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.