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You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Ammosexuals / Post Debate Open Thread: Good News Everybody, We Never Have To See or Hear the President Debate Ever Again!!!!

Post Debate Open Thread: Good News Everybody, We Never Have To See or Hear the President Debate Ever Again!!!!

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Thank someone’s, anyone’s Deity or Deities, or if you’re an atheist, no one’s Deity or Deities, that that is over!!!

And now for your post debate enjoyment, I give you the most specialist operator to ever operate operationally!!!!

Here’s the full pic:

Post Debate Open Thread: Good News Everybody, We Never Have To See or Hear the President Debate Ever Again!!!!

This must be the world’s most dangerous Subway! Honestly, I used to go to the Subway on FOB Hammer, which is where my Brigade Combat Team was based out of in Iraq, a couple of times a week and get a sub. Sure, we were on the forward operating base, so inside the wire, but it was still a Subway in a war zone during a war albeit one that was in the Phase IV conventional/Phase VII unconventional phase of war, so post major combat operations. I don’t remember ever having more than my M9 (Beretta 92) and two extra magazines with me. Most of the time my sidearm staid in the armory and I checked it out for when I was operating off the FOB, which was about 50 to 60 percent of my deployed time. And even then, depending on what type of Engagements I was doing, I left my sidearm in the armory rather than carry it because of what not carrying it conveyed to the Iraqis I was interacting with.

The specialist operator to ever operate operationally here, however, is just WOW!!!!

This guy is carrying 4 full size SIG P320s, though the desert tan ones in the drop holsters appear to be an attempt to make it look like he’s carrying the military version, which is known as the M17.

He’s got two fill size mags in the black P320s, so that’s 17 rounds in each. 18 in each if he’s got one in the chamber in each gun. It looks like he’s got the 21 round extended mags for the desert tan ones. Let’s stipulate he’s got one in the pipe in all four guns. So that’s 80 rounds in the guns and he’s got two more full size and two more extended mags in the mag carriers in the small of his back. That’s 72 more rounds. Provided he doesn’t have more rounds or even more guns around front set up for cross draw or appendix carry or in his pockets, he’s got 152 rounds to get a $5 footlong!

Each of this pistols, brand new, out the door, is between $440 to $650 depending on what he’s actually bought. They all look to be the X grip configuration, so those are bit more expensive. The spare mags are $49.99 apiece. At the going rate of ammunition, if you can even find it right now, provided he’s got quality self defense ammo in the guns and the back up magazines, he’s got between $152 (Speer Gold Dots) to $228 (Federal HST) worth of ammunition on his waist and hips. Throw in another $200 to $250 for the drop holsters, the belt holsters, the gun belt, and the magazine carriers. So he’s spent between $3,000 and $4,000 to feel safe getting a $5 sandwich!

Personally I’d just go to a sandwich shop in a better neighborhood. Like Iraq.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

259Comments

  3. 3.

    Hunter Gathers

    That is a man with severe self esteem issues.

    Either that or the saddest Fortnite skin I’ve ever seen.

  5. 5.

    MP

    Guy comes heavy like that, a sandwich artist needs to choose his words very carefully when asking if he’d like a larger sub.

  8. 8.

    FlyingToaster

    I grew up in gun country* (an adolescence misspent in Clay County Missouri, birthplace of Jesse James), and they terrify me to this day.

    I haven’t been back to visit my niece in KC in 5 years, but even then, when I saw the gun shop opposite where my HS’s road T’s into the main drag, I was fucking appalled.

    I don’t know of a neighborhood bad enough to require me to carry a gun to Subway.  I. just. don’t.

    * There was not a single stop sign between my house and HS that was not full of shotgun holes.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Delk: The real question is what the front says. I mean if it’s Navy it’s just sad. If it’s baker then it’s hilarious!

  12. 12.

    Mike in DC

    The gun enthusiast version of “conspicuous consumption”, I suppose. The only way to top that is to walk into Starbucks with 4 long guns and body armor over a t-shirt and shorts.

    Trump “improved” from an F-minus to a D-plus/C-minus. Biden still smoked him.

  13. 13.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    This guy is carrying 4 full size SIG P320s, though the desert tan ones in the drop holsters appear to be an attempt to make it look like he’s carrying the military version, which is known as the M17.

    Fucking Christ! Desert tan is only for when you’re in the actual, y’know, desert, dummy (dude in the picture)! US military vehicles stationed in Europe during the Cold War were painted shades of green, for example

    But hey, I guess desert camouflage screams “military” these days

  15. 15.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    That picture looks like some guy who’se played Tomb Raider one to many times.

    I’ve lived on the end of Oakland when it was Murder Capital USA and never felt the need to carry a gun, in fact I was always told that packing made you less safe in rough neighbors because the drug gangs might think you were competition.

  16. 16.

    Leto

    I remember when I first saw this a few weeks ago and I thought it was just so fucking stupid. Like how much do you need to practice to remember/keep track of which spare mag goes with each gun? Like how much mental energy do you need to expend on this, when theoretically that mental energy needs to be focused on things like… which toppings do I want? Do I want my bun toasted? Also those skinny ass chicken legs… man, leg day! Leg daaaaay!

    Look at Dr Silverman over here, has a Subway at his FOB… fancy man!!! :P

  19. 19.

    jl

    Tactical question here, Admiral of the Ocean Seas Space Commander Silverman, Sir! What does having ammo clips (Edit: or are they magazines?) visible hanging off your back say about situational awareness for potential problems?

    Should I remove the grenades I put around the back of my tactical beanie?

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @FlyingToaster: I taught for a year at Temple University on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. This is a university that has reinforced walls and 24/7 monitored gates with armed campus police at all entrances. All the ground floor stairwells doors are locked for security. Even the library requires an armed guard at the entrance with metal detectors. And I never once, when off the campus and outside of this secured area felt the need to be armed, let alone openly so.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    So, not only does he dual-wield those pistols in both hands, he has prehensile toes for the other two? And can pull the triggers while wearing those socks? Impressive.

  31. 31.

    guachi

    When I was deployed with Seal Team 1 on Shark Base in Ramadi, Iraq no one walked around looking this stupid or this armed.

  32. 32.

    jonas

    Why would anyone want to announce so loudly and profoundly in public that they have a micropenis? I don’t get it.

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    aegan Vazquez @maeganvaz · 20m
    CNN’s @ddale8 just a few mins ago: “For a fact checker, you’re kind of sitting there w/Biden. Occasionally you’re like oh that’s wrong. With Trump you’re like the ‘I Love Lucy’ episode in the chocolate factory. You don’t know which one to pick up because there’s just so much.”

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: A full size P320 in the X configuration weighs 29.6 ounces unloaded. A box of 50 9mm rounds, depending on the grain of the bullet, weighs just around 1.61 lbs. The holsters are kydex, so they’re pretty light.

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    So he’s spent between $3,000 and $4,000 to feel safe getting a $5 sandwich!

    I’m sure he wears all that gear to places other than Subway. Terrified man baby can’t leave home without his gun binkies.

    A friend’s teenager daughter was robbed at gunpoint at her job at a Subway. I think she would have run away screaming if this guy walked in.

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There was a major I was friends with in 1AD before we deployed who was going to be the last Soldier left in Europe to wear the jungle greens before he was forced on the last possible date to switch to the ACUs.

  39. 39.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Adam L Silverman: Around 1989 or so my grandfather had brain surgery for an aneurysm at Temple. I remember they had a big brain surgery unit that treated a whooole lot of gunshot wounds.

  40. 40.

    HumboldtBlue

    This guy is carrying 4 full size SIG P320s, though the desert tan ones in the drop holsters appear to be an attempt to make it look like he’s carrying the military version, which is known as the M17.

    He’s got two fill size mags in the black P320s, so that’s 17 rounds in each. 18 in each if he’s got one in the chamber in each gun. It looks like he’s got the 21 round extended mags for the desert tan ones. Let’s stipulate he’s got one in the pipe in all four guns. So that’s 80 rounds in the guns and he’s got two more full size and two more extended mags in the mag carriers in the small of his back. That’s 72 more rounds. Provided he doesn’t have more rounds or even more guns around front set up for cross draw or appendix carry or in his pockets, he’s got 152 rounds to get a $5 footlong!

    Each of this pistols, brand new, out the door, is between $440 to $650 depending on what he’s actually bought. They all look to be the X grip configuration, so those are bit more expensive. The spare mags are $49.99 apiece. At the going rate of ammunition, if you can even find it right now, provided he’s got quality self defense ammo in the guns and the back up magazines, he’s got between $152 (Speer Gold Dots) to $228 (Federal HST) worth of ammunition on his waist and hips. Throw in another $200 to $250 for the drop holsters, the belt holsters, the gun belt, and the magazine carriers. So he’s spent between $3,000 and $4,000 to feel safe getting a $5 sandwich!

    What happens when he has to run away?

    From like a roaming tiger or something.

    Or an angry ex-wife.

  42. 42.

    smintheus

    @Adam L Silverman:  I taught for a couple of years at the Univ. of Cincinnati. Walked out of my office around midnight once for the two mile trek home, and in front of the building met a guy who’d been shot in the head and was pleading for help getting to a hospital. Didn’t worry about my own safety though, or stop walking to and from campus. And never would have given a thought to carrying some heat.

  43. 43.

    jl

    Serious question for Adam, or anyone who would know.. what I was getting at in my previous jape, was: Is it a good idea to decorate yourself with more open carry guns in very visible holsters in multiple mutually simultaneously unreachable places than you can keep track of?

    But, the question of whether I should keep the grenades hanging all the way around my tactical beanie was serious. Edit: very serious. No joke, swear to God.

  47. 47.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: how… how was he able to skip BDUs? The first SNCOs I was stationed with used to talk about the jungle greens. I was like, “Holy shit you’re old!” That always went over well.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Tom Nichols@RadioFreeTom ·53m
    I will dissent from all the applause for Welker tonight. The clock meant nothing and Trump bulldozed his way through 10 second add-ons. No pushback from her on the crazy stuff. Working the refs ahead of time paid off. Don’t @ me, America, it’s my opinion.

    I’m glad someone is pushing back on all the clique-y gushing, though someone said here earlier that Welker wasn’t actually in control of the fabled mute button, but some goon from the debate commission

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jl: Is it a good idea to decorate yourself with more open carry guns in very visible holsters in multiple mutually simultaneously unreachable places than you can keep track of?

    No.

    As far as the beanie goes, the real question is how strong are the loops from which you are hanging the grenades?

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: Dude, it was Hammer. We inherited it, unfortunately, from 3/3ID. They built it on top of what had been the impact area of the old Iraqi artillery range on the Bessamiyah Range Road. They put it there because they figured it was in the middle of nowhere so they’d see anyone trying to attack miles off. They still got attacked 1/2 a dozen times before we relieved them. They were in such a rush to build the thing that they wouldn’t wait for a new DFAC. Instead they had the only one in storage, back in Qatar, sent up. It was in storage in Qatar waiting to be dismantled because it was a health hazard!!!! So everyone who ate on the FOB was constantly sick because the DFAC was like a bad lab experiment! Between living on all those bits of depleted uranium and other crap from the artillery that had been shot off onto where they built the FOB, the defective health hazard DFAC, and the fact that someone approved the use of grey water – non potable, but not supposedly toxic – for the showers, sinks, and laundry, it is amazing I don’t either have 24 types of cancer or am a charter member of the X-Men! I have a 40 page addendum in my med file, prepared by the BCT’s public health doc, documenting everything he could figure out we were unnecessarily exposed to from living on top of all the unmediated bits of artillery, from whatever was growing and evolving in the DFAC, and from the grey water we were showering in and washing our hands with.

    It wasn’t like I was up at Balad AFB, you know the place with the Cinnabon. And the olympic sized swimming pool.

  54. 54.

    laura

    I’m guessing he spent a bit of time accessorizing and just imagining the chance to shoot as many people as possible and enjoy a value meal. He spent no time considering fashion, style, irony, overcompensation, seeking help, staying home.

  55. 55.

    Leto

    @jl: no, this is very dumb. This is basically the scene out of the Matrix where Neo/Trinity try to break Morpheus out. It’s a fantasy thing. He’d be better off with 1 weapon, dominate hand, with 2-3 spare magazines on his non-dominate hand hip. This just so incredibly dumb.

    regarding grenade beanie: 360 grenade coverage. You never know where the threat is coming from!

  56. 56.

    cain

    I really want a Doner Kebab right now and I think Adam L. Silverman wants it as well. We know it is the greatest street food in the world today.

  58. 58.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Since there are so many military folks in this thread, can anybody point me in a direction to research semi-modern warfare (within the last 20-30 years) involving armored/mechanized warfare with air support, including the basic organizational structure of army? Thinking about commissioning an artwork and writing a story that said artwork would be based on. See, I want to get the details right. “Hollywood Tactics” is a thing I’d like to avoid

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: They’re out of the way? Honestly, if he trips or slips and falls down and lands on his back, he’s going to crack one or more vertebrae when he lands on those magazines, which is why most people argue against small of the back carry. The reality is he’s got no other place to put them because he’s got guns on both his strong side and off side waist, he can’t put the magazine on the opposite hip of the gun.

  60. 60.

    Yarrow

    @Leto:  It seems like someone with a moderate amount of skill could come up behind him in the Subway line, tackle him and take a fair number of his guns away from him. It all seems so impractical and ultimately dangerous to him and others.

  61. 61.

    L85NJGT

    CNN:

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not answer questions about his health Thursday, only saying there were “no concerns” after reporters asked him about what appeared to be bruises and bandages on his hands in recent days.

    Bruising above his right eye, around his mouth and the side of his neck. He’s a mess.

  62. 62.

    Mart

    So the company security team (big ass foreign based company) sent an email to all employees saying with the election (and Covid hardships) be prepared for all shit breaking loose and have a full tank of gas, charged cell phone, food and water, escape routes, if road blocked rules. Read like a damn Silverman how to prep for a protest post. That is just totally fucking normal in the United States. I ordered some brown shirts from Amazon to blend in with the angry mob.

  63. 63.

    FlyingToaster

    @jl:

    But, the question of whether I should keep the grenades hanging all the way around my tactical beanie was serious. Edit: very serious. No joke, swear to God.

    Please, pretty please, do NOT bring your hat to Massachusetts.  Please.

    Though, honestly, I’d enjoy the photographic evidence…

    Toaster+2.5

  66. 66.

    mrmoshpotato

    Dude, the meat, veggies and cheeses aren’t going to attack you.

    This shit is just ridiculous.

  68. 68.

    H.E.Wolf

    @HumboldtBlue:

    What happens when he has to run away?

    From like a roaming tiger or something.

    Or an angry ex-wife.

    I guaran-damn-tee he’s the type who shoots his ex-wife. :(

  70. 70.

    jl

    @Leto:  Seem like an equally lunatic, but martial arts skilled, lunatic, could cold cock the guy from the back to put him down grab one of the half dozen guns that most conveniently presents itself, and either shoot him in the back as many times as desired, or pistol whip him until he was out cold. And a handy dandy bunch  of bullets in the back if you ran out of ammo.

    But, thanks, I  thought grenades hanging all the way around my tactical beanie was a great idea.

  76. 76.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I have a 40 page addendum in my med file, prepared by the BCT’s public health doc,

    Hey, I have one of those too! We had our public health people come up from Balad and do a week long survey. I got to register with the VA for the burn pit registry! Yay me!

    Dude, let me tell ya. The first time I went back to Balad, to rotate back for my mid-tour, I had been at Kirkush (FOB Caldwell) for 8 months. Going into one of the five DFACs there was like stepping into a 5 star dining experience. Our DFAC was basically 2 trailers tied together, whereas any of those DFACs was the size of Caldwell. I’m not going to say how pissed off I was at everyone there, but I was pissed off.

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: If I walked in, saw this guy, I’d walk out and go somewhere else. And I teach martial arts and my firearms and tactical training was done by a bunch of retired Green Berets who’d served in Vietnam.

  78. 78.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman:  OK, so if he goes tactical on me (for no reason at all, I can assure you) and I can’t run away from him fast enough and it gets desperate, I just put a couple of backward elbows into him, then some knees Muy Thai style and if he falls down, he busts  himself up.

    Maybe I would knee thrust him first, since if I ever saw anyone like that I would immediately start backing away very slowly.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Matt McIrvin: Philadelphia is a hard, hard city. I love the place, but it is complicated.

    Temple Med is a couple miles up North Broad from the main campus. It’s pretty close to where Joe Frazier’s gym was.

  80. 80.

    piratedan

    @L85NJGT: could have been a visit from the Russian Federation staff reminding him to keep America hurting or else they’d turn him over to his wife’s “friends”….

  81. 81.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Not a bad idea. NATO was still using Cold War tank doctrines in that war from the little I’ve gleaned, relying on heavily armored main battle tanks on the ground

    I suppose I’d like to know how a modern military would realistically try to fight a super-powered alien foe. In most fiction, the military is often shown as being far out of it’s element and usually gets curb stomped

  83. 83.

    The Moar You Know

    Saw a dude like that at my local gun range a few years back.  In addition to pistols on both sides of his hips, he also had some sort of tacticool knives (not Ka-Bars) strapped to each leg.  But the most impressive thing was him enthusiastically violating one of the main range rules by blazing away with his AR, I mean just emptying 20 round mag after mag into a paper target five feet in front of him.  (The range required a minimum distance of 7 yards).  Dude EASILY dumped over 700 to 1000 rounds while I was there.  5.56 isn’t cheap.   No aiming, no marking his shots.   Thought about asking him if he’d just rather use my shotguns but he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.

    I don’t go to that gun range anymore.  Sucks as I like the owner quite a bit, but neither she nor her staff will enforce range rules (Rambo was one of the least egregious examples).  They don’t.  And somebody’s going to get killed there one day because of that.  Won’t be me.

  85. 85.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I, for one, still enjoy a “Melania HATES him” narrative, doesn’t mean I think she’s a good person, I just like that she obviously does not like to touch him. 

    Pa-skull @WalnutDust · 1h
    I know we hate a “Melania HATES him” narrative BUT I MEAN

    You give me the Covid, you dummy.

  88. 88.

    West of the Rockies

    @Leto:

    Wasn’t there an 80’S action movie where the hero jams a grenade into a dude’s mouth, pulls the pin, and walks away? We don’t wanna get a BJer blown up now.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: Provided the holsters are retention holsters, it’s stupid because you’ve advertised everything you’re carrying, but the retention holsters make it hard for someone to just walk up from behind and snatch a gun. This is why most people can’t/don’t just snatch a gun off a cop, because they use retention holsters.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: This was in Fall and Winter 2007 through early 2008 before we deployed. I have no idea when they finally forced him to switch over.

  93. 93.

    Leto

    @cain: omg… if we ever go back to the town in Italy that we lived in, they had the best fucking Doner Kebabs ever! So many good spots to eat there.

    @Yarrow: that, or as Adam pointed out, if he has to do anything that involves his back/side he’s a goner. Cosplay Ranger Rick reporting in!

  94. 94.

    jl

    @The Moar You Know: One of my NV Trumpster kin goes and pulls that shit out in a remote dump, way out in the desert. Are you saying that is wrong?

    I’ve never actually seen it, I’ve always taken a pass on the way to spend the afternoon. I did think about going to one of the local night time rat shoots, but then had second thoughts.

    Edit: forgot that I did see some massive action on an old washing machine on his phone.

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    @jl: Need to explain to him that it’s not an Arby’s very carefully and politely.

    Arby’s!  We have the meats! – for sandwiches.  (Not for you gunhumpers to also hump.)

  97. 97.

    planetjanet

    @oldgold: Thank you.  I was looking at the CNN website and they have forced me to watch seven 30 second commercials and I still don’t have the results.

  100. 100.

    Uncle Omar

    @jl:  How skilled a martial arts lunatic would the lunatic have to be? I would think that a brick or reasonably sized hand-held rock right over the “retired” on the back of the cap would incapacitate the gunsel for long enough to strip him of his arsenal and ammo.

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: That would be AMAZEBALLS! I haven’t eaten anything from a restaurant since I started sheltering at home at the end of February.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It was a textbook combined arms attack.  The air force beat the living shit out of anything that looked like it might be able to fight back.  Then a good sized force tied up what was left the Iraqi army while the main coalition forces outflanked them with a wide swing into the desert.  It’s what everyone had learned to do at Benning, Knox, Sill, Irwin, and Hohenfels.  And there weren’t even trees and hills in the way like there were on the sand tables in the schools.

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @L85NJGT: He either fell down or he was beaten. Last time I saw someone with hands like that, someone had worked them over to get them to divulge information. In this case, however, and given that he had polio as a child, I’m guessing he fell down.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mart: Would you be comfortable sending the actual text to me via email? I am curious as to what was specifically said. I will not post about it.

  107. 107.

    James E Powell

    I got my coverage from the comments here along with the twitter feeds of Jennifer Rubin & Tom Nichols. I like hearing their lifelong Republican views on our situation. They are anti-Trump, but they do not think like us. They both liked Biden’s performance way more than most people here did.

    Nichols hated the moderator. Like most Republicans, he doesn’t realize that media people, especially the cable ones, are worried lest they offend the right-wingers. It can damage careers and there are often death threats. In contrast, they brag about criticism from liberals as proof of their both-sides objectivity.

    I am happy that these ridiculous things are over and that we only have twelve more days to go.

  110. 110.

    RaflW

    Not to make too much light of the gun nuts, but, re that photo, back in the early aughts, I was that asshole who helped grocery stores decide to move the canned soup from aisle 2 to aisle 5, or even just to get rid of the terrible tasting (but oddly popular with a half-dozen families) cereal and dare to double-face the CheeriOs so that the night stocker didn’t have to bust his ass so much.

    All this in the midwest, sometimes in rather red and rural parts of it. Glad I got out of it before cammo cowboys went armed to shop. I mighta gotten shot for hiding the french fried onions in the wrong damn place. (The groans from shoppers as we’d strip a section for resetting were dispiriting enough).

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jl: I could put him out with a lateral vascular restraint in 4 seconds and he’d never be able to get his guns out. I could also hit him in just the right spot in his back that he’d lose the ability to stand up. Same with outside either knee, which also takes away his ability to control his bowels. All from behind, all before he could draw one gun.

  118. 118.

    oldgold

    More CNN poll results:

    Who directly answered the questions?
    62 Biden
    31 Trump

    Who had a better plan for solving the countries problems?
    54 Biden
    42 Trump

    Who seemed to be a stronger leader?
    49 Biden
    49 Trump

    Whose performance raised concerns for you as president?
    55 Trump
    41 Biden

  119. 119.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @L85NJGT: “Bruising above his right eye, around his mouth and the side of his neck. He’s a mess.”

    He’s rotting. It’s what happens when you’re dead inside and your soul leaves your body. With McConnell his soul has been gone for years.

  123. 123.

    Lyrebird

    @Leto:

    @cain:

    Heck, I only worked *near* a base, not even on one, and I want a Doner Kebab right now!  Friends asked me when I got back, “what is German food like?”  ..me: “uh, I don’t know.  Turkish food rocks, though!”

  125. 125.

    The Moar You Know

    Are you saying that is wrong?

    @jl: Eh.  it’s not my thing.  My grandfather was a big distance shooter.  I got a taste for that as a kid.  I like aiming!   And if you are going to go full metal hailstorm at something fifty feet away, well, that’s why Jesus gave mankind the shotgun.  Which I also have a taste for.  The whole tactical close-range rifle thing may have its place in modern warfare but it just seems stupid to me.

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: I hear you. As a civilian I don’t even get to register with the burn pit registry program despite being exposed to all that crap too. I just have to have faith that my insurance will not ever hold it against me.

    And I’m right there with you. I never got to Balad, but I did get to Striker or Victory on occasion and it was like: HOLY SHIT!!! This DFAC is clean!!!! Hell, I was happy when I’d go and work off of COP Cashe in Jisr Diyala because they had a wet CHU for me, wifi for the entire COP, and a clean DFAC that wasn’t a health hazard. Sure, it used to be the Tuwaitha Nuclear Facility, but our armor battalion had a nicer base than the BCT. I have a picture somewhere I took of what’s left of the Osirak reactor from the top of the berm.

  127. 127.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for advice. If we ever meet, i will be very polite and respectful.

    Just to be clear, I was joking. My Muy Thai classes taught me that my only decent martial arts skill is sprinting as fast as I can.

  128. 128.

    TriassicSands

    @FlyingToaster: * There was not a single stop sign between my house and HS that was not full of shotgun holes.

    Almost forty years ago, I took my father on a vacation in southern Utah. Headed south on a sparsely traveled road (back then), we passed a couple of road department employees putting up a brand new road sign. Ten days later, when, headed in the opposite direction, we passed that same sign, it was already full of bullet holes. There is just something about signs and gun-toting cretins.

    These days, I assume there must be a website dedicated to informing the G-TCs where virgin signs are located so that they can be properly dealt with.

  134. 134.

    Leto

    @Omnes Omnibus: I remember reading about how the Iraqi’s were amazed that we basically just drove through the desert no problem. Basically they didn’t know about GPS and how we used it. At Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, they still have the bombed out protected aircraft shelters that we bombed to prevent the Iraqis from using those aircraft. It’s also how the Kuwaitis discovered that they were scammed with the construction of those PASs. It should’ve been solid concrete but instead was basically two thin concrete layers with just sand in-between.

  136. 136.

    Kent

    @The Moar You Know: There was a time in my life as a fisheries biologist that I carried a rifle all over Alaska.  Never carried more than the 3 rounds that fit into the magazine.  That was for Alaska Kodiak bear protection.  After 3 shots your rifle becomes a club.

  139. 139.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @A:

    I think 1994 is recent enough imo. I don’t think things changed that much between 1994 and 2003, did they?

  140. 140.

    jl

    @oldgold: Sounds like other polls I’m hearing on the news. The 49-49 tie on leadership raises concerns. We need more and far better leadership training in our schools.

  141. 141.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Interesting. I’ll take a look at Wikipedia first. Though truth be told, I don’t intend to depict two armies fighting each other; rather an army attacking a single powerful and mobile target

  143. 143.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: When I was at USAWC, one of the deputy deans, an Army colonel with a PhD in military history who was planning on retiring NLT 2013 refused to switch from the green Class As and Bs to the then new blue ones. He refused to spend any money on new uniforms and alterations if he was going to retire before it became mandatory.

  144. 144.

    Amir Khalid

    I get the sense that to jackals with experience of guns, Mr Four Pistols looks really silly.

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Leto: I knew a MAJ who was involved in interviewing some of the Iraqi generals after the war and when shown and told about GPS asked if all our division commanders had them.  They replied that we had them at platoon level.

  146. 146.

    Kent

    @jl:@oldgold: Sounds like other polls I’m hearing on the news. The 49-49 tie on leadership raises concerns. We need more and far better leadership training in our schools.

    Trump is decisive as hell.  He just decides in all the wrong directions and no one can tell him otherwise.  I think people are confusing that with actual leadership.

  151. 151.

    jl

    With apologies to humpty dumpty:

    The ultimate Trumpster.

    Set fire to the dumpster,

    Threw on some garbage, gas, and an old tire

    And the paid hacks couldn’t put out the fire.

  152. 152.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    In this case, however, and given that he had polio as a child, I’m guessing he fell down.

    He fell hard and hurt himself August 2019 (or, it was reported):
    McConnell Undergoes Surgery to Repair Fractured Shoulder – The lawmaker suffered the injury after falling in his home earlier this month. (Alexa Lardieri, Aug. 16, 2019)
    /s Maybe he was getting the Regeneron antibodies cocktail (given with an IV) for a covert case of COVID-19 hidden from his fellow Senators (reckless endangerment!) so that he could guide the Amy Barrett confirmation through the Senate, and the phlebotomist couldn’t find veins, combined with blood thinners for extra bruising. He’s evil enough.
    I’m tempted to spin that up as a rumor. Unlikely in reality but it could gain legs.

  154. 154.

    Kent

    @Omnes Omnibus:@Leto: I knew a MAJ who was involved in interviewing some of the Iraqi generals after the war and when shown and told about GPS asked if all our division commanders had them.  They replied that we had them at platoon level.

    I expect now days there is probably GPS security involved with military maneuvers where soldiers have to make sure all their GPS devices (phones, watches, fitness trackers etc.) are turned off and stowed or left behind so that they can’t be located by the enemy via apps and shit like that.

    And there is probably electronic warfare hacking going on so that the US military tries to get stealth tracking apps installed onto enemy forces phones and other devices so they can be tracked.

  155. 155.

    Matt McIrvin

     

    @jl: A lot of people think being a bellowing asshole is being a strong leader. It’s how we got here, to some extent.

  157. 157.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kent: I am a Cold War/Persian Gulf era guy.  Adam could give you a better idea.  We had to be able to read maps in my day, damn it.

  160. 160.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: Who knows. He’s 78, he had polio as a kid and is not steady on his feet. My guess is he fell down again. Several times. A lot.

  162. 162.

    The Moar You Know

     

    I get the sense that to jackals with experience of guns, Mr Four Pistols looks really silly.

    @Amir Khalid:  Yes and no.  He’s got issues to the ragged edge of being dangerous.  Sane normal people do not walk around showing off their guns.  Not even in America.  Anywhere.

    Like Adam said, I walk into a place with a guy like that in there, I’m leaving.  Immediately.

  163. 163.

    JWR

    According to CNN, Here’s who spoke the most during tonight’s debate, (in minutes):

    Trump: 41.16
    Biden: 37.53

    And I’ll bet Trump’s extra 3-1/2 minutes came from him blowing past those 10 or 15 second (one of which I timed at 40s) grace period follow-up responses.

  166. 166.

    James E Powell

    @jl: 

    The 49-49 tie on leadership raises concerns. We need more and far better leadership training in our schools.

    I’d like to see the male/female breakdown on that question.

  168. 168.

    Kent

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m imagining some stealth Taliban or ISIS phone app that they trick them all into installing so that the CIA or Pentagon can see where they all are down to the exact inch.  You wouldn’t even need all of them, just 1 in 10 soldiers to make it work.

    I’m sure I’m not the first to think of that.

  170. 170.

    Leto

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ACUs (Army Combat Uniform) were similar to the AF’s ABU (Airman Battle Uniform). It was meant to be an all environment uniform. I was issued both ACUs and ABUs for my Iraq deployment, 2007-2008. We did not blend in with either the local terrain, nor with our Army counterparts.

    Bit of quick history: Right after 9/11, the military’s uniform contract was set to expire. The Army, AF, and Marines all wore the same uniform: the BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform). But with the expiration of the contract, each service decided it was time for them to each have their own separate uniform. Each service wanted to put their own spin on the design. Little heritage throwbacks and shit. Each also went their separate way in the types of digital camouflage pattern they used. The first iteration of the AF uniform was this all blue monstrosity, that utilized Vietnam era “Tiger Stripe” style camo pattern. When we did wear testing (giving out the uniforms so regular troops could wear them) they were uniformly ridiculed. So we gave them to the Navy, who now proudly wears them.

    So for almost the next fifteen years the Army, AF, and Marines did their thing with uniforms until around 2014 when the AF started issuing Army OCPs (I don’t remember the acronym) for their people deploying, and by 2018 it was announced that OCPs would be the new standard duty uniform moving forward.

    If you want to know what government waste, fraud, abuse looks like, there it is. There’s basically no reason why 99% of the military can’t wear the same fatigues/duty uniform. Didn’t help that the AF ABUs came in 4 different shades (all the same pattern, but there was a light grey, med grey, one a bit more blue, one a lighter blue) and for some fucking reason we couldn’t get the manufacturers of the uniforms to produce a… uniform shade for the blouse and pants. I mean, I could go on but this isn’t the history part you’re looking for.

  172. 172.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Amir Khalid: Shit.  I’ve only fired bolt-action rifles, and that was 25 years ago.  I look at this 80’s action movie horrible cosplay and go, WTF?

  178. 178.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kent:

    AOC +3

    It’s a new reality show coming to TLC from the people that brought you Jon and Kate Plus 8. In this case it’s about how a plucky junior congresswoman adopts three junior staffers and teaches them life lessons by demonstrating mad social media skills.

  181. 181.

    Lyrebird

    @NotMax:

    Well if it helps, I think up in DE and Benelux places they spell it, Döner Kebab, so it should sound like Derner Kebab and not like any reindeer.

    Then again I bet there are BJ commenters who’ve eaten reindeer, too…  widely-traveled bunch!

  183. 183.

    Geoduck

    @The Moar You Know: I had a (male) teacher in high school that came in wearing a full pink bunny suit one Halloween. Someone else had a couple of bandoliers on their outfit, and loaned them to him for the day to wear. The result made the yearbook.

    And whatever the outcome of the election, the Shiatgibbon is running again in 2024, so we may not be out of the debate woods yet.

  188. 188.

    Leto

    @Kent: @Omnes Omnibus: There is, especially after it became more widely known about things like Fitbits, etc tracking your every move and being able to plot locations even if you didn’t have an exact map. There were a number of articles in the Military Times about it and a whole host of rule changes after that.

    We still do a lot of map reading/traditional navigation, especially in special operations units. I was a support troop but we had to go through all that stuff because if our equipment shit out, we still had to know how to get to X. Plus when I went through Combat Skills Training with the Army for my Iraq pre-deployment training, they covered that in-depth along with map reading for being able to conduct CAS, as well as MEDEVAC operations. We also now have a system called Blue Force Tracker which basically is a monitor with a map and everyone’s GPS signal is put onto the map. You can see where the friendlies are and it helps with deconflicting the area. Plus we also carried backup military GPS units and most of the guys had civilian GPS units just in case. And batteries. Lots of batteries. Can never be too prepared.

  192. 192.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: The OCPs. I just missed out on getting those. They were really nice but also meant to be a more total environment uniform. Desert, woodland, urban. Similar color palette to the Marines, which did better in camo testing. I thought they were better, overall, because they were more durable and had better pocket design. It was easier to get ammo/items in/out versus the ABUs.

  193. 193.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: Biggest mistake the Army made was not going with the uniform the Marines were wearing in Iraq.

    Also, whoever decided that aqauflage was a good idea is an idiot!

  194. 194.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t know of any Turkish restaurants there although I could ask my friend. I just remember walking almost everywhere in Germany, even the little tiny town on the Rhine which name escapes me now, and finding a döner kabob cart. There was some tension regarding Turkish immigration that almost perfectly matched the influx of the Syrian refugees 20 years later. I was just grateful for a cheap good snack or lunch while we strolled around.

    Also: if we’re at Delmonico’s fuck the kabobs. I need me some kicking good arrabiata.

  196. 196.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: You were around for the band uniform Class As, weren’t you?  Fucking abomination.  Although, in my day, we wore that uniform more than the greens.  Line units wore BDUs.  If we got dressed up, it was almost always formal enough to wear blues.  But for people in office gigs, it was a terrible uniform.

  197. 197.

    Lyrebird

    @Adam L Silverman: Looks disturbed to me.  And also – I agree with @L85NJGT: like Forrest Gump, only less friendly.

    I looked again.  Does he have his smartphone in his left pocket and his wallet in his right?  Why would someone wear thigh holster things like that and then put stuff in those pockets? But I don’t think I want to know why, same as I don’t want to know why he is going into some ordinary non-war-zone sandwich shop geared up to mow down so many people.

    Agreed on the back away and go in another restaurant plan.

  201. 201.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I owned a business about half way between East LA and South Central LA and was slightly worried once, when I had $33,000 in cash from an auction I’d just held, selling off excess equipment. I was by myself at dark, on a Sunday night, locking up and leaving. And I didn’t see the need for armament. I’ve told the story of my import watch on the tin can I was stationed on, there were 2 of us with 1911 45s and 2 clips each with 5 shots in each, the same in every port we ever were in. We were the security for an entire naval vessel. And about 2/3 the time I was below decks. I served for a few weeks in the Shore Patrol and the most weaponry we carried was a night stick and a set of handcuffs.

  202. 202.

    RaflW

    @oldgold: Overall good news. But Americans inability to grasp what leadership looks, sounds and feels like is still a longer term crisis.

    Who seemed to be a stronger leader?
    49 Biden
    49 Trump

  204. 204.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: Can I get an AMEN!?!?! The Marines uniform was amazing. High quality, durable, great pockets, great camo.

    Yeah, the “aquaflage”… I remember when Air Force Times showed the first pictures of that concept. It was fucking atrocious. Tiger stripes? Ok, I can get that. But that blue? I mean, it’s perfect for the Navy. Someone falls overboard, BAM! They’ve blended in with their environment! Are you attacking from the sky? Well, as long as you’re in continual free fall and have the sky behind you, perfect! Of course as soon as you’re on land you’re fucked, but for that brief instant you totally got’em!

  205. 205.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yutsano: There is a good Azerbaijani place near my office.  I got take out from there last night.  As far as Turkish goes, it really gets blended into some “Mediterranean” places.

    German street food is great.  Although the bosna stand in Kitzbühel, Austria has great sentimental appeal to me.  I think I could still find it blindfolded.

  208. 208.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, here’s another thing: the suede boots we had to wear when we transitioned over. We went from wearing leather boots to those suede ones. For some career fields, that was ok. But for aircraft maintainers (and other similar fields)? Man, those guys were going through 2-3 boots every 2 months because if any type of grease/oil got on the suedes? Ruined in an instant. Eventually they made/issued these like green faux leather style boots that you could more easily wipe stuff off of? I get the intent, lower uniform maintenance, but that was just the wrong call. Should’ve stuck with the black leather.

  209. 209.

    TriassicSands

    @laura:

    I suspect he may have regretted leaving the ankle holsters + contents at home. But he also may have an M134 minigun mounted to the roof of his car (an up-armored Hummer?), so there is that.

  210. 210.

    Leto

    @Omnes Omnibus: we have a great farmers market near us in Reading. The Dutch Amish make a really good schnitzel, which we get a few times a year. Well we did before Covid but yeah.

  211. 211.

    Cowboy Diva

    @Adam L Silverman: I remember living in Philadelphia in the ’90s and learning the fascinating statistic that Temple had the 3rd largest police force in the state after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

  212. 212.

    TriassicSands

    @Geoduck: And whatever the outcome of the election, the Shiatgibbon is running again in 2024, so we may not be out of the debate woods yet.

    If he wins this year, he probably won’t have to run in 2024. Don’t forget the Executive Order Constitutional Amendments!

  213. 213.

    Ruckus

    @Leto:

    We wore dungarees and blue shirts 50 yrs ago. You fell overboard you very likely weren’t being seen ever again. Even in daylight. We in fact were on plane patrol with an aircraft carrier when a guy fell/was blown off the flight deck. We and helicopters started looking in less than 30 seconds, all that was ever found, in just a few minutes was his life jacket and gloves.

  215. 215.

    Origuy

    @Lyrebird: Then again I bet there are BJ commenters who’ve eaten reindeer, too…  widely-traveled bunch!

    There’s this restaurant in Stockholm Old Town…. Mostly I remember the desert was Brie with cloudberries.

  216. 216.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Leto: I came from the shiny boot era and would wear jungles except in the deepest of winter.  The suede desert version of the jungle boot was only authorized with desert BDUs.

  217. 217.

    Steeplejack

    @Hellbastard:

    I saw only Ivanka, and she was wearing a mask on the way out afterwards. The cameras did not show the audience at all during the debate, and not very much beforehand.

  220. 220.

    NotMax

    @Leto

    Reading, PA? Lived for a few years in Sinking Spring (in the boonies, R.F.D. 8) and also closer to town, in the Flying Hills complex.

  222. 222.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: I have a Blue Force Tracker story for you. Our artillery battalion – the 4/27 FA/Iron Thunder – had a great command sergeant major. The guy was a counterinsurgency savant. Specifically the hearts and minds stuff. We inherited OE Hammer* from 3/3ID so we were in the agriculture district south and east of Baghdad (Mada’in Qada) plus part of Wassit Province. So south and east of Baghdad and south of Diyala Province. The operating environment was three to four times the size of the city of Baghdad depending on how you measured it with only a couple of hundred thousand people all told in it. Almost all of them in Jisr Diyala, Nahrawan, and Salman Pak. So a lot of area, not a lot of people in that area. We were the legacy brigade, so we weren’t force modular and had no aviation assets. So lots of empty.

    One morning very early CSM Clark swings past and picks up all the honeybuns from the DFAC. He then loads up his hummvees and MRAPs with a bunch of humanitarian assistance stuff – clothes, shoes, dry goods, dried foods, water purifiers, personal hygiene items, books, coloring books, crayons, pens, markers, toys – and off he and his patrol go. Way out into the eastern most portion of the OE. Where the radios don’t have good reach. A couple of hours later his vehicles show up stopped on Blue Force Tracker. Not too unusual. But they’re just sitting there. The next thing all hell breaks loose in the TOC.

    The BCT commander, deputy commander, XO are all yanked out of their offices. I’m called from mine, I have no idea what the cultural advisor was supposed to do, but I was considered senior staff, so… And then the radio calls start (this is paraphrased a bit as it’s been 8 years since this happened). Thunder 7, Striker X-Ray, Thunder 7, this is Striker X-Ray. Thunder 7, this is Striker X-Ray, Thunder-7, this is Strike X-Ray! Any Thunder element, this is Striker X-Ray, any Thunder element, this is Striker X-Ray. Striker X-Ray, this is Thunder 3.3, Striker X-Ray, this is Thunder 3.3. Thunder 3.3, Striker X-Ray: Proceed to coordinates …. Thunder 7 is not responding. Weapons free! Repeat WEAPONS ARE FREE!!!! Striker X-Ray, Thunder 3.3, Striker X-Ray, Thunder 3.3: proceeding to Thunder 7 position.

    So now we’re watching this element scream across the sector on the big screen while the clock seems to be running backwards and now the radio is: Thunder 7, this is Thunder 3.3, Thunder 7, this is Thunder 3.3: time to your location is… Take cover, repeat TAKE COVER!!!!.

    They come screaming in ready to basically vaporize whatever has CSM Clark and his Soldiers pinned down. Turns out that CSM Clark had rolled up on a remote settlement that was well off the grid, most likely a bunch of internally displaced Iraqis – several families just trying to get by. So he stopped, had his medic check everyone who wanted to be checked out checked out, handed out a bunch of supplies, and because there was a bunch of kids got them all wired on honeybuns and was having an impromptu soccer game of Soldiers versus Iraqi kids when his backup showed up thinking they were heading into combat. Because the area was so remote the signal wasn’t strong enough to go to his trucks and then from his trucks to the portable radios. Had anyone been sitting in the trucks they’d have heard the radio calls. But they were all out, either on a security perimeter or playing with the kids.

    If we’d had 100 CSM Clarks we’d be 40 years ahead of where we are in Iraq.

  225. 225.

    JoyceH

    Debate comment. This is something I’d noticed before and noticed it again tonight, and the news people never seem to mention it. Look for this. Whenever the subject of climate change comes up, Trump will say how committed he is to clean air and clean water.

    Well, in the first place, the way his administration has been slashing environmental regulations, that’s a lie. But the thing is – he was asked about CLIMATE CHANGE. Air and water pollution were the main issues back in the 1970s, at the dawn of the environmental movement. We’ve done great things on that, heck the Chicago River doesn’t catch fire anymore. Climate change is an entirely different environmental issue, and Trump either doesn’t know that or he’s deliberately changing the subject.

  229. 229.

    artem1soo

    @Kent:

      I think people are confusing that with actual leadership.

    I think people are confusing how their crappy Gordon Gekko bosses act with actual leadership.

  230. 230.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: A lot of these decisions did not seem to be made by people that had much idea about what Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines are actually doing.

  237. 237.

    DMcK

    @Adam L Silverman: He does. His wide-legged stance is mainly to keep his overloaded shorts from dropping. He’s never worked a job where the weight distribution of one’s tools & attire was a thing worth thinking through.

  238. 238.

    Benno

    @Adam L Silverman: I started working at 2nd and Girard the same summer all those buildings collapsed in Philly, and my wife started at Temple. It was a really rough area back then. I watched a man get shot just south of Rising Sun my first week of work. I thought about quitting, but I never thought about packing. Cowards, all of them.

  239. 239.

    joel hanes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’d really love a schnitzel sandwich right now.

    I’ve looked, and it seems that Grafenwoehr Hell beer is no longer produced.   We always appreciated the branding.  Came in those “flippy” bottles with the caged ceramic stopper, too.

  240. 240.

    jlowe

    He needs to start strength training. His ropy little arms couldn’t hold up one of those weapons long enough to shoot off more than a fraction of that ammo.

  244. 244.

    Jay

    @Omnes Omnibus: 

    And the Iraqi’s were for the most part, conscripts, parked hull down in berms, and immobile.

    Would have worked against a WWII Air Force, modern, not so much.

  245. 245.

    Matt

    So he’s spent between $3,000 and $4,000 to feel safe getting a $5 sandwich!

    In his defense, apparently this Subway allows heavily-armed paranoid lunatics to carry in guns so you can see why he’d be concerned ;)

  247. 247.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @cain: My döner kebap story:

    Berlin, July 1990. Walking down a very quiet street in late afternoon toward my room in Nollendorferplatz, after an unsuccessful wrangle with the (still in existence) Reiseburo der (soon to be extinct) DDR over a future room in Leipzig…

    …& here is a döner stand on the ground floor of one of the townhouses.

    Place was empty except for the Turk behind the counter. When I told him this was my first time he laughed, made me a large & charged me for a small. We chatted for a bit auf deutsch

    When suddenly four men & a woman burst out of the house next door onto this (once) very quiet street screaming at one another in an unknown language. Döner Guy & I stared out the shop window at what from the audio volume bid fair to become imminent carnage. (FTR there was no back door; I was trapped for the duration.)

    Knowing there was a sizeable contingent of Turks in (still-)West Berlin, after some thought I asked, “I don’t understand what they’re saying – is that Turkish?”

    He whirled on my angrily: Nein! Of course not! Turks would never act that way! Those are polische Zigeune!

    (And in truth, as I discovered a couple of days later, it was Polish-Gypsy-Summer in the soon-to-be-capital of the soon-to-be-reunified Germany…)

    FWIW, the döner was excellent.

    /travelogue

  253. 253.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @mrmoshpotato: All you food snobs jonesing for döner need only dance a syrto down to the nearest Greek resto & order a gyro.

    Döner kebap = “turned meat” = gyro (turning). Made zackly the same way**. (The vertical spit is said to have been invented during the Ottoman days by a Greek named Iskender [Turkish for Alexander] who observed the soldiers roasting meat on a spit & thought, Hey, if I turned that vertical, trim off all the fat & put it on top & put the fire to one side, it’ll baste itself!)

    Yooooge intersection between Greek and Turkish cuisine, often with the same (Turkish) names: Moussaka, dolmadhes, baklava, etc.*** One is, however, strongly cautioned not to mention this too loudly to your companions in a Greek restaurant…

    **Normally of lamb, although the Greeks might use pork on occasion since there is no dietary restriction. But even they won’t serve you a Donner kebap, as they tend to eschew longpig.

    *** Galactobureko (custard pie between filo) is a half-breed: Galacto is Greek for “milk” (“galaxy” – “milky way” – ?) and burek is Turkish for “pie”. Dolma is Turkish for “stuffed.”

  254. 254.

    J R in WV

    @Delk:

    Retired or retarded?

    But that’s not my question at all… my question is where does he put his concealed hideout pistol (s)>?>       ;~)

  255. 255.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @mrmoshpotato: One Donner kebab please. Veggies and sauce only.

    Contradiction in terms, Mr Food Snob: Kebab is Turkish for “meat.” Can’t have “meatless meat”.

    (NB I once ate at a restaurant in Ankara named Kebabistan – “The Land of Meat.” Knew better than to ask for the vegan platter…:^p)

  258. 258.

    The Pale Scot

    @trnc:

    You Be Illin’

    (One) day when I was chillin’ in Kentucky Fried Chicken
    Just mindin’ my business, eatin’ food and finger lickin’
    This dude walked in lookin’ strange and kind of funny
    Went up to the front with a menu and his money
    He didn’t walk straight, kind of side to side
    He asked this old lady, “Yo, yo, um…is this Kentucky Fried?”
    The lady said “Yeah”, smiled and he smiled back
    He gave a quarter and his order, small fries, Big Mac!

  259. 259.

    The Pale Scot

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Showoff. I’d just use a 6″ 5/8 pipe half filled with 1/2  washers crazy glued to one end. That and a #3 Phillips screwdriver was enough for me to feel safe if I was hanging out uptown after the clubs closed.

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