Picture of the day

Ah as soon as you mentioned Commie Cuba I wondered how you made out. Looks like they wanted you to spend your canadian peso's before they dealt with your "sins":)
Again, Thanks for sharing. I look foreward to reading what ever you put on here.

I don't believe they knew I was there, until I got into a few bottles of rum with a couple of old Cubans, working at the resort as contractors for clean up and maintenance. They were all in Angola at one time or another, including during both of my stints.

Cuba left most of the soldiers they sent out of country, to Africa in Africa. Instead of shipping them home, they were turned loose or scattered throughout that region of Africa, mostly to fend for themselves.

They did send most of their officers back to Cuba.

I've spoken with a couple of people with stories to tell about those disenfranchised soldiers, dispersed throughout east and central Africa.

Anyway, I believe one or more of the contractors reported our rather inebriated conversations to the local authorities.

Who would have thought they cared about a war they wanted desperately to forget about a half century later????

Socialists and Communists never forget and love to exert their control whenever possible.
 
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Newly independent Bangladesh guerrillas in Dhaka with men suspected of collaborating with Pakistani militiamen. They would be bayoneted to death moments later. Bangladesh, Dhaka, December 18, 1971.

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Pics from Mali....ah West Africa. A love/hate relationship for sure.





The Uzi is a great SMG, heavy enough to control reasonably well and reliable under even the worst circumstances.

The Mat49s on the right side of the pic were seldom seen in the field in my day. Great SMG, fairly heavy and not as easy to control as the Uzi but very handy to carry, by design. They were also reliable and worked well, even when they weren't well maintained.

The French trained Mali Security Forces used them very early on and later spread a few of them around to their neighbors.

I saw a few out of Viet Nam that were converted to 7.62x25 but never got to shoot one.

I've never seen an Uzi converted to 7.62x25???????

CS, other than a few UN troops, most Mali Security is carried out by out of country Mercs, mostly from Russia and France???????????
 
I don't believe they knew I was there, until I got into a few bottles of rum with a couple of old Cubans, working at the resort as contractors for clean up and maintenance.

In Cuba, the Secret Police is never far away. He or she might be the person making your breakfast omelet or leading the exercise class, only political reliables get resort jobs. :( If you're observant enough, you might notice a certain deference the other staff have towards them.

Grizz
 
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Kneeling behind the wall of their dugout, two soldiers of 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), aim their weapons towards enemy positions. Korean War. Hill 614, Sokkong Valley Area, February 1951.

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U.S. Marines with Force Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division, conduct a movement on skis during the Norwegian Military’s Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) course in Norway, Feb. 17, 2020.

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The Uzi is a great SMG, heavy enough to control reasonably well and reliable under even the worst circumstances.

The Mat49s on the right side of the pic were seldom seen in the field in my day. Great SMG, fairly heavy and not as easy to control as the Uzi but very handy to carry, by design. They were also reliable and worked well, even when they weren't well maintained.

The French trained Mali Security Forces used them very early on and later spread a few of them around to their neighbors.

I saw a few out of Viet Nam that were converted to 7.62x25 but never got to shoot one.

I've never seen an Uzi converted to 7.62x25???????

CS, other than a few UN troops, most Mali Security is carried out by out of country Mercs, mostly from Russia and France???????????

Mali had her own well trained military. It overthrew the government a number of years ago. The military turned 100% against the government with the ex eption of the "Red Berets" who were a unit trained by Canadian Special Operations. They paid for thier loyalty by being hunted down systematically and murdered.

France has kept fighting and training troops there right up until the last few months. Now Wagner Group private contractors out of Russia are exerting a huge flex.

Red Beret links:

https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Afri...y-of-the-mass-grave-of-the-missing-red-berets

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/08/mali-troops-attack-rival-camp

https://guardian.ng/news/mali-coup-leader-readies-for-trial-over-massacre/
 
Thanx for that. Well past my time.

Wagner Group out of Russia. Purported to be a private company but under the thumb of the Kremlin. Nasty bunch.
 
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