watching the video, it feels different from a game. I mean, you can see vehicles stop, guys getting out and running like hell before being enveloped in a ground burst. You know that those are human beings down there getting wiped.
Maybe for the Air Force soldier, but the grunt on the gound is still the one who has to go in and win the war. And if this saves countless ground forces’ lives I say kill every little glorified red dot you can.
I watched this clip thinking of the countless hours of 9/11 footage I saw and I hooted & cheered like it was the superbowl. Die terrorist, die!!
Even ground troops are being separated from the killing. Not the guy with the m16, no, but our tanks take out targets that they can’t actually see. When they do see their target, it’s usually just a tank-shaped green silhouette on a nightvision scope. Again, this is evident in their radio chatter. The battle in Iraq where 9 Abrahams took out 50 or so Republic Guard tanks had radio communications less passionate than me and my friends in a co-op game of Halo on the XBox.
Slugworth, these guys in Iraq were working, not playing, in an environment where they could be dead the next second. They had all faced the possibility of their own mortality in their own way. There is no reset button. You get excited because it is a game, they are quiet because it is not a game.
Too true, Bill. This is their job. This is what they’re trained for. And, yes, Hail, I thought the same thing, but this being a GQ question I thought a little discretion was in order.
If it was classified, nobody bothered to tell Military News, who recently had a link to it in their online newsletter. I’d found the video on a forum a few days earlier, and was curious as to its origins, but the mentioning in the newsletter confirmed its legitimacy. You can see the article at sailor’s link, although it does mention that the video is “uncomfirmed.” Given that they mention a mosque, it could be from the Gulf War.
Maybe a local topographical expert will be able to view it and then shed any light on the subject…
This video has been confirmed as authentic by the Department of Defense according to Fox News. They played the video over the news and said it was not released officialy by the Defense Department, but that the Department had confirmed it’s authenticity. I do not have a specific link to the news report however.
Audio recordings from other wars that I’ve heard were filled with a lot more panic and anxiety, but perhaps different clips are played for different wars to illustrate certain things. Vietnam wasn’t a popular war, so maybe only panicky recordings are played. Who’s to say. Just commenting on what I’ve personally heard.
