Cool pix!

Getting one of these blokes drunk is a risky business...

 

I'd be more worried about those sidecar monkeys, their an insane lot.

 

I don't know. We had a group of Australian SAS go through the Special Forces Q course with my class. There were like six or eight of them. I don't remember if it was during SFAS or actual Phase I, but their Lieutenant in charge was a real skinny, pale white, freckled, red headed guy and despite impressions one of the hardest men I've ever met. Physically, mental toughness and team dynamics/cohesion they surpassed 90% of the people there. They were a little behind on their tactical proficiency, but I think that is because at the time they weren't getting the financial support we were. We had the money to do more and better training. During the course that deficit was quickly rectified, because they got the time and reps.
I've told this story before, but at the end of some training iteration we were boarding (dragging our worn-out asses) up into trucks for the ride back to Camp Mackall, it was like 12 to 15 miles from where we were. The LT decided they'd throw their gear on the trucks and run back. I thought they were insane.
The Aussies were all around hard and I was impressed, but we had a dark green cadre (for some reason there aren't very many black soldiers in SF or the Ranger Battalions, I don't know why), that had just come back from instructing at SCUBA school, he PT'd us one day until everyone including the Aussies had quit. We'd been PTing for quite some time when he put us on the ground for four count flutter kicks. Proper form, legs straight, toes pointed, heels don't touch the ground. One, two, three. ONE, so actually two scissors for one count. We were way over 200 counts/repetitions when the last guy quit, I went out at about 215. If you ever quit during training, you can be dropped so we were all scared. A number of candidates did DOR (Drop on Request) after that, I think the cadre were just pointing out that they can break anyone if they want to.
When we finished first phase and returned to Ft. Bragg, the US guys were sent off for their Phase II specialty schools, I went to Ft. Sam Houston for medical training, Basic Medic Course, Paramedic/EMT Course, ATLS (Advanced Trama Life Support), and the long one the Special Operations Medical Sergeants Course, then a couple of months skills certification at Brooke Army Medical Center where you rotated through all specialty areas, surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics, emergency room, gastro intestinal, and others I can't recall. By the time we returned to Ft. Bragg for Med Lab the Aussies were long gone, their having their own specialty schools. I do think they went to through SERE School when we went to MOS schools then returned to Australia. We did SERE School during Phase III.

Nope, I went drinking with them numerous times when we were prepping for SFAS and they were good dudes and were less likely to stir sheet than some of the younger guys we had from the 82d or Ranger battalion, that didn't hold their liquor quite as well as well. I don't think there were any of the Aussies I couldn't take in a fight, but I've never been one to look for trouble, or back down from it. If there was ever an issue with the Aussie's they would have had to start it because I really thought they were great guys. The only guy in the class I knew I wouldn't want to mess with was a huge Samoan guy, SFC Glennister I think his name was.

 

I've never started a fight in my life, but have been in many - And won every single one. (I'm big so i suppose i'm a target for blokes wanting to test themselves - Dick Heads)
The only time i've backed out of a fight was about 20 years ago, i was standing outside a nightclub waiting to get in...Next to me was a stupidly hot young chick (nurse) with pigtails and girly backpack on - Short skirt with knee high stockings...I felt a biff on the back of my head (surest way to get me fired up is to hit me in the back of the head like a coward) - I spun ready to go...There in front of me were TWO giant Maoris smiling smugly down at me...For the first time in my life i slowly turned back around...I wanted to enjoy this chick not their foot up my arse.
DONT MESS WITH ISLANDERS - They will hurt you.


But i still stand by my statement...Especially SF vets who can be a bit affected by their experiences - Very sure of themselves and feeling indestructable. Perhaps with other vets they watch their Ps and Qs...But with civilians or regular soldiers getting drunk can go either way. I will say a couple of things, my experience with special forces is far from exhaustive. I have also observed a difference between SASR and Commandos…different people believe it or not (IMO). And how much experience they have (and age) can also have an effect on behaviour.

Couldn't help myself:

 

My opinion, people are a lot like dogs. You're more likely to be bitten by a small dog, (smaller dogs are also the bigger yappers, kinda like people). Fear is a greater motivator, and the need to get in the first strike, often from behind is a survival instinct. They tend to strike the periphery and not to deliver particularly devastating attacks.
Bigger dogs, bigger teeth, more mass, more powerful muscles, quicker reflexes and greater speed. They tend not to bark as much or bite as quickly as smaller dogs. They tend to face you, take an aggressive stance, snarl a little to warn potential aggressors away. They are quick to dodge a strike and even quicker to launch a counter strike, usually at a vital spot. Here breed becomes important, you have your Labs, retreivers and some hearding dogs that are big enough to defend themselves but are not particularly aggressive, their size and mass allow them to readily defend against smaller dogs. Then you have the hunters Belgian Malinois, German Shepards, Rottweilers, Weimaraner's, etc. these dogs tend to be well muscled and weigh in between 70 and 110 lbs. fast, quick, strong, with killer instincts. They are generally good companion dogs and don't attack without provocation.
Then you have the very large dogs like Great Danes. Their sheer size and mass make them formidable. They don't tend to be as quick reflexed or strike with the same speed and precision as the hunters. Their size however allows them to, in most cases absorb an attack from a smaller dog unless said dog manages to get in a strike at a disabling or vital spot. If the smaller dog is not quick and doesn't avoid the counterstrike, the sheer size and force of the very large dog can prove devastating. More often than not the hunter will attack and quickly dodge the counter-strikes but find it hard to land a debilitating hit, after repeated strikes/counterstrikes, the dogs tend to separate and both retreat.
Younger dogs tend to be aggressive and mix play and fighting, they haven't been around enough or been in enough scraps to identify traits they should be wary of or to fight with purpose, damage, debilitate or kill. Given time they become more serious in their approach, separate play from actual fighting, become more serious and adept at delivering debilitating attacks and are both safer to a non-aggressive person or dog and dangerous to a threat.

That would make sense, the Australian SASR are the more highly trained and selected element. The 1st and 2d Commando are more analogous to our Ranger Battalions, higher standards of selection and training than the general force but not on the level of SF or Delta. Kind of an intermediate tier between conventional and smaller top tier special operations units. While considered Special Operations they tend to retain many of the capabilities of a conventional unit with many of the advanced skill sets of the top tier units. It's my understanding that 1st Commando is a hybrid active/reserve unit and thus has a different character from 2d Commando which is active force, this is natural. Their missions tend to be in support of the SASR much like the Rangers tend to be deployed in support for SF/Delta/SEALS.

 

You wrote a lot and I couldn’t find a thing I disagreed with.

 

Now there's something you don't see every day!

 

Somebody put some time into the pic. Same guy, multiple poses all put together.

 

Make music not war…This is what young blokes should be doing.

 

I shall call him Puppy Boyington…