An alert reader sent me a link to some footage of a DEA team in Afghanistan wearing some of the Gucciest high-speed gear I’ve ever seen in open sources.
But our friend noticed a shot with an operator firing some version of the SCAR. Now, I can’t tell if its the Mk-16 or Mk-17 (though I think it’s a 7.62mm 17) but it’s for sure a SCAR. The weird thing is that the uniform is different from the other DEA agents. They’re all wearing MultiCam and the SCAR shooter is wearing what looks to me like either the Marine Corps issued combat shirt in desert digital MARPAT, or the aftermarket BlackHawk! shirt that’s part of the HPFU. Or maybe the guy’s a special operator that’s attached to the DEA unit.
Anyway, check out the video yourself and do some IMINT for us.
(Gouge: PC)
– Christian
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Definatly the 7.62 version of the SCAR. Unless this guy can’t handle firing a gun that well because the 5.56 SCAR doesn’t kick that much. I agree that the guy with the SCAR is most likely a contractor.
Of more interest to me….is that at Mi-8 they are in? Looks like they’re stood next to one at 1:59 on the timer and it’s a small clamshell like opening at the rear at 1:36.
sorry small non clamshell rear ….that would be a Mi-17 variant. Sorry to be off topic.
Saw a Swiss Trooper in the train station rocking his SCAR last week (in swiss land. the land of chocolate). Did not think they would be issuing them already, looked much more solid in person than people are leading us to believe.
bdwilcox,
My grandfather was doing that as an agent through the ’70s, working with (and sometimes without depending on how corrupt the system was) the knowledge or cooperation of foreign police and military, as well as traveling anywhere from S. Amer to Eastern Europe to train anyone who wanted to learn about drug interdiction, including security forces of the Soviet Union in the 80′s.
Maybe he was more thrilled to be able to sign out a thompson or an automatic m1 on weekends instead of a SCAR, but it’s been part of their strategy for decades.
Training and intelligence gathering are one thing, but did he conduct offensive para-military operations?
The Voice of Reason sounds mad calm down dude were having productive discussion and if Christian likes to look for spec ops people who is to say he can’t.
Hey wait a minute, I thought the Marines were guarding opium fields in Afghan, why the change?
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_marines_opium_050608/
Mate they are talking about the helicopter which is called an Mi-17.
you may want to keep quiet because you just look like a dick.
I agree that it appears to be a Mk-17 SCAR. Although they appear to have a marksman in thier squad already so it may be a contractor working with the group.
“The Voice of Reason” <— Ironic name is ironic.
Good to see we are still up on exporting our failed drug policy. Not only that but we are spending money to spend people to those countries and teach them how to fail like we do. So Afganistan to can be free of ‘insurgance’ and just have ‘drug gangs’ run everything like in Central and South America. Awesome!!
I know for a fact I would not do Coke, Meth, horse, or any other silly get yourself killed on it drug if it was legal. Hell I don’t even drink, but those that are going to are going to do it if it’s legal or not. All we have done by making it illegal is turned junkies into criminals, and businessmen into gang lords. Just ask Al Capone.
Part of the reason i hate the idea of a universal healthcare system is the fact that IM the one paying for some weak a$$ junkie to get off the crack and onto drugs that are as bad.
Should just shoot any one who manufactures it. Find the plants in south america shoot anyone making it etc.
I just know to many stupid people to trust in the intelligence of man.
That has got to be one of the most insignificant, propoganda, spliced together videos I’ve seen.
Everyone is fighting for bigger budgets and of all the DOJ arms, the DEA is probably the most lacking in results to justify their exhistence. Not bashing the DEA, but what Marine or Army units to you see on Ops with such well edited movies?
Bunch of jackasses, that lone “gunman” wasn’t shooting at much…fakin da funk. Get them out of country.
The DEA has been doing operations like this alongside the Colombian military and police for years. They go into foreign countries all the time and have been for awhile. Where have you been?
def scar, def new marpat shirt/blouse. and the newer camo is multicam
Okay, let’s review, since some of you have forgotten a few things.
First, the Taliban is heavily financed by Afghanistan’s opium trade. Going after the opium farmers is going after the Talib’s cash. It seems like a no-brainer to get the DEA involved.
The NATO, etc. forces in Afghanistan have been known to use contractors for airlift- and many of those contractors use Russian hardware, such as the Mi-8/Mi-17.
“The NATO, etc. forces in Afghanistan have been known to use contractors for airlift-”
That is one of the things that bugs me.
The brits are short on helo’s because of a stupid beurocratic money scheme. But what about the rest of the nato forces sometimes it seems this war can be won or lost on your ability to get strikes with attack choppers or air trans but all our allies seem to seriously be lacking in this area. Thats not even counting the fact that so many of our allies just blew smoke up our buts with there commitment to astan(besides the brits and aussies and a few others). Hell has europe forgotten how to fight war?
“The DEA has been doing operations like this alongside the Colombian military and police for years. They go into foreign countries all the time and have been for awhile. Where have you been?”
-The last time I looked, Colombia wasn’t a declared warzone.
…and before you babies get your panties in a twist, yes, I was trolling.
For those who have been asking what sort of aircraft where used during the raid, here’s an article from Wired’s Danger Room blog which goes into a little more detail about the raid.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/afghan-hash-bust-underscores-official-corruption/
Apparently a WWII ere Douglas DC-3 was used to provide surveillance!
The last time I looked Afghanistan wasn’t a declared war zone either. Did I miss the declaration of war with Afghanistan? I guess I’ll have to do some more research.
WJS here is that info you needed about the declaration of war with afgahn “S.J. Res. 23
September 14, 2001″ that’s when bro
I believe this unit is the Joint Agency teams codenamed “raiders” that Col. Oliver North has been embedded with.
Its in his Op Ed on the Homepage of Military.com
Valcan,
I agree with everything you said.
Looks like a change of policy to me. The US was protecting Opium fields, because it is Afghan “cash” crop.
But I guess things have changed now, maybe President Osamma needed more cash for his Health care propaganda…
I’ll bet that shirt is the new Blackhawk MARPAT knockoff. Believe it or not the Marine Corps has a trademark on MARPAT, so you can not use the pattern just because you feel like it. If you look at MARPAT, and Blackhawk you will see subtle variations in the pattern, and placement and size of the color patterns so Blackhawk can avoid infringing on the MARPAT trademark. Furthermore, I have yet to see Marine Corps FROG shirts with patches on the sleeves. There is one velcro square for IRR patches. Not to say they can not be sewn on, but my money is on Blackhawk.
Why exactly is the DEA in Any-stan? I find that pretty disturbing actually. Do we maybe need a larger military. I really don’t like the idea of civilian contractors or government agencies running around in other countries with guns, possibly killing people and blowing stuff up. What if one of these teams screws up and kills a bunch of people, breaks something? Whose head rolls? What about their respect for human rights? Who’s responsible for these people? How come they have such great funding? I’m not comfortable with the idea of so many PMC’s and three letter agencies running around other peoples countries with weapons.
DEA in Afghanistan = Opium trade. I’ll bet the farm that they’re not just making sure the crops get destroyed – they’re probably mapping distribution networks and running operations every bit as unconventional as SOCOM.
I wonder how the D.E.A. actually never ran across one of these in Colombia:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Panama+creature&fr=yfp-t-101&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8 (Click on any search result / link you like)
Does anyone still remember these lines from a famous ’80s movie: “When I was little, we found a man. He looked like – like, butchered. The old women in the village crossed themselves… and whispered crazy things, strange things. ‘El Diablo cazador de hombres’. Only in the hottest years this happens. And this year, it grows hot. We begin finding our men. We found them sometimes without their skins… and sometimes much, much worse. ‘El cazador trofeo de los hombres’ means the demon who makes trophies of men.”
One more reason to preserve the rainforest!
One more reason to preserve the rainforest!
Posted by: freefallingbomb at September 21, 2009 03:17 AM
No, that would be a reason to fire bomb it then use nucleur weapons on the ashes.
What they are wearing is the prototype Desert All Over Brush Pattern. The Army (Natick) feels this uniform/pattern is better than the ACUPAT & the MARPAT camo patterns? Different terrains require
different unifoms. Hell, the insurgents don’t wear body armor, helmets, gloves, goggles, and don’t wear boots!
Over 90% of our causlities come from IED’s and have nothing to do with wearing uniforms that can hide you as you blend into the countryside!
The Army is spending over a million dollars just to test these new and wonderous uniforms!