Posted: 9/5/2010 4:39:03 PM EDT
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Inspired by the photo in this thread. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=123&t=509520. I've seen a lot of cool Rhodesian Forces photos but until recently I never saved any of them to my hard drive, here are a few I've picked up here and elsewhere on the net in recent months. Anyone else care to share?               |
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Quoted: What is the short gun with the drum and forward pistol grip? I believe it's a moddified RPD but I'm not sure. The other pic with the 4 guys with the RPK, RPD, AK and FAL is interesting to. Did they prefer AKs over the FAL like the Israelis? I don't know what they preferred but some of the books I've read mentioned that units such as the Scouts would take com-bloc weapons on cross border raids. |
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What is the short gun with the drum and forward pistol grip? I believe it's a moddified RPD but I'm not sure. The other pic with the 4 guys with the RPK, RPD, AK and FAL is interesting to. Did they prefer AKs over the FAL like the Israelis? I don't know what they preferred but some of the books I've read mentioned that units such as the Scouts would take com-bloc weapons on cross border raids. Guess that would make sense. Never owned a FAL, but perhaps they didn't like the length of it. I am guessing it is around 5 inches or so longer than an AK. |
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What is the short gun with the drum and forward pistol grip? I believe it's a moddified RPD but I'm not sure. The other pic with the 4 guys with the RPK, RPD, AK and FAL is interesting to. Did they prefer AKs over the FAL like the Israelis? I don't know what they preferred but some of the books I've read mentioned that units such as the Scouts would take com-bloc weapons on cross border raids. Guess that would make sense. Never owned a FAL, but perhaps they didn't like the length of it. I am guessing it is around 5 inches or so longer than an AK. An AK sounds nothing like a FAL. If I'm in hostile territory, I'd rather not have an obvious auditory beacon every time I had to fire. |
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Awesome pics. I hadn't seen most of those before. What a bittersweet story it is. And look at the place now. It's just proof which side was the right side. So basically it went from a modern cosmopolitan country to a third world dump? Yep. And it was all the fault of the colonialists.  (As some would say)
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Quoted: Quoted: Snip In before somone calls you _A racist.  I wouldn't be surprised if some would immediately jump to that conclusion but my intention was merely to admire their fighting forces and the way they did so much with so little, not to comment on the social/political aspects of Rhodesia. From what I've read there were some great things about life in Rhodesia and I think it's undeniable that some aspects were not so pleasant for certain groups of people. |
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Snip In before somone calls you _A racist. I wouldn't be surprised if some would immediately jump to that conclusion but my intention was merely to admire their fighting forces and the way they did so much with so little, not to comment on the social/political aspects of Rhodesia. From what I've read there were some great things about life in Rhodesia and I think it's undeniable that some aspects were not so pleasant for certain groups of people. Well, the life under colonial rule for certain groups of people was much better than it is now. Look at the pictures: I see light and dark faces fighting for their country. |
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FYI, I'm looking for a pic from the Rhodesian war. It was in SOF in the late 70's or early 80's. There is an white male with dark hair and sunglasses who is sitting at a table and paying indigenous security guards. The man in the photo was a friend of mine who passed away a few years ago. He used to work security on Rhodesian farms during the late 70's. He kept the photo at his house and showed it to me once. I can ID it if I ever see it again. Please post if you see anything like it.
Thanks. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Snip In before somone calls you _A racist. I wouldn't be surprised if some would immediately jump to that conclusion but my intention was merely to admire their fighting forces and the way they did so much with so little, not to comment on the social/political aspects of Rhodesia. From what I've read there were some great things about life in Rhodesia and I think it's undeniable that some aspects were not so pleasant for certain groups of people. Well, the life under colonial rule for certain groups of people was much better than it is now. Look at the pictures: I see light and dark faces fighting for their country. No argument there and IIRC there were a good number of black Africans who wanted Rhodesia to stay the way it was but they were either killed or intimidated into keeping quiet. The country certainly has been in absolute free fall since the '80's. All I meant by the statement in red was that I think it is unfair to say there wasn't blatant racism built into certain parts of Rhodesian society. I think this started to change towards the end of the country and who knows, if the rest of the world would have kept their noses out of it the Rhodesians might have found a peaceful arrangement that worked for both whites and blacks. ETA: I must add that I am too young to have been to Rhodesia so any statements I make are solely based on the books I've read. |
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Is that Chuck Taylor with the cut down RPD? |
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Quoted: A few more I found floating around on the hard drive. http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/25chuck/Military/merc70.jpg IIRC, that's Robert K Brown (Soldier of Fortune magazine) with the 12 gauge pump. (ETA: Several of the pics posted are in a book called "Merc: American Soldiers of Fortune". I think I still have it at the house. I'll see if I can find it and post the captions.) |
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http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/25chuck/Military/Rhodesia_RPD.jpg Holy crap! Sawed off RPD LMG; now that's sexy.  American Special Forces used a similarly modified RPD during the Vietnam War according to the book on MACV-SOG. |
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Snip In before somone calls you _A racist. I wouldn't be surprised if some would immediately jump to that conclusion but my intention was merely to admire their fighting forces and the way they did so much with so little, not to comment on the social/political aspects of Rhodesia. From what I've read there were some great things about life in Rhodesia and I think it's undeniable that some aspects were not so pleasant for certain groups of people. Well, the life under colonial rule for certain groups of people was much better than it is now. Look at the pictures: I see light and dark faces fighting for their country. Yup. All of the Africans were volunteers and they formed a large majority of the Rhodesian armed forces. Only Europeans, Asians, and Coloureds were conscripted. |
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I guess the MRAP concept was invented during that war. http://www.baragwanath.co.za/leopard/leopard.jpg Sword meet sheild. Actually it was an Israeli concept, starting with the RBY scout car which has fiberglass wings which blow off in the event of an explosion, and can handle small mines easily. Also has a V-shaped hull. 
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I know its not a picture, but http://i339.photobucket.com/albums/n443/thorm001/Funny%20pics/menmen.jpg No it isn't, but would this thread be complete without it? I think not! 
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 Rhodesia was the country that could have been great. The politically incorrect stuff would have faded away eventually, and what is commonly described as the most beautiful place in the world could have been left intact. If Rhodesia prospered into modernity, I have no doubt that I would have tried to move there. Now it's full of communists and savages... and it's hard to tell the difference between the two. - BG |
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http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/25chuck/Military/greystx9.jpg The Fail is strong with this one.... Hah! Never noticed that before. Bet he got quite the surprise. |
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I think all my dad pics are with his mother back in South Africa, the stories he has of his time in that bush war are awesome, he has mentioned in the past that he knew of some Americans in the Rodesian war who cam over from the Vietmnam war, I don't recall if he was ever with any in the bush though.
I know this, my dad's all time favorite weapon is the FN rifle he used and a very close second was the MAG, said that MAG was bad though, cause it made him feel like he was beind a brick wall and was invincable, when shit in front of you just goes away, used to tell me how they had fresh barrels and would something need to change them out in a contact because the firing was so intense, other times the contacts were over in no time. I must try get his army day pics from him or his mother and post them up. |
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Rhodesia was a beautiful Country before they were sold out by European Countries. The Red Socialists wanted Africa to be turned back over to the black folk. And Mr.Mugabe is doing such a fine job of running Zimbabwe(Rhodesia for you Public School Kids). It was one of the last colonies to fall, South Africa was the last (Apartheid) did them in. That is what Socialist Governments do, Israel is next on the chopping block and they know it, they are waiting for Obama's 1 term to be up. |