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rosalinas
· 4 years ago
· FIRST
just incase someone decides to make a move during summer
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guest_
· 4 years ago
It’s difficult to trace the history and effectiveness of the hatchet in modern warfare- many accounts are from verbal tellings with few or no witnesses. That said- Americans soldiers used hatchets before and during the revolutionary war, accounts during WW1, Vietnam- where renowned hatchet makers were approached for requisition orders, and even in our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq soldiers have carried hatchets.
guest_
· 4 years ago
The hatchet is thought to be particularly effective in close quarters combat by its advocates, and is said (especially specially designed units) to offer use as a “multi tool” breaking locks, doing light demolition such as breaking through thin walls and such, and even clearing vegetation etc. detractors claim that other tools a soldier can carry do head tasks and do them better than a hatchet.
guest_
· 4 years ago
In modern accounts it is mostly special operations or more elite and or specialized units which tend to report using hatchets, that not only increases the scarcity of information and witnessing of their usage due to the nature of the work- but it also lends to the mythos of the hatchet- people tend to buy in to anything that the “spec ops” crowd uses or supposedly uses.
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guest_
· 4 years ago
As for the Spetznaz- when it comes to secrets and myths they are some of the top subjects and producers of gossip. Much of what they did was secret, oddly decentralized for the soviet SOP, and sparsely documented- often with even internal records within the government being false or misleading intentionally.
guest_
· 4 years ago
So most accounts do hold that to be a spetznaz soldier in training, to do exactly what it says. Tomahawk backflip. Accounts of use of tomahawks at all- let alone tomahawk backflips in combat by the spetznaz aren’t exactly thick in record. But....
guest_
· 4 years ago
The spetznaz often did not wear special uniforms or identification markings, looking like any other troop of soviet soldiers. The spetznaz were inherently designed with psychological warfare in mind. Myths were built about them and all manner of “stunts” were used to help build awe and fear and make the spetznaz LOOK bad ass.
guest_
· 4 years ago
Not to say hey weren’t bad ass- by and large they were an elite unit of skilled soldiers. But by hyping them up as “super human” as not feeling pain or having emotions, rumors about soviet drugs and genetics and extreme tales of training and ruthlessness build fear in enemies. Being able to do a tomahawk backflip generally has little practical use- but some of the skills involved such as being accurate with throwing weapons and being able to keep a target image and orientation at different angles (such as when repelling by rope or in a jump) certainly do. So such theatrical training- especially when allowed to leak to the west- has psychological imapact.
guest_
· 4 years ago
Was it all for show? Who can say at this point. Perhaps the Spetznaz routinely used the Tomahawk backflip in certain assaults or tactics, and it was so effective that few or any surviving witnesses exist? Regardless- it’s very interesting stuff, and any study if special operations (especially by someone who wasn’t there) is going to be a mixture of fiction and truth, embellishment and plausible deniability. Getting into the specifics of how elite soldiers operate is often a challenge because winning formulas tend to be guarded for the safety and effectiveness of the community. The Army Rangers are still taught tactics handed down by the Rangers of the French and Indian wars centuries ago.
