ACU

UPDATE: SpecFigures 4

Update today from Kaz's Log: SpecFigures 4 to hit shelves this weekend (in Japan i guess).

SpecFIGURES 4 online preview link here:
http://www.specfigures.com/preview.html

TASK FORCE DAGGER

Task Force Dagger: The Hunt for Bin Laden. First came across this book sometime in 05/06. Various SOF units e.g. Green Beret, SAS, SBS, Delta, Australian, Danish & German Special Forces are mentioned in the book.

The first half of the book recounts the insertion of USSF & how they work with the Northern Alliance to bring about the fall of AQ & Taliban in Afghanistan. Later chapters also detailed the assault on the cave complexes by the SAS as well as an account of Operation Anaconda. With finally the last chapters focusing on Task Force Dagger's search for the elusive Master of Terror as well as accounts of the hunt for Saddam.

This bash is my rendition of a USSF Green Beret in Afghanistan. It's one of the rare attempts where i tried to load as much gear onto a figure as oppose to my usual minimalist style of simplistic loadout.

CIA:SAD/SOG

CIA:Special Activities Division/Special Operations Group. Another simple (poor man's ver.) bash done quite a while back of a popular topic.

SOG is the paramilitary arm of CIA's SAD, responsible for covert intelligence gathering & military direct action, e.g. raids, assassination, insurgency, counter-surgency, sabotage etc. Its operatives are mostly ex-military: SEALs, Delta, Army SF, Marine Force Recon etc.

Considered one of the world's most elite spec. ops unit, SAD/SOG came into prominence as a result of the Global War on Terror post 9/11. SOG operatives were the first to arrive in Afghanistan prior to the main US forces & were successful in mobilising the Northern Alliance against the Taliban. Similarly for the US invasion of Iraq, SOG operatives were on the ground well ahead in preparation of the actual invasion.

From the OSS in WWII to MAG-V SOG's Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, the Cuban Bay of Pigs Invasion right up to today's Global War on Terror, SOG officers continued to be at the forefront of every US military involvement since WWII.

USMC:FORCE RECON

Force Recon Marines are the special forces of the Marine Corps numbering only about a thousand men in the entire USMC. Recon Marines undergo more or less the same training as Navy SEALs or Army SF: parachuting, scuba, snow/mountain climb & heli-rappel. Less than 2% of those who join the Corps are selected for training & the washout rate is about 50%.

Bash presented here are 2 versions of Force Recon Marines, one during the early phase of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' during the highway to Baghdad & the other a later day version in the new digital desert MARPAT with Spartan body armor.

A vivid account of the role of Recon Marines in the push to Baghdad during 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' is documented in the book 'Generation Kill' written by journalist Evan Wright who was embedded with USMC 1st Recon Bn. during the 3 weeks advance. In a nutshell, 1st Recon's objective is to move ahead/adjacent of the main Marine Force in their Humvees acting as bait to draw enemy ambush, earning them the nickname: '1st Suicide Bn.'

Had read the book back in 2005 but had not gotten round to checking out the HBO mini-series televised in 2008. Those who had seen 'Generation Kill' on HBO would do well to checkout the book & for those who read the book vice-versa.

USMC-MEU

USMC-Marine Expeditionary Unit (Flight suit version). This bash came about as a result of an 'unhappy incident'. Back in 2007 when HT released its MEF (green flight suit) figure, had actually pre-ordered from a shop in 'the Square' where i had dealt with previously. By the time the figure shipped & loose were already available, there was no news of my pre-order. Made an enquiry at the shop & was given the assurance that the order was still good..... anyway weeks passed & there was still no sign of my MEF box-set. Well a pox on that, screw it.... had to bash the figure from scratch then. Thankfully managed to get most of the items loose. Had originally bashed a desert MARPAT version of the figure but change it out to a tan flight suit later. Most of the loadout are predominantly HT with a DML flight suit.

USMC:NAM

NAM: The longest war in American History, the 10,000 day war..... America's biggest military involvement in SE-Asia after WWII & the Korean War against the communist insurgency in Vietnam. Immediately after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu & subsequent withdrawal, US military advisers had begun to arrived in Vietnam from the early 50s to the eventual deployment of combat troops in the 60s to the final fall of Saigon to the communists in 1975. My earliest memory of the war was the news footage that dominated the nightly news during my childhood days; favorite Vietnam War paperbacks: 'The Five Fingers', 'The 13th Valley', 'Fields of Fire', 'The Short Timers' etc. i read in school. And of course some of the greatest war movies ever made: the surreal & sometimes funny 'Apocalypse Now' & 'Full Metal Jacket' & the brutal hard-hitting 'Platoon' to name a few. The Vietnam War was also a proving ground for some of the modern military tactics/equipment we see today: trial & introduction of the M16, Huey helicopters & air cav/air assault tactics, the M113 APC & mechanized infantry assault etc. On the 1/6 front, DML had released a series of 1/6 NAM figures in it's early days with HT & TS revisiting the genre in recent years. The theme for my bash is a Nam USMC gunner during the battle of Khe Sanh i completed in 2008 which incidentally is also the 40th anniversary of the NVA's siege on Khe Sanh firebase in 1968.

PMC

PMC:Private Military Contractors. PMC theme 1/6 figures was all the rage in 2007 with a flurry of box sets being released by HT, Barrack Sgt, TS, Dr. Figures etc. Today it remains a popular topic for 1/6 kitbashes due to the relative 'anything goes' load out of most PMC operators from the diversity of their attire to tactical gear & weapons. My two PMC kitbashes was also completed in 2007 with one of the figures drawing inspiration from a bash by Kaz featured in SpecFigures 2 magazine. PMC though a somewhat politically correct term in today had been called 'Mercenaries', 'The Dogs of War' to 'Soldiers of Fortune' in the past & glamorized in books like Frederick Forsyth's: The Dogs of War & movies like: The Wild Geese starring Richard Burton & Roger Moore. Today the mention of PMC immediately brings to mind the shadowy 'Blackwater USA' (aka Blackwater Worldwide) the largest of the US State Department's three private security contractors. It provides security services in Iraq from the guarding of installations/officials, training of Iraqi army/police personals to logistical support like convoy security etc. In recent years, the company was also embroiled in the controversial killing of innocent civilians in Iraq & in Feb 2009, the company had since changed it's name to 'Xe'(pronounced 'Zi') in an attempt to dis-associate the company's name from it's work in Iraq. Undeniablely, PMC comapnies had change the involvement of conventional troops in today's low intensity conflicts in the world's hot spots. However the long term effects & trends of PMC deployment remains to be seen.

UBCS

UBCS: Umbrella Biohazard Counter-Measure Service. A bash i did early this year, just a couple of black-ops guys with umbrella UBCS patches, not entirely game/movie accurate. UBCS not to be confused with USFU (Umbrella Special Forces Unit) made their first apperance in the Sony Playstation Capcom game Resident Evil:Nemisis. Most notable character of course is Carlos Oliverio who fought alongside Jill Valentine in the game & who later appeared in the live action movie Resident Evil:Apocaplyse & Resident Evil:Extinction. The primary function of the UBCS is the containment/retrival/destruction of Umbrella Corp data during a biohazard incident. The unit was deployed extensively in the Raccoon City Outbreak & had a high mortality rate. It's members were drawn mostly from ex-military, Mercs or even wanted criminals. To give the bash a more aggressive & RE-universe feel, the lens of the gas respirators were inserted with cut-out red plastic for added effect.

Task Force Ranger

One of my very first kitbash figures in 2004 when i started back on the 1/6 scene after a long break since 1999. The figure is a rendition of a US Army Ranger from the famous book/movie "BLACK HAWK DOWN". The average GRUNT load out in 1993 looks pretty basic in today's standards: Ranger body amour made by DUPONT, M16A2 (with no scope just the iron-sight), US 3C-desert BDU (90s transition after the 6C-choc chip used in the first Gulf-War), K-pot (with 6C-choc chip liner). The BHD Ranger figure has been widely bashed by sixth scale modelers & has appeared in the first Spec-Figures magazine. The picture was taken using natural light during sunset which explains the slightly yellowish tint.