French soldier wearing MW2-style skull mask during Mali operation is under investigation
73 replies, posted
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;39318232]to be fair, MW2 was released in 2009 and that photo is from 2010[/QUOTE]
TO BE FAIR?
you actually think video games invented the skull face mask...
what about army of 2? that game was released way before MW2 and one of the whole stylistic points were your SKULL MASKS
i mean we've been giving those paint jobs to fighter jets for nearly a century. video games did not invent people in the military being stylish.
i honestly think it's just that it makes armies - which pride themselves on being prepared, orderly, and clean cut - look extremely unprofessional
yeah but then there's that ominous facelessness that comes from it
a sort of send in the drones kind of thing.
yea when my dad served in the army during apartheid in south africa they were instructed to wear balaclavas when they would go to break up riots because it instills more fear and makes you seem less human.
if soldiers were able to personalize their shit more people might actually see them as individual human beings working together.
yea but the military isn't meant to be seen as a group of individuals.
Man if I saw that guy coming at me , I'd be just like nope, I'm out!
i know this. but on peacekeeping missions and hearts and minds campaigns if the soldiers looked more like normal people than a bunch of drones... you know.
it looks more like to the natives that they're a bunch of guys a country sent in to help out.
[QUOTE=ironman17;39317942]Wasn't it Ghost from the Modern Warfare games who wore that facemask?
Also, I guess the reason they don't like him wearing the facemask is because it would intimidate civilians. I dunno whether wearing a skull facemask would be particularly intimidating towards the enemy militants, but I think they wouldn't be all that impressed, and it'd be so ineffective from a psychological warfare standpoint that he might as well be wearing a fruit hat or a horse mask and it'd have the same negligible effect. Then again horsemasks are kinda creepy, even if they hamper the wearer's perception.[/QUOTE]
Honestly if a bunch of guys on the enemy team came up to me wearing horsemasks I'd be scared and confused. Sure I'd start firing back but in the general confusion I think the horsemask team would be able to kill off more guys than the ones just standing there, awed at the fact that a bunch of guys with horsemasks are attacking them.
[QUOTE=AllegiantFS;39318317]You're forgetting that the skull is intimidating and the French want to keep their "peaceful" representation.[/QUOTE]
You've got to be pretty fucking retarded to find a skull mask somehow more intimidating than 10 dudes armed with assault rifles and grenades patrolling your street.
[QUOTE=-Rusty-;39318721]I've only ever seen one person with a skull design and it was some guy from the crew of a Chinook that picked us up from our outpost(but that was painted on I think). Honestly I think it makes everyone who wears it look like an idiot who's trying to hard.
It's up there with gear whores to me.[/QUOTE]
Are you saying this guy doesn't look operator as fuck?
[img]http://indefenseoflibertydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/wpid-1328.jpg?w=529[/img]
It doesn't even look that much like Ghost's, where did you get that title from?
Bottom paragraph from the French article, not covered in the OP:
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[td][QUOTE]Sur la photo "glaçante", selon les internautes, prise par le photographe de l'AFP Issouf Sanogo, un soldat français déployé à Niono, dans le centre du Mali, arbore, pour se protéger du sable, un foulard représentant une tête de mort, qui lui donne des faux airs de ghost, un personnage du jeu vidéo de guerre Call of Duty.[/QUOTE][/td]
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[td]On the "chilling" photo, so called by the Internet, which was taken by AFP photographer Issouf Sanogo, a French soldier deployed in Niono, Central Mali, is depicted wearing, as protection from the sand, a skull-adorned balaclava, giving him the apparent looks of Ghost, a character from the war game Call of Duty.[/td]
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[sub][sub]Sorry if the translation is a bit off, my French is not great.[/sub][/sub]
[QUOTE=AllegiantFS;39318317]You're forgetting that the skull is intimidating and the French want to keep their "peaceful" representation.[/QUOTE]
Since when is a rifle or military convoy less intimidating than a skull on a piece of cloth?
[QUOTE=Tudd;39317898]Obviously he didn't get the standard issued balaclava,
[img]http://www.alternativeoutfitters.com/ProductImages/accessories/cold_weather/othrbrand/WhiteScarf.jpg[/img]
It comes with a free stick for waving purposes.[/QUOTE]
The French Military jokes stopped being funny approximately thirty seconds after WWII ended.
And to all the people wondering why they made a big deal out of a balaclava, the French military tends to be a hardass about discipline. More than even the Canadian Forces.
Why does everyone continue to refer to it as a balaclava?
It is a bandanna.
A balaclava encompasses your entire face minus the eyes and occasionally the mouth.
[editline]22nd January 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=mastermaul;39320168]Are you saying this guy doesn't look operator as fuck?
[img]http://indefenseoflibertydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/wpid-1328.jpg?w=529[/img][/QUOTE]
That is an awesome helmet. It would look way better without the skull though.
A faceless soldier with absolutely zero personality on his clothes is way more intimidating IMO. A pure professional.
[QUOTE=FoodStuffs;39319981]TO BE FAIR?
you actually think video games invented the skull face mask...
what about army of 2? that game was released way before MW2 and one of the whole stylistic points were your SKULL MASKS
i mean we've been giving those paint jobs to fighter jets for nearly a century. video games did not invent people in the military being stylish.[/QUOTE]
Point was it was a shit example to use
[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;39318620]If they just told him "Hey take that off you're scaring the locals", there wouldn't be this hullabaloo.
Why an "investigation"?[/QUOTE]
Im pretty sure investigation is a fancy word for hey we bitched him out over wearing it he won't do it again.
This comes to mind:
[video=youtube;Ljekq1EN7YE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljekq1EN7YE[/video]
They roll into a small village, and that's just fine. But god forbid he wears a skull mask, because it scares people.
[QUOTE=archangel125;39321368]The French Military jokes stopped being funny approximately thirty seconds after WWII ended.
And to all the people wondering why they made a big deal out of a balaclava, the French military tends to be a hardass about discipline. More than even the Canadian Forces.[/QUOTE]
Suuuuuuuuure, cause we all know how disciplined the Canadian Army is, and that they are the epitome of all armies.
Oh man he wore a mask because he liked it.
Call the pres
[QUOTE]he replied that he was "being identified".[/QUOTE]
Though I can agree on this part.
So we are training people to be impressive in an army designed to carry as much weapons as humanly possible to scare people
And then we yell at them for wearing a little piece of equipment that makes them more impressive and warrior-ish
[QUOTE=TheTalon;39317946]Not only that we want you to kick the ass of our enemies so our citizens at home won't have to live in fear of being bombed on the subway. [/QUOTE]
You think that's why France is there?
Heh.
all soldiers must assimilate!
who cares if they've been around before mw? they weren't popularized in culture before that?
[QUOTE=mastermaul;39320168]Are you saying this guy doesn't look operator as fuck?
[img]http://indefenseoflibertydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/wpid-1328.jpg?w=529[/img][/QUOTE]
That guy is a pilot or other helicopter crew man
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;39318232]to be fair, MW2 was released in 2009 and that photo is from 2010[/QUOTE]
MW2 still didn't suddenly change the world of skull styled face cloth
I'm pretty sure bikers have had these things for years
Wouldn't this be some sort of psychological warfare?
Doing things like this is frowned upon in most armies that have respect for the rest of the world.
In the Norwegian army, blending civilian and military clothing would be considered paramilitary.
It's not something you would want to have in your army.
[QUOTE=JDER14;39317813]I don't see the point. It looks cool.[/QUOTE]
U.S. did stuff like this all the time and none of our COs ever gave a crap.
Everyone in this topic is retarded or very young.
You cannot, I repeat cannot justify wearing skull masks and or balaklavas on a fucking peace mission.
I know you live in a videogame reality but in real life this as faux pas as it gets...
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