<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/atom10full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" gd:etag="W/&quot;D0QMQnYzeyp7ImA9WhRaFEk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395</id><updated>2012-02-16T18:23:03.883-08:00</updated><category term="XM177" /><category term="gau-5a" /><category term="m653" /><category term="Marui" /><category term="CA" /><category term="M16A2" /><category term="M14" /><category term="m733" /><category term="delta force" /><category term="competition" /><category term="cold war" /><category term="LBV" /><category term="m635" /><category term="SEAL" /><category term="jungle boots" /><category term="Alice Pack" /><category term="colt 3x20" /><category term="operation gothic serpent" /><category term="commando" /><category term="airsoft loadout" /><category term="M249" /><category term="Operation Urgent Fury" /><category term="ciener shotgun" /><category term="video" /><category term="SOCOM" /><category term="PASGT" /><category term="knights armament" /><category term="SFOD-D" /><category term="GP" /><category term="Operation Desert Storm" /><category term="Operation Just Cause" /><category term="m60" /><category term="m4a1" /><category term="xm21" /><category term="m723" /><category term="M17 Respirator" /><category term="m727" /><category term="M9 Bayonet" /><category term="82nd Airborne" /><category term="Rangers" /><category term="fire-support" /><category term="m629" /><category term="airsoft loadouts" /><category term="golden pheasant" /><category term="movie" /><category term="car15" /><category term="1993" /><category term="airsoft" /><category term="m654" /><category term="somalia" /><category term="masterkey" /><category term="Panama" /><category term="desert shield" /><category term="m4" /><category term="TM" /><category term="special forces" /><category term="colt commando" /><category term="paintball" /><category term="M16A1" /><category term="black hawk down" /><title>Cold War Airsoft - Gear, Kit, Weapons, Loadouts, Reviews etc.</title><subtitle type="html">Cold War Airsoft UK is dedicated to the often conflicts of the 70's, 80' and 90’s that comprised the cold war and beyond, looking at the weapons, gear and equipment of the period. This is about armed forces, written from the perspective of reenactment airsoft and paintball, kit and weapons of the cold war period, if you want maps and war stories then the History channel has your back!</subtitle><link rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/posts/default" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><generator version="7.00" uri="http://www.blogger.com">Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>14</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/CcBbm" /><feedburner:info uri="blogspot/ccbbm" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DEMCSHs8fCp7ImA9WhRVE0o.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-1342710368577718322</id><published>2012-01-12T05:53:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-12T05:54:29.574-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-12T05:54:29.574-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft loadout" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="colt commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m727" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="black hawk down" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="operation gothic serpent" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="xm21" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft loadouts" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="SFOD-D" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="car15" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="delta force" /><title>Black Hawk Down Delta Force Loadout Guide</title><content type="html">My previous post showing some of the production stills from the filming of Blackhawk Down has proved incredibly popular. The vast majority of traffic that I get through this website from google are people searching for delta force pictures,&amp;nbsp; so it’s probably not much of a surprise that the behind the scenes pics of the SFOD-D guys from Blackhawk down have been received with interest.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
With this in mind I’ve put together the following guide for those that are interested in the kit worn by the actors portraying various Delta Force operators in the movie Blackhawk Down from an airsoft perspective.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Generic Delta Operator:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VPubZy0RgU/Tw7YU-8W-RI/AAAAAAAAAUg/Hxz7XVYeAMI/s1600/07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="260" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VPubZy0RgU/Tw7YU-8W-RI/AAAAAAAAAUg/Hxz7XVYeAMI/s400/07.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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To start with I'll give a guide for a generic Delta Force look, I'll go into the popular named charachters later.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Raid Modified 3 colour "coffee stain" desert BDUs&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Blackhawk Hellstorm Knee Pads*&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;PT Armour**&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest***&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Alice LC1/2 Belt, 2x 5.56 pouches, compass pouch, 2x canteens &amp;amp; buttpack&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Blackhawk drop-leg Omega holster &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Protec half shell helmet****&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;SWD Goggles / Bolle X500*****&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Colt commando (M733, M727)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
* The hellstorm knee pads are out of production now, but various chinese copies can be picked up from ebay or HK based retailers.&lt;br /&gt;
** Chinese copies of the PT armour are available but are pretty small and very much suit a runners physique.&amp;nbsp; Guarder used to make a bigger one that can be picked up second hand.&amp;nbsp; Getting the real item is pretty tought these days.&lt;br /&gt;
*** Blackhawk have altered their products over the years and this vest is the closest (the new stlye D.O.A.V is pretty close too.&amp;nbsp; I wouldn't worry about getting this part perect as they were all tailored in the movie, any pre-molle, black, US style vest would look the part imho.&lt;br /&gt;
**** Get the real item, they don't cost much.&amp;nbsp; Sand down the shiny finish like the real guys did.&lt;br /&gt;
***** Personal preference here, in the movie they have a mix of X500s and Oakley goggles, but issue SWD goggles would be apropriate.&amp;nbsp; Pick what you are comfortable wearing, it's only a game afterall!&lt;br /&gt;
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See my article &lt;a href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/12/airsoft-colt-commando-overview.html"&gt;HERE&lt;/a&gt; for an overview on airsoft Colt Commando's.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b&gt;Hoot (Eric Bana):&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pGOQ9of6NjA/Tw7c7ROKxtI/AAAAAAAAAUw/7UQa2hQWMjA/s1600/BHD-BTS-032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pGOQ9of6NjA/Tw7c7ROKxtI/AAAAAAAAAUw/7UQa2hQWMjA/s400/BHD-BTS-032.jpg" width="392" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
Eric Bana's character ‘Hoot’ is one of the most popular
loadouts you see copied from the movie.&amp;nbsp;
His loadout differs from the generic guide above in a couple of
ways.&amp;nbsp; His assault vest has had all of
the pouches removed, using it as an expensive set of suspenders for his belt
load.&amp;nbsp; Over the top of this he wears a 6
pouch chest rig (4x 5.56, 2x .45) made by Blackhawk, though similar chest rigs
were produced by Eagle at the time and are cloned by King Arms and a Chinese
Firm.&amp;nbsp; Rather than using the DOAV style
vest as a set of suspenders, it makes more sense to use an LC1/2 set of
suspenders as 90% of it is concealed below the chest rig. 'Hoot' wears a pair of Blackhawk .45 pouches on his belt rig.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HHlVb80EMZs/Tw7e3_Yu3EI/AAAAAAAAAU4/4aHKCzDqVZA/s1600/BHD-BTS-035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HHlVb80EMZs/Tw7e3_Yu3EI/AAAAAAAAAU4/4aHKCzDqVZA/s400/BHD-BTS-035.jpg" width="392" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Gary Gordon &amp;amp; Randy Shughart:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XgEA-3QMlBk/Tw7fglwfNeI/AAAAAAAAAVA/uE5YoZ2laAk/s1600/gordon+schugart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XgEA-3QMlBk/Tw7fglwfNeI/AAAAAAAAAVA/uE5YoZ2laAk/s400/gordon+schugart.jpg" width="395" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
By far the most popular Black Hawk Down Delta loadouts are those of Shughart and Gordon, the two Delta snipers that heroically chose to face certain death defending the second crash site. &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As far as loadouts go they follow the general outline of the other kits with a couple of exceptions.&amp;nbsp; The actor portraying Gordon wears an Alice Y harness combined with the 5.56 chest rig (as suggested in the Hoot loadout above).&amp;nbsp; The actor portraying Shughart has a modified LBV88 instead of an LC1 Y Harness.&amp;nbsp; This seems to have been tailored to remove the back mesh panel and the front pouches.&amp;nbsp; This is a bit odd, as the LC1 ammo pouches will only hold 2x M14 mags each, meaning that he can in theory only carry 5 mags total.&amp;nbsp; For skirmishing purposes you could sneak a couple more LC1 ammo pouches onto the belt rig and it would still look pretty authentic.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
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A note on Gary’s CAR15.&amp;nbsp; This is often incorrectly identified as an M733, however it is actually an M727 with a slip over suppressor.&amp;nbsp; These were very common in the early 90’s with delta, Rangers and Airforce Special Operations (there are images of them in use during Desert Storm and Somalia).&amp;nbsp; The company that manufactured them is called Ops Incorporated, king arms make an airsoft clone of this suppressor.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Boots:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The boots worn in the film by the SFOD-D operators are Adidas GSG9 boots, which are as rare as hens teeth these days.&amp;nbsp; I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over this part of the impression as boots would have varied from operator to operator depending on personal preference.&amp;nbsp; Many of the images from the real conflict show the use of the standard issue Jungle Boots or desert boots, which can be picked up brand-new, unissued for a very small outlay.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Movie accuracy:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The kit used by the delta operatives in the movie is a pretty decent homage to what was used in Somalia.&amp;nbsp; The general look and feel of the loadouts is very close, particularly with all of the tailored kit.&amp;nbsp; However one has to remember that the movie was made nearly 10 years later, with kit provided by Blackhawk Industries, often using more modern equipment modified to look like that of the period.&amp;nbsp; As the movie is only a rough impression I think it is fair that an airsofter attempting this type of loadout use the same approach.&amp;nbsp; The pics below are a couple of the real operators from the conflict to give you some idea of how close the film got.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0FZYGPKDSJk/Tw7lixZ-I7I/AAAAAAAAAVI/qPxtMbDNZ84/s1600/m3b3b03852efa61740bc5f6qz5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0FZYGPKDSJk/Tw7lixZ-I7I/AAAAAAAAAVI/qPxtMbDNZ84/s400/m3b3b03852efa61740bc5f6qz5.jpg" width="145" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tz-IYo_sVSk/Tw7lj9Qt75I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/A82JG4BQAE4/s1600/Paul+Howe+Somalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tz-IYo_sVSk/Tw7lj9Qt75I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/A82JG4BQAE4/s400/Paul+Howe+Somalia.jpg" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-1342710368577718322?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/zyEXwH6N0fE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/1342710368577718322/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/more-blackhawk-down-kit-discussion.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1342710368577718322?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1342710368577718322?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/zyEXwH6N0fE/more-blackhawk-down-kit-discussion.html" title="Black Hawk Down Delta Force Loadout Guide" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5VPubZy0RgU/Tw7YU-8W-RI/AAAAAAAAAUg/Hxz7XVYeAMI/s72-c/07.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/more-blackhawk-down-kit-discussion.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;Dk8DRH46cCp7ImA9WhRWGUU.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-6764936051870714080</id><published>2012-01-03T07:38:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-07T17:07:55.018-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-07T17:07:55.018-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Operation Urgent Fury" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Alice Pack" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="SEAL" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Rangers" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="SFOD-D" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="delta force" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="82nd Airborne" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>Operation Urgent Fury - Image Post</title><content type="html">&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
Operation Urgent Fury was the codename for the US led
invasion of the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983 in response to the military
coup that had ousted the revolutionary left wing government.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
US ground forces comprised primarily of 82&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt;
Airborne, 1&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; &amp;amp; 2&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; Ranger Battalions and 22&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt;
MEU (Then MAU), with the special operations community represented by 1&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt;
SFOD-D, SEAL teams 4 &amp;amp; 6 and 160&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; SOAR.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r9Qi4HxFmSo/TwMW7yUxBlI/AAAAAAAAARQ/QLc2iVvAPwg/s1600/82nd+AB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="323" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r9Qi4HxFmSo/TwMW7yUxBlI/AAAAAAAAARQ/QLc2iVvAPwg/s400/82nd+AB.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;A contingent of 82nd Airborne wearing the then new K-Pot.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEC589HUTeM/TwMW9_Ap9jI/AAAAAAAAARc/jc6R-qVmels/s1600/badmuthers1-perlo_on_ranier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="312" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEC589HUTeM/TwMW9_Ap9jI/AAAAAAAAARc/jc6R-qVmels/s400/badmuthers1-perlo_on_ranier.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;Ranger, wearing dated gear.&amp;nbsp; Rangers were easy to identify in Grenada due to their Vietnam era fatigues and web equipment.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kFOEJWYHXhw/TwMXEXTqNUI/AAAAAAAAARo/dshBg63TI0w/s1600/DF-ST-84-09816.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="260" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kFOEJWYHXhw/TwMXEXTqNUI/AAAAAAAAARo/dshBg63TI0w/s400/DF-ST-84-09816.JPEG" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;Unknown US personnel wearing the then out-dated ERDL fatigues.&amp;nbsp; The soldier to the left sports a claymore mine carrier, while the RTO on the right has a medium Alice pack with frame, concealing what is most probably an AN/PRC-77 VHF man pack radio.&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NOEY0MFrLCk/TwMXMre2PxI/AAAAAAAAARw/lZLhtKjZsoY/s1600/DF-ST-84-09923.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="261" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NOEY0MFrLCk/TwMXMre2PxI/AAAAAAAAARw/lZLhtKjZsoY/s400/DF-ST-84-09923.JPEG" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
Despite the introduction of the M16A2 a year earlier this 82&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt;
airborne member carries an M16A1 assault rifle.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-83o4A2J6_Sk/TwMXdy0QQuI/AAAAAAAAAR4/dwRNPm42v18/s1600/DN-ST-85-02031.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-83o4A2J6_Sk/TwMXdy0QQuI/AAAAAAAAAR4/dwRNPm42v18/s400/DN-ST-85-02031.JPEG" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
More 82&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; Airborne here, this time wearing the PASGT
protective vest.&amp;nbsp; The soldier on the left
of the image has a CW-503 Accessory bag attached to the side of his AN/PRC-77
VHF Radio.&amp;nbsp; This pouch was used to stow
the AT-271 Fish Pole Antenna and AT-892 Tape Antenna when not in use.&amp;nbsp; The AT-892 is affixed to the PRC-77 in this
image.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7OmLoIkl-yE/TwMXfSuWhII/AAAAAAAAAR8/ZR_t_f8N9Nc/s1600/rangersgrenada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7OmLoIkl-yE/TwMXfSuWhII/AAAAAAAAAR8/ZR_t_f8N9Nc/s400/rangersgrenada.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
An iconic image of Rangers in Grenada.&amp;nbsp; This image was used by the US Government as a
propaganda image with the tag line “People of Grenada, your Caribbean
neighbours with U.S support have come to Grenada to restore democracy and
insure your safety”.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1CD-M1gTOEo/TwMW9MvbEbI/AAAAAAAAARY/jjVG5VLTizw/s1600/1266836198_159_FT41992_biggrenada.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="325" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1CD-M1gTOEo/TwMW9MvbEbI/AAAAAAAAARY/jjVG5VLTizw/s400/1266836198_159_FT41992_biggrenada.gif" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
Some secret squirrel types.&amp;nbsp;
I’ll leave you to muse over what unit these guys might be affiliated with,
but they are most often attributed to SFOD-D.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&amp;nbsp;One of the most interesting aspects of the Grenada era is the mixture of equipment and weapons on display.&amp;nbsp; The US military was in a transitional period after the Vietnam War and a lot of the equipment was still in use alongside the newly introduced PASGT system, the M16A2 and of course the M81 BDU.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-6764936051870714080?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/36AIBwIjTwI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/6764936051870714080/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/operation-urgent-fury-image-post.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/6764936051870714080?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/6764936051870714080?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/36AIBwIjTwI/operation-urgent-fury-image-post.html" title="Operation Urgent Fury - Image Post" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r9Qi4HxFmSo/TwMW7yUxBlI/AAAAAAAAARQ/QLc2iVvAPwg/s72-c/82nd+AB.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/operation-urgent-fury-image-post.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;A08HSHg9fCp7ImA9WhRWFUk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-2632333988307988842</id><published>2012-01-02T16:17:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T16:17:19.664-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T16:17:19.664-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="competition" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fire-support" /><title>Firesupport Giveaway</title><content type="html">&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It's not often I pimp retailers on here, but Firesupport are probably the best retailer in the country and are having a pretty epic prize draw in January.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="http://www.fire-support.co.uk/"&gt;www.fire-support.co.uk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;img align="absMiddle" alt="" height="120" src="http://www.fire-support.co.uk/controlpanel/shoppics/Image/firesupportjan2012giveaway%281%29.jpg" width="468" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;

&lt;br /&gt;
Firesupport £3000 Prize Giveaway Jan 2012. All INTERNET orders of £100 or more qualify. &lt;br /&gt;
32 prizes. Every day a winner is drawn from the qualifying orders that 
day. At the end of the month all qualifying entries from the whole month
 then go into a final draw to win a Systema PTW. Entries open to all 
people. UK or World, Gun prizes in UK can only go to UKARA registered 
players, rest of Europe can win any prize (additional postage will be 
needed from non UK mainland winners). Other top prizes inculude Marui 
recoil AEGs, several Marui GBB pistols, other GBB pistols, magazines, 
webbing, bbs&lt;br /&gt;
and more. Prize winners and prizes announced on facebook 
every day.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;

Please LIKE us on&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwfire-supportcouk/176587841857?ref=ts" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img align="absMiddle" alt="Facebook" border="0" height="21" src="http://www.fire-support.co.uk/controlpanel/shoppics/Image/facebook2.jpg" width="58" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;to see the results every day&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-2632333988307988842?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/Ng98Rbzw-1E" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/2632333988307988842/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/firesupport-giveaway.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/2632333988307988842?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/2632333988307988842?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/Ng98Rbzw-1E/firesupport-giveaway.html" title="Firesupport Giveaway" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/firesupport-giveaway.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;A0YNQn0zfyp7ImA9WhRWFUk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-8386360144499759960</id><published>2012-01-02T10:13:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T16:06:33.387-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T16:06:33.387-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="video" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paintball" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m4" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>Paintball M4 Video.  Slow Motion</title><content type="html">Paintball RAM Colt M4, flimed in slow motion.&amp;nbsp; I thought this was pretty neat, and I understand you can get an earlier M733 for those of you that like your Colt Commando's in cold war flavour.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/SrLOfGclDVQ/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SrLOfGclDVQ&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" /&gt;

&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /&gt;

&lt;embed width="320" height="266"  src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SrLOfGclDVQ&amp;fs=1&amp;source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I'm not too big on paintball myself, but it does look like it's becoming a much more mature sport than it was when I first stepped on a paintball site 15 or so years ago.&amp;nbsp; Now if we could only get rid of all of the neon clothing, paintball markers that look like bad sci-fi props and the horrible greasy paint I could be tempted back. Are paintball pellets still ridiculously expensive?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-8386360144499759960?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/sjN0RyxVTXA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/8386360144499759960/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/paintball-m4-video-slow-motion.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/8386360144499759960?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/8386360144499759960?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/sjN0RyxVTXA/paintball-m4-video-slow-motion.html" title="Paintball M4 Video.  Slow Motion" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2012/01/paintball-m4-video-slow-motion.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DUEHRHc-eip7ImA9WhRWFUk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-7634999256243990297</id><published>2011-12-30T21:01:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T15:40:35.952-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T15:40:35.952-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft loadout" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="colt commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m727" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="operation gothic serpent" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paintball" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft loadouts" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="SEAL" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="car15" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>The Colt M727 Carbine, the M4's older brother.</title><content type="html">&lt;h2&gt;


The last Cold War CAR15&lt;/h2&gt;
The Colt Model 727 carbine is what can be considered the
last true colt commando model prior to the mass adoption of the M4 and as it
happens one of my personal favourites of the cold war period.&amp;nbsp; The
Colt 700 series rifles and carbines began to appear in the early 80’s, with the
727 appearing towards the end of the decade.&amp;nbsp;
I’ve yet to see pictorial evidence that any made it to Panama or Iraq during
Desert Storm, all of the images I have seen show earlier 600 series car-15s.&amp;nbsp; Operation Gothic &amp;nbsp;Serpent did however see a large number of 727
carbines in the hands of Rangers, CAG and SEALs as can be seen from the image
below.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oD030HJJuco/Tv6VcAogbOI/AAAAAAAAANM/mjcFTR5p1eQ/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oD030HJJuco/Tv6VcAogbOI/AAAAAAAAANM/mjcFTR5p1eQ/s1600/1.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;Two M727 Carbines in the hands of Rangers during Gothic Serpent&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JsIeHFooPng/Tv6Verj4QoI/AAAAAAAAANU/L6Cufj8MQTU/s1600/10127820sniper20squad20gardner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
The Colt Model 727 is often mistaken for the similar looking
M4 carbine, however the differences between the two models are quite easy to
spot once you know what you are looking for.&amp;nbsp;
The easiest to spot at a glance is the hand guards, all pre-M4 models
sport slender, streamlined hand guards whereas the M4&amp;nbsp;and its derivatives have
chunky, overweight looking examples that ruin the lines of the weapon.&amp;nbsp; The other major difference is that the 727
carbine, like all other CAR15 variants has a fixed carry handle, whereas on the
M4 this is removable to reveal an accessory rail.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ge_ipNLyfM/Tv6Vu_sQN5I/AAAAAAAAANg/r6O6N2lg3oM/s320/drg.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;A model 727 on display at the SEAL museum,&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PDok7atxVbQ/Tv6WsX_pQcI/AAAAAAAAANs/eg3xlS33jvI/s1600/seal8pc4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PDok7atxVbQ/Tv6WsX_pQcI/AAAAAAAAANs/eg3xlS33jvI/s320/seal8pc4.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"&gt;A SEAL RTO with M272 and M203 Grenade Launcher&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
As I can't have a real one over here in the UK I have a M727 replica for use with my airsoft loadouts, you can see a post about it here: &lt;a href="http://operationbushmaster.blogspot.com/2011/08/airsoft-colt-commandos.html"&gt;http://operationbushmaster.blogspot.com/2011/08/airsoft-colt-commandos.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-7634999256243990297?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/4ZwzPv_s6y8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/7634999256243990297/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/12/colt-m727-carbine-final-colt-commando.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/7634999256243990297?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/7634999256243990297?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/4ZwzPv_s6y8/colt-m727-carbine-final-colt-commando.html" title="The Colt M727 Carbine, the M4's older brother." /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oD030HJJuco/Tv6VcAogbOI/AAAAAAAAANM/mjcFTR5p1eQ/s72-c/1.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/12/colt-m727-carbine-final-colt-commando.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DUINQXc-cCp7ImA9WhRWFUk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-1438721845405113795</id><published>2011-12-27T12:15:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T15:39:50.958-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T15:39:50.958-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="CA" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="colt commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="GP" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m727" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Marui" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m653" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m733" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="XM177" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paintball" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft loadouts" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m723" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m635" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="car15" /><title>The Airsoft Colt Commando - An Overview</title><content type="html">&lt;h2&gt;



Cold War Airsoft Weapons - CAR15&lt;/h2&gt;
The Colt Commando or CAR15 was the special forces weapon of choice during the cold war period up until the introduction of the M4 in the mid 90's.&amp;nbsp; Any Delta Force, SEAL, CSAR, CCT etc. airsoft loadouts will need a replica CAR15. There have been quite a few airsoft replicas of the various models of Colt Commando, this guide is meant as an overview of the subject rather than an indepth guide.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
As far as &lt;b&gt;airsoft CAR15&lt;/b&gt;s go you have the following options:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
M609 (XM177E1) - G&amp;amp;P&lt;br /&gt;
M629 (XM177E2) - G&amp;amp;P, TM (out of production) and CA&lt;br /&gt;
M653 - G&amp;amp;P &amp;amp; TM (limited edition)&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
M635 - G&amp;amp;P&lt;br /&gt;
M723 – G&amp;amp;P (ehobbyasia special with M500 weapon light)&lt;br /&gt;
M727 - G&amp;amp;P (ehobbyasia special)&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
M733 - G&amp;amp;P, TM and JG. &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
G&amp;amp;P: In terms of quality the G&amp;amp;P Commandos are top
of the pile, followed by CA and TM.&amp;nbsp; They
sport metal bodies with accurately trademarked receivers and a very nice,
period correct dark grey finish. Importantly, they are the only airsoft
manufacturer to correctly model the slim line CAR15 hand grips to the correct
size and finish. Internally they have a great mechbox, usually pushing between
320 and 360 fps depending on the model.&amp;nbsp;
In my experience the hop rubber is the only part I would consider
replacing, which luckily is a 5 minute job, others have found the hop rubber to
be perfectly adequate however.&amp;nbsp; There
were some reports with earlier batches of G&amp;amp;P armalites of spur gear axel failures;
however reports of this seem to have gone away and are not something that I or
anyone I know has personally experienced.&amp;nbsp;
I’d always go for a G&amp;amp;P Colt Commando if I had the option.&amp;nbsp; I have a G&amp;amp;P M733 for use with my airsoft loadouts&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
CA: The Classic Army armalite range is a bit like a Ford
Focus, perfectly good mechanically but a bit bland in the looks department.&amp;nbsp; The biggest problem for most is the
trademarks, white screen printed “armalite” logos look nothing like the correct
engraved colt markings.&amp;nbsp; The receiver
finish on every model bar the XM177 and M16VN is a satin black, rather than the
correct dark grey.&amp;nbsp; There are various
detail issues with models representing 600 series carbines too.&amp;nbsp; Mechanically they are solid and should last a
long time if left in their stock configuration but the hop rubbers are pretty
dreadful in my experience.&amp;nbsp; If you’re not
too fussed about minor details they are usually much easier to get hold of than
G&amp;amp;P models and are a good compromise.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
TM:&amp;nbsp; Sadly the TM Colt
Commandos are a bit out of date these days, but they still have many redeeming
features.&amp;nbsp; Their plastic receivers are
accurately trademarked and finished in the correct shade of dark grey, they are
mechanically bulletproof if left in their stock configuration and the TM hop
rubbers are the best stock rubbers of any manufacturer out there. &amp;nbsp;The TM commando grips are oval shaped to allow
a little more battery space, which is a significant negative in the looks
department. If you’re not fussed about having a metal body go for a TM M733,
they’re great performers, but at around the same price as the G&amp;amp;P version
it’s not the way I would go any more.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62PsvE631Cw/Tv9NTgB_eKI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Ofnjf76Mfao/s1600/xm177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="136" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62PsvE631Cw/Tv9NTgB_eKI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Ofnjf76Mfao/s320/xm177.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If anyone has any information on paintball colt commando rifles I'd be very interested in hearing from them.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The Colt Commando is very much my pet
subject, if you're interested I wrote an article detailing the development of
the real steel CAR15 post Vietnam that can be found here: &lt;a href="http://operationbushmaster.blogspot.com/2011/06/colt-commando.html" target="_blank"&gt;http://operationbushmaster.blogspot....-commando.html&lt;/a&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-1438721845405113795?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/mAZO39EBGAU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/1438721845405113795/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/12/airsoft-colt-commando-overview.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1438721845405113795?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1438721845405113795?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/mAZO39EBGAU/airsoft-colt-commando-overview.html" title="The Airsoft Colt Commando - An Overview" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62PsvE631Cw/Tv9NTgB_eKI/AAAAAAAAAOE/Ofnjf76Mfao/s72-c/xm177.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/12/airsoft-colt-commando-overview.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DUENSH89fCp7ImA9WhRWFUk.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-8237020565618623134</id><published>2011-08-11T10:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T15:41:39.164-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T15:41:39.164-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="SOCOM" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="colt commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m727" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Marui" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m733" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft loadouts" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="TM" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="car15" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>Airsoft Colt Commandos</title><content type="html">&lt;h2&gt;

Airsoft CAR15 replicas, Cold War Airsoft Weapons.&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Here's a couple of pics of my airsoft Colt Commando carbines that I use in cold war airsoft scenarios, as always, click for full size images.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S5g-4i6Hh04/TkQMF5y9wgI/AAAAAAAAAMc/abAuQLhwWl8/s1600/IMG_5010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S5g-4i6Hh04/TkQMF5y9wgI/AAAAAAAAAMc/abAuQLhwWl8/s400/IMG_5010.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
First up is my M727.&amp;nbsp; This has been bashed from a TM Recoil-Shock SOCOM model, grafting an A2 upper receiver onto the new style sopmod one.&amp;nbsp; The CAR-15 hand grips are by G&amp;amp;P.&amp;nbsp; It was a lot of ward work to build, but she's my pride and joy.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSeEJE16aKs/TkQMD5sq1-I/AAAAAAAAAMY/GDGms_iL_eU/s1600/IMG_4990.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSeEJE16aKs/TkQMD5sq1-I/AAAAAAAAAMY/GDGms_iL_eU/s400/IMG_4990.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Next we have a G&amp;amp;P M733, a lovely solid piece of kit.&amp;nbsp; Some of the wear is artificial, some of it is from use.&amp;nbsp; I use this with quite a few of my airsoft loadouts, it's a very versatile and compact shooter.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-8237020565618623134?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/7ixgjsMAouE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/8237020565618623134/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/08/airsoft-colt-commandos.html#comment-form" title="3 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/8237020565618623134?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/8237020565618623134?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/7ixgjsMAouE/airsoft-colt-commandos.html" title="Airsoft Colt Commandos" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S5g-4i6Hh04/TkQMF5y9wgI/AAAAAAAAAMc/abAuQLhwWl8/s72-c/IMG_5010.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>3</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/08/airsoft-colt-commandos.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DEIHSXkyfip7ImA9WhRWFU4.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-7238279677074956532</id><published>2011-07-07T16:37:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T12:35:38.796-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T12:35:38.796-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m60" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M16A2" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M17 Respirator" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M249" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M9 Bayonet" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M14" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="desert shield" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Operation Desert Storm" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paintball" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Alice Pack" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="jungle boots" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="LBV" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>Operation Desert Storm - 82nd Airborne</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;
Post Cold War, an interesting time for Kit&lt;/h2&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;
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Here's a selection of images from Operation Desert storm and Desert Shield in the middle east during 1991.&amp;nbsp; This was an interesting conflict that is rarely covered by re-enactors and airsofters despite the iconic kit and uniforms.&amp;nbsp; The post cold war setting marked the beginning of the shift in Western interest from the spread of communism in the East and South America to the Middle East.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ux4B6i-jB6g/ThY9wHnEbUI/AAAAAAAAAL4/EKmQiIeonoE/s400/82nd+AB.jpg" width="332" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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The first image shows a group of 82nd Airborne with an interesting mix of kit.&amp;nbsp; Of note in this image is the mixture of all black Hot Weather Boots and the black/green Jungle Boots, the M17 Gas Mask Carriers and the fairly new at the time M9 Bayonet. &amp;nbsp; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vROZwAKBzi8/ThY9xa9y2GI/AAAAAAAAAL8/4W2KiwJdHI8/s1600/82nd+AB2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="282" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vROZwAKBzi8/ThY9xa9y2GI/AAAAAAAAAL8/4W2KiwJdHI8/s400/82nd+AB2.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&amp;nbsp;This image shows the same group as the first.&amp;nbsp; The difference in size between the M60 and M249 Mk1 can clearly be seen here.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VdLKzfsA9Hs/ThY91VUMs_I/AAAAAAAAAMA/TzFsU8LmveM/s1600/2107987314_8a6cfc7837_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_gk2Dfypk4/ThY95XAYJ4I/AAAAAAAAAME/F2oSbZ9mDNs/s1600/5341696558_00e208a522_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_gk2Dfypk4/ThY95XAYJ4I/AAAAAAAAAME/F2oSbZ9mDNs/s400/5341696558_00e208a522_b.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&amp;nbsp;An RTO with an M14 rifle.&amp;nbsp; The tan coloured water carrier is from what I can tell a private purchase item and not something that was issued.&amp;nbsp; M56 LBE was still common during the first gulf war, in this case the Ammunition Carriers being designed to fit the M14 magazine would have been a big help.&amp;nbsp; The Smaller LC1 Ammunition Carrier will fit 2x M14 magazines with modification, but they are not held securely.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XHEOD73nQiI/ThY96h8Si0I/AAAAAAAAAMI/WKvnxgPo_PQ/s1600/CopyofChrisatDesertStorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="311" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XHEOD73nQiI/ThY96h8Si0I/AAAAAAAAAMI/WKvnxgPo_PQ/s400/CopyofChrisatDesertStorm.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&amp;nbsp;I don't know much about the origins of this particular image, but the kit is very interesting.&amp;nbsp; Unlike the majority of troops durind Desert Storm/Sheild this Soldier is using the then newly introduced Load Bearing Vest (LBV) with an LC1 belt kit.&amp;nbsp; The M653 is interesting as well, somthing that doesn't show up very often in pictures from the conflict.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7VMgLdBWVXo/ThY989g6pFI/AAAAAAAAAMM/uVBY4fqbYgg/s1600/post-467-1230243250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="270" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7VMgLdBWVXo/ThY989g6pFI/AAAAAAAAAMM/uVBY4fqbYgg/s400/post-467-1230243250.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;
This image illustrates more iconic pieces of kit from the conflict, the 6 colour cover for the Alice Pack, along with the Sun, wind and Dust Goggles. &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
That's all for now, but Desert Storm is a big subject, I'm working on a kit guide and a couple more pictorial articles on the subject. For now, check out all of my other cold war articles.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-7238279677074956532?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/UKCq8Sga8Bo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/7238279677074956532/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/operation-desert-storm.html#comment-form" title="1 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/7238279677074956532?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/7238279677074956532?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/UKCq8Sga8Bo/operation-desert-storm.html" title="Operation Desert Storm - 82nd Airborne" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ux4B6i-jB6g/ThY9wHnEbUI/AAAAAAAAAL4/EKmQiIeonoE/s72-c/82nd+AB.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>1</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/operation-desert-storm.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DEEEQn0ycSp7ImA9WhRWFU4.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-4280580942802291790</id><published>2011-07-02T14:36:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T12:36:43.399-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T12:36:43.399-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="black hawk down" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="operation gothic serpent" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="somalia" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="1993" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="movie" /><title>Black Hawk Down Production Stills</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;
Black Hawk Down Delta Force, Behind the Scenes&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Nothing 'Real Steel' today, but interesting none the less.&amp;nbsp; Here are a bunch of production stills from the set of Black Hawk Down, probably the finest movie of it's type ever made.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Click images for full size:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7AmD0uFWxmE/Tg-Mju1RWKI/AAAAAAAAAKk/94D3_NzBOlc/s1600/02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="255" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7AmD0uFWxmE/Tg-Mju1RWKI/AAAAAAAAAKk/94D3_NzBOlc/s400/02.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nbLSTiPZVpw/Tg-Ml3dUL-I/AAAAAAAAAKo/8bNqsqlTgOE/s1600/03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nbLSTiPZVpw/Tg-Ml3dUL-I/AAAAAAAAAKo/8bNqsqlTgOE/s400/03.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4y_GGW4vW9s/Tg-M5r2pluI/AAAAAAAAAK8/ySmxXUvYWEo/s1600/delta_team2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4y_GGW4vW9s/Tg-M5r2pluI/AAAAAAAAAK8/ySmxXUvYWEo/s400/delta_team2.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjcdpdBbMHA/Tg-M6Oblp5I/AAAAAAAAALA/_lITSC_k2eE/s1600/gordon+schugart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjcdpdBbMHA/Tg-M6Oblp5I/AAAAAAAAALA/_lITSC_k2eE/s400/gordon+schugart.jpg" width="395" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-4280580942802291790?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/WOwfQ-0oAkc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/4280580942802291790/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/black-hawk-down-production-stills.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/4280580942802291790?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/4280580942802291790?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/WOwfQ-0oAkc/black-hawk-down-production-stills.html" title="Black Hawk Down Production Stills" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7AmD0uFWxmE/Tg-Mju1RWKI/AAAAAAAAAKk/94D3_NzBOlc/s72-c/02.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/black-hawk-down-production-stills.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;DEEAR3YzfCp7ImA9WhRWFU8.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-2587518949075323685</id><published>2011-07-02T02:41:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T09:50:46.884-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T09:50:46.884-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="masterkey" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ciener shotgun" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="operation gothic serpent" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paintball" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="somalia" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="knights armament" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="delta force" /><title>The Ciener Ultimate Under / Over Shotgun System</title><content type="html">&lt;br /&gt;
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A recent discussion regarding the Masterkey shotgun system on one of the airsoft forums has prompted me to write this article on one of its competitors.&amp;nbsp; Back in the 90’s Ciener offered a method of mounting an M870 shotgun to Colt Commando carbines. The applications for this sort of combination within special operation forces are obvious, having a shotgun for entry purposes without having to sacrifice ranged firepower in the small teams that they usually operate being an attractive proposition. The Knights Armament Masterkey system also allowed an M870 shotgun to be mounted to AR15 variants using a modified version of their M203 Grenade Launcher mount, ultimately making the shotgun quicker to remove.&lt;/div&gt;
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The Ciener Shotgun System:&lt;/div&gt;
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The Knights Armament Masterkey:&lt;/div&gt;
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The Knights system proved to be more successful, though the widespread use of under barrel shotguns has not occurred.&amp;nbsp; However, what makes the Ciener system interesting to anyone that has more than a passing interest in 90’s US Forces was its use in Somalia during 1993. The photographs below show a Delta Force operator during Operation Gothic Serpent, clearly showing an M653 Carbine with Ciener M870 mounted under the barrel.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f0KlUEHOXas/Tg7nXlL1H7I/AAAAAAAAAKY/9UqkSL-TlFw/s1600/Paul+Howe+Somalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f0KlUEHOXas/Tg7nXlL1H7I/AAAAAAAAAKY/9UqkSL-TlFw/s400/Paul+Howe+Somalia.jpg" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&amp;nbsp;The same weapon can be seen carried by one of the guys on this MH-6 little bird.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LInFwbbdPZE/Tg7nZfWKfPI/AAAAAAAAAKc/6KQv2NkoqvQ/s1600/ladb7484e3af4b5c7fe59b3sw4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="273" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LInFwbbdPZE/Tg7nZfWKfPI/AAAAAAAAAKc/6KQv2NkoqvQ/s400/ladb7484e3af4b5c7fe59b3sw4.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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The weapons and equipment used by the various forces that made up task force ranger is varied and interesting. The movie Black Hawk down somewhat simplified a lot of this, which is a shame for a gear nut like myself, but is inevitable in the creation of such a movie.&lt;br /&gt;
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This would be a very simple conversion to do at home for paintball or airsoft games, as the attachment is at the bayonet lug and front receiver pin, rather than using a barrel mount like the masterkey system.&amp;nbsp; A home made solution knocked up from some scrap aluminium would be perfectly acceptable as there is little load in this sort of application.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-2587518949075323685?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/FyY25pOrwok" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/2587518949075323685/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/ciener-ultimate-under-over-shotgun.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/2587518949075323685?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/2587518949075323685?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/FyY25pOrwok/ciener-ultimate-under-over-shotgun.html" title="The Ciener Ultimate Under / Over Shotgun System" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZkTwFDhBXU/Tg7nKdUOBOI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/ILpziYIyypU/s72-c/Ciener+M870.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/ciener-ultimate-under-over-shotgun.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;D0QMQ3o8cSp7ImA9WhZaFUs.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-1126748691022154232</id><published>2011-07-01T17:09:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-07-01T17:09:42.479-07:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-07-01T17:09:42.479-07:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M249" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M16A2" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M16A1" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Operation Just Cause" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="PASGT" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Panama" /><title>Operation: Just Cause</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;Not a very long post tonight but hopefully an ineresting one.&amp;nbsp; Here's a  few picures from Operation Just Cause, Panama in 1989.&amp;nbsp; I'm liking the  old school Mk1 M249s and PASGT vests.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Click images to view full size:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="283" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-08KZvQ8jLuY/Tg5gHKUrCkI/AAAAAAAAAKA/-6c3hbRUrro/s400/Canal90.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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I've just received a rather special Singlepoint OEG sight (as used in the Son Tay Raid, Vietnam) in the post, I'll get on with a write up about this little known but very significant piece of military history.&amp;nbsp; I'm also working on a piece on Rangers during Operation Gothic Serpent and a more in depth follow up to my CAR15 article.&amp;nbsp; Stay tuned.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-1126748691022154232?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/wPXvCWD0MaY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/1126748691022154232/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/operation-just-cause.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1126748691022154232?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1126748691022154232?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/wPXvCWD0MaY/operation-just-cause.html" title="Operation: Just Cause" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-08KZvQ8jLuY/Tg5gHKUrCkI/AAAAAAAAAKA/-6c3hbRUrro/s72-c/Canal90.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/07/operation-just-cause.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;D0INQnwzfip7ImA9WhRWFU4.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-2625966189689333016</id><published>2011-06-29T11:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T12:19:53.286-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T12:19:53.286-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="xm21" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="special forces" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="colt 3x20" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M16A1" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>Special Forces, Early 1980s - Cold War</title><content type="html">&lt;br /&gt;
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I’ve not got a lot of info on these images, like a lot of stuff I have on my HDD they were collected from a foreign language forum with little in the way of accompanying text to give any context, only that they are Special Forces (i.e. Green Berets).&amp;nbsp; The images are clearly from some kind of media exercise but they do show some interesting kit that we’d otherwise not have a chance to see.&amp;nbsp; The white tape used to break up the familiar outline of their weapons is an interesting touch in the winter images.&amp;nbsp; Also note the XM21, the accurised cousin of the M14 rifle, another veteran of Vietnam that is still alive and kicking in the hands of the US Military today.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujh7Ez651MM/TgtvDIfqLeI/AAAAAAAAAFo/NSkKeB8iS0I/s1600/exercisebrimfrost81ze9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujh7Ez651MM/TgtvDIfqLeI/AAAAAAAAAFo/NSkKeB8iS0I/s400/exercisebrimfrost81ze9.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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These other pics came from the same forum with no explanation, other than they were also of USSF.&amp;nbsp; The first image show a Colt 3x20 scope on an interesting riser mount that I have not seen before, Id be interested in hearing from anyone that knows who made this, and why you would need the extra elevation.&amp;nbsp; He has what looks to be an SDU-5 distress strobe pouch attached to the Yoke of his Alice gear, common practice for special operation troops during the 80’s and 90’s. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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As always, if anyone out there can shed any more light on these images please feel free to contact me via email or leave a comment below. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-2625966189689333016?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/iBpNOej75jY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/2625966189689333016/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/06/special-forces-early-1980s.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/2625966189689333016?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/2625966189689333016?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/iBpNOej75jY/special-forces-early-1980s.html" title="Special Forces, Early 1980s - Cold War" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujh7Ez651MM/TgtvDIfqLeI/AAAAAAAAAFo/NSkKeB8iS0I/s72-c/exercisebrimfrost81ze9.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/06/special-forces-early-1980s.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;D0cFRHY5fCp7ImA9WhRWFU4.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-8652534837797034533</id><published>2011-06-29T08:56:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2012-01-02T12:10:15.824-08:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2012-01-02T12:10:15.824-08:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m629" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m727" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m653" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m733" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="commando" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m654" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="airsoft" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m4a1" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="gau-5a" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paintball" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m723" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="m635" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="car15" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="cold war" /><title>The Colt Commando - CAR15</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/FleetAntiterrorismSecurityTeam-JustCause01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
One of the most iconic firearms of the 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; century and the special operations weapon of choice during the cold war is the Colt Commando, the carbine length M16.&amp;nbsp; From the earliest models cropping up in Vietnam to the modern M4 variants the commando has been an important part of the conventional and special forces arsenal of the US military for almost 50 years.   &lt;br /&gt;
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The development of the early M16 carbine models (M605, M607, M608) is covered in detail over at &lt;a href="http://retroblackrifle.com/"&gt;http://retroblackrifle.com/&lt;/a&gt; and is very much out of the time period that I deal with on this site.&amp;nbsp; However the Vietnam conflict is where we start with this guide.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;b&gt;Click images to view full size.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"&gt;XM177&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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Three variants of this weapon were fielded during Vietnam, many staying in operation into the mid 90s.&amp;nbsp; The earliest model, the Colt M609 was adopted into the US Army in the mid 60’s as the XM177E1.&amp;nbsp; The most notable features of this model were the soon abandoned 10” barrel.&amp;nbsp; I have yet to find any evidence of any unmodified E1s in use after Vietnam, however this image below shows one with a later birdcage style flash suppressor fitted.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/SpecialForcesXM177E1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="265" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/SpecialForcesXM177E1.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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The XM177E2 (model 629) was fielded extensively in Vietnam could be described as the weapon that really solidified the commando as a weapon that would see widespread use for the next half century.&amp;nbsp; A lengthened barrel (11.5”) increased reliability massively, making this an extremely practical weapon for conventional and special forces.&amp;nbsp; The USAF fielded an almost identical weapon designated GAU-5A, that only realled differed from the army model in its lack of forward assist.&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;The image below shows a USAF soldier with a GAU-5A in the desert during the build up to Desert Storm in 1991.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/USAF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="267" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/USAF.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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The definitive guide to these early Colt Commando variants can be found at &lt;a href="http://retroblackrifle.com/"&gt;http://retroblackrifle.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b&gt;Model 653 &amp;amp; 654&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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The 653 and 654 are often referred to as the M16A1 carbine, due to their M16A1 upper and lower receiver and conventional barrel/flash suppressor arrangement.&amp;nbsp; Colt introduced these models in the early 70’s; they are identical with the exception of the barrel length.&amp;nbsp; Both have a 14.5" barrel, the only difference being the lack of forward assist on the 654 upper.&amp;nbsp; These weapons were used extensively by Special Forces, Rangers, SEALs, Delta etc. throughout the 70’s and 80’s until they started to be gradually replaced by M727s in the late 80’s. The image below shows a soldier posing with his M653 during Desert Storm.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/CopyofChrisatDesertStorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="311" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/CopyofChrisatDesertStorm.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"&gt;Model 727&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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Often mistaken for the later M4 carbine the M727 was the last in the line of classic Colt Commandos before the widespread adoption of the M4 carbine in 1997.&amp;nbsp; This model is often referred too as the M16A2 carbine as it uses an M16A2 receiver, this can be easily identified by the bulkier rear sight assembly.&amp;nbsp; It is often mistaken for the similar looking M4 carbine, however the differences between the two models are detailed below.&amp;nbsp; The M727 featured a heavier profile 14.5” barrel than the earlier models, requiring a thinned section part way between the front sight and the flash suppressor to accommodate the mounting of an M203 Grenade launcher.&amp;nbsp; The Model 727 saw service in Panama, Iraq and Somalia and has been made famous by the movie Black Hawk Down, in which many of the Delta Force operatives carry the carbine.&amp;nbsp; The image below shows Ranger Matt Eversmann with his M727 in Somalia.&amp;nbsp; Eversmann was played by Josh Hartnett in Black Hawk Down, though he used an M16A2 rifle like most of the rangers portrayed, presumably to make it easier to identify the difference between the D-Boys and Rangers in fast paced action sequences.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/MEversmann.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/MEversmann.jpg" width="211" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"&gt;Model 723/733&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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Another weapon to feature prominently in the BHD movie is the Model 733. A lot of Colt Commando models can best be described as “parts bin specials” in so much as they are assembled with whatever surplus parts that colt had laying around at the time,&amp;nbsp; The M733 is an excellent example of this as it is frequently seen with M16A1 and A2 upper receivers, though to my knowledge only ever A2 lowers. &amp;nbsp;The 11.5” shorty barrel format is in use again on this model, just like the XM177E2. The 14.5” model 723 seems to be little more than an updated M653, though as with the 733 these can be seen with both A1 and A2 uppers. The 723 has been erroneously labelled as “an export version of the 733” on various firearm sites on the internet, these advertisements should set the record straight on that one.&amp;nbsp; I cant find an exact introduction date for the weapon, though mid 80’s is likely.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/723-733a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="310" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/723-733a.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/Coltcatalog1987.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/Coltcatalog1987.jpg" width="316" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"&gt;Model 635&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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The oddball of the colt commando line-up is definitely the M635, chambered for 9mm and featuring an ultra-short 10.5” barrel.&amp;nbsp; I’ve only ever seen one image of this weapon in military service in the hands of a USMC FAST (Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team) in panama during Operation Just Cause. See Below.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/FleetAntiterrorismSecurityTeam-JustCause01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="400" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/FleetAntiterrorismSecurityTeam-JustCause01.jpg" width="221" /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"&gt;M4A1&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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The current carbine in use with the US Military is the M4A1.&amp;nbsp; This weapon system is covered in great detail elsewhere on the internet so I won’t go into too much detail here.&amp;nbsp; The M4A1 resembles the Model 727 in many respects, the key differences are as follows.&amp;nbsp; Firstly an most noticeably the upper receiver on the M4A1 Carbine has a removable carry handle, when detached this exposes an accessory rail to enable the mounting of optics directly to the top of the receiver. The second visual difference is in the hand guards, they are much larger than the original commando hand guards, which in my opinion ruins the streamlined look of the weapon.&amp;nbsp; Other modifications include a 6 position stock tube and revised sling arrangement.&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Calibri&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;sans-serif&amp;quot;; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"&gt;You will rarely see a bog standard M4 in service however, with even POGs being issued a RIS and some form of optics. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/m4sopmod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="286" src="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/CHIFF_MoA/m4sopmod.jpg" width="400" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"&gt;Postscript&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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This is by no means meant to be a definitive guide, more a general overview of the colt commando models used by US forces after the Vietnam war.&amp;nbsp; As should be apparent there is a great variety in minor details between various individual weapons within a model type, this makes the entire subject a bit of a minefield and somewhat difficult to talk about with any amount of authority.&amp;nbsp; I have not mentioned receiver variations or trademark/inscription variations here as that opens up even more variables.&amp;nbsp; If you just want a short answer about what weapon is appropriate during the time period you want to portray I’ve made the following image.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nXHvokOVpEQ/TgtwZifPIFI/AAAAAAAAAF4/yjcZoLOm5Lw/s1600/carbine+timeline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="163" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nXHvokOVpEQ/TgtwZifPIFI/AAAAAAAAAF4/yjcZoLOm5Lw/s320/carbine+timeline.jpg" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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Again, the dates are not definitive, as models were phased in and out rather than having a solid start and end date for service.&lt;br /&gt;
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*Update*&amp;nbsp; I have written up an overview of airsoft Colt Commado's for those that are interested: &lt;a href="http://operationbushmaster.blogspot.com/2011/12/airsoft-colt-commando-overview.html"&gt;http://operationbushmaster.blogspot.com/2011/12/airsoft-colt-commando-overview.html&lt;/a&gt; If anyone has any information on paintball markers that represent CAR-15s or can be modified to do so then please get in touch.&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-8652534837797034533?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/_l5GpG6JF5c" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/8652534837797034533/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/06/colt-commando.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/8652534837797034533?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/8652534837797034533?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/_l5GpG6JF5c/colt-commando.html" title="The Colt Commando - CAR15" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nXHvokOVpEQ/TgtwZifPIFI/AAAAAAAAAF4/yjcZoLOm5Lw/s72-c/carbine+timeline.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/06/colt-commando.html</feedburner:origLink></entry><entry gd:etag="W/&quot;C0cDRH05eyp7ImA9WhZaE0g.&quot;"><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-664123768001164395.post-1598971981661929648</id><published>2011-06-29T05:34:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-06-29T05:37:55.323-07:00</updated><app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-06-29T05:37:55.323-07:00</app:edited><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M249" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="golden pheasant" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M16A1" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="M17 Respirator" /><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="82nd Airborne" /><title>Operation Golden Pheasant - March 1988</title><content type="html">&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;Operation Golden Pheasant is one of the less well known US Military interventions after Vietnam.&amp;nbsp; In March 1988 President Reagan deployed troops to Honduras to provide assistance to the Honduran Military against the increasing threat of invasion from Nicaraguan forces. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Upon the arrival of US forces Nicaraguan troops began withdrawing from the border and a truce was quickly negotiated.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Click on the images to view them full size.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JgBM_x4ZnSc/TgsaQD1773I/AAAAAAAAAFU/AAAzwNLVrro/s1600/DA-SC-89-11590.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JgBM_x4ZnSc/TgsaQD1773I/AAAAAAAAAFU/AAAzwNLVrro/s320/DA-SC-89-11590.JPEG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;Of interest in this first images is the presence of a very clean looking M249 Mk1, Golden Pheasant was I believe the first time this weapon saw deployment.&amp;nbsp; Nothing really out of the ordinary in terms of uniform here, but the Paracord slings on the M16A1 rifles are an easy to recreate detail.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nCfzaFmbNz8/TgsagkW6uOI/AAAAAAAAAFY/EQ9bvrtcDKY/s1600/DA-SC-89-11606.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="210" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nCfzaFmbNz8/TgsagkW6uOI/AAAAAAAAAFY/EQ9bvrtcDKY/s320/DA-SC-89-11606.JPEG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;Can anyone identify the knife in this image? This 82 Airborne soldier looks to have painted the classic ‘right angled torch’, I’ve not seen this before, presumably it is to make it easier to locate in ow light situations.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The pinned on red cross arm band is a neat feature, also worth of not is the presence of the medic/compass pouch on both shoulders, something that would usually only appear on the non-firing shoulder.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VSq0Ih-uTRU/TgsattzCUYI/AAAAAAAAAFg/2i3uV0tDHjk/s1600/DA-ST-91-02344.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="217" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VSq0Ih-uTRU/TgsattzCUYI/AAAAAAAAAFg/2i3uV0tDHjk/s320/DA-ST-91-02344.JPEG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;Torn up M81 pattern camouflage (presumably cut from redundant BDUs) affixed to the PASGT helmet was a quite common feature during the 80’s also being present in Panama and Grenada.&amp;nbsp; The soldier on the right had side of this images is wearing an M17 respirator carrier on his left leg.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="217" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C6DPLWHLJPU/Tgsa0GdcU6I/AAAAAAAAAFk/69ORBLk90RA/s320/DA-ST-91-02346.JPEG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;An interesting if not all that useful image.&amp;nbsp; It looks like the Y suspenders on the cameraman’s LC1 rig isn’t doing a lot to support the load.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4cXHqfUoKg8/Tgsam6rpBII/AAAAAAAAAFc/cfSq9Sue0J8/s1600/DA-ST-91-02332.JPEG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="217" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4cXHqfUoKg8/Tgsam6rpBII/AAAAAAAAAFc/cfSq9Sue0J8/s320/DA-ST-91-02332.JPEG" width="320" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="MsoNormal"&gt;I hope you’ve found these images interesting, if there is anything that I’ve missed out or got completely wrong feel free to leave a comment below.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/664123768001164395-1598971981661929648?l=www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~4/MHSYF09mci0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</content><link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/feeds/1598971981661929648/comments/default" title="Post Comments" /><link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/06/operation-golden-pheasant-march-1988.html#comment-form" title="0 Comments" /><link rel="edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1598971981661929648?v=2" /><link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/664123768001164395/posts/default/1598971981661929648?v=2" /><link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/CcBbm/~3/MHSYF09mci0/operation-golden-pheasant-march-1988.html" title="Operation Golden Pheasant - March 1988" /><author><name>Chris Haye</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail" width="16" height="16" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" /></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JgBM_x4ZnSc/TgsaQD1773I/AAAAAAAAAFU/AAAzwNLVrro/s72-c/DA-SC-89-11590.JPEG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://www.coldwarairsoft.co.uk/2011/06/operation-golden-pheasant-march-1988.html</feedburner:origLink></entry></feed>

