Navy SEALs, Delta Force, and SOCOM general - The most "Special" groups in the U.S. Military

[ToEnsureVerification]

Scott Helvenston
Helvenston joined the Navy at 17 and became the youngest person to complete SEAL training, completing BUD/S in 1983 and then attending Basic Airborne School. He was classified as a Combatant Swimmer and spent 12 years with the SEALS, leaving as an E-6. Helvenston drifted after leaving and had a stint as a celebrity personal trainer (including training Demi Moore) and competed on strength-based reality challenge shows. On one of the shows, he met John and Kathy Potter, who worked for Blackwater and assisted in obtaining the contract for kitchen equipment convoys (the job being done on the day of the Ambush).

I'm working on a huge effortpost. I'm still processing the Blackwater posts, the SAS warcrimes and working on my "Warfare" review, but I just wanted to mention something. Scott Helvenston was very well known in the SEAL community and known by Don Shipley as well. He was described as a physical stud, even in the SEALs. And did workout videos, 80's style, and even did a funny "Navy SEAL vs Chimp" challenge.

From what I got from Don, all the SEALs were extremely upset (to put it mildly) when they saw he was shot, burned and his charred corpse hung from a bridge. RIP. Nobody deserves that.

 

[Junkers 87]

Spoiler: Background on Bremer

Background on Bremer
As U.S. forces moved into Iraq, Blackwater secured a contract (no-bid, $27.7 million for personal security detail and two helicopters) supporting the administration’s top guy in Baghdad, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer - neocon, Catholic convert, and big believer in the use of the military to advance America’s interests (so, nothing new). Bremner, son of the president of Christian Dior perfumes in NY, had a busy history of his own:

• Served as a general services officer in the Foreign Service in the late 60s/early 70s in Afghanistan and Malawi.
• Assistant to Henry Kissinger from 1972-1976, including accompanying him on diplomatic missions to Egypt, Syria and Israel (re. Yom Kippur War)
• Deputy executive secretary, then executive secretary, of the Department of State
• Left the foreign service in 1989 to become the managing director at Kissinger and Associates, and then the chairman and CEO of Marsh Crisis Consulting (risk and insurance services firm) - their office was “above where the second aircraft hit” on 9/11.
• Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism
• Appointed as the presidential envoy to Iraq on May 9 2003, working under the direction of Rumsfeld. This comes after Bush’s announcement on May 1 that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.
• By June, the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (to which he was also appointed) rebranded as the Coalition Provisional Authority, which made Bremer the chief executive authority in Iraq - the "most powerful foreign post held by any American since Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Japan".

Since the CPA could rule by decree, Bremer took initiative to ban the Ba’ath party in all forms (something he would later use to justify spending $27,000 on removing four busts of Saddam Hussein - ''I've been looking at these for six months…so I am delighted to see them coming down. We're sick of them.'') and dismantle the Iraqi Army - something that he acknowledged “will affect large numbers of people: There were some 400,000 employees of the MOD alone…the risks of serious discontent, increased terrorism, and much higher crime rates that may result if we cut of [sic] all military and security sector pensioners in a heavily militarized society.” Unsurprisingly, this resulted in “tens of thousands, some of whom have been demonstrating in cities around Iraq protesting their not having been paid. This discontent among a respected group with training in weapons and with networks of contacts and loyalties presents a significant threat,” effectively funnelling the disbanded armed forces into resistance efforts.

Bremer approved the creation of a Governing Council, with members selected by Bremer who all miraculously supported the American invasion, with the intent for them to develop and implement a constitution, enabling America to hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis. Since the Governing Council put forward intentions to do things like banning political parties opposed to the occupation, and signing a binding SOFA with America (enabling America to occupy for longer), it wasn’t a popular solution. Bremer’s greatest hits include attempts at privatising Iraq’s infrastructure and mineral wealth, misplacing at least $8.8 billion, and clearing out a wide segment of public sector employees who had been affiliated with the Ba’ath Party (without the consideration of whether all were willingly connected), effectively stripping educated and qualified workers from organisations without having suitably skilled staff to put in their place. On top of that, U.S. sanctions were wreaking havoc, with a steep increase in malnutrition (the average calorie intake per capita was almost halved), medication shortages, and an economic collapse. Public discontent was potent.

The CPA handed over limited sovereignty on June 28, 2004, and Bremer left that day after saying, "I leave Iraq gladdened by what has been accomplished and confident that your future is full of hope. A piece of my heart will always remain here in the beautiful land between the two rivers, with its fertile valleys, its majestic mountains and its wonderful people".

Two days before Bremer left, he signed CPA Order 17, granting immunity under Iraqi law to anyone associated with the CPA and the American government, as he "wanted to make sure our military, civilians and contractors were protected from Iraqi law." This plays a key role in the character of Blackwater’s operations in Iraq, and their approaches to managing major fuck-ups.

Bremer’s replacement was John Negroponte, best known for his work as Ambassador to Honduras, leading efforts to strengthen the Contras with financial aid and military training (and continuing to do so after the Boland Amendment made it illegal in 1982, using proceeds from illegal arms sales to Iran) and implicitly supporting human rights abuses.

Excellent post, especially in regard to Bremer. He relied too heavily on Shi'a and Kurdish exiles acting as 'consultants' who pushed for de-Baathification, and went against the advice of the intelligence agencies, diplomats, senior military officials, even Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, who warned him that it was a bad move. There was also Bremer's personal motivation of wanting to emulate the denazification process in post-WWII Germany, seeing it as a prestigious analogue.

In practical terms, Bremer's de-Baathification policy strengthened existing ideological and sectarian opposition while adding an economic element to the struggle against American occupation. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, battle tested officers, and a smaller but still significant number of experienced civil officials, doctors, teachers, and lawyers found themselves with no stake in America's vision for Iraq. Paychecks, pensions, benefits, and state issued subsidies disappeared overnight, radicalizing fathers who could no longer put food on the table and, by extension, their sons.

The dissolution of the Iraqi army cost the United States a significant pool of manpower that could have been put to use in securing the country, while also removing the need to train an entirely new army made up of unmotivated incompetents. Aside from denying insurgent forces the opportunity to offer both purpose and a paycheck, the absence of a security vacuum could have also reduced the reliance on unaccountable and undisciplined PMC-types.

Bremer was also responsible for the closure of the al-Hawza newspaper for inciting violence against US forces, which many Shi’a viewed as the CPA violating their right to free speech. The newspaper itself had ties to Muqtada al-Sadr, and its banning was one of the major reasons the Mahdi Army took up arms in Najaf and Sadr City.

Sorry if this spergout is beyond the scope of this thread. I think Paul Bremer is a stupid fucking nigger and a national disgrace.

 

[Xrinxo910]

He was described as a physical stud, even in the SEALs. And did workout videos, 80's style, and even did a funny "Navy SEAL vs Chimp" challenge.

Worth noting that he won the race against the chimp, although the more entertaining episode has to be 44 dwarfs vs an Asian elephant pulling a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. They just don't make TV like that anymore.

I think Paul Bremer is a stupid fucking nigger and a national disgrace.

The quotability of ladies and gentlemen, we got him is the only thing I will credit Bremer with. His habit of retconning history - insisting that the Iraqi army had deserted, so he didn't disband anything, or many of his recollections in My Year in Iraq - is almost as bad as his asinine political takes, like asserting that the U.S. occupation prevented a civil war, or, when asked, "Do you think this war will deter terrorists and lessen hatred for the US?" Bremer responded, "Yes I do." If he could stick to pizzas and french fries, maybe he'd be more likable.

Australian SAS war crimes
Ben Roberts-Smith lost his defamation appeal, so I thought it would be a great time to reflect on the operations of Australia's finest.

Ben Roberts-Smith (VC, MG) joined the Australian Army in 1996, deploying twice to East Timor before joining the SASR in 2003. He was deployed to Fiji in 2004, then Iraq in 2005 and 2006, then deploying to Afghanistan six times (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012). After being discharged, he was appointed deputy GM of Seven Queensland, then Seven Brisbane (TV networks) until 2021 when he stepped to take legal action against Nine (another network). He resigned in 2023 when his defamation suit was unsuccessful (at an estimated cost of $25 million to both parties with 110 days of evidence, 41 witnesses (mostly former SAS), 6186 pages of transcript, 267 tender items, 125 subpoenas issued, 63 notices to produce and 36 interim judgments).

Judgment [found] all but three of the imputations of wrongdoing involving Ben Roberts-Smith had been proven true. For the three that were not, he found “contextual truth” - which means Roberts-Smith’s reputation suffered no damage from these imputations because he has been found to be a murderer, a bully and a war criminal. The Judge found he broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement and was therefore a criminal, and that he disgraced his country and the army by his conduct in Afghanistan.

BRS then filed an appeal, which was heard in 2024. Additional evidence was provided to the court in May 2025. On May 16, the original verdict was upheld, with the court stating "we are unanimously of the opinion that the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings that [Roberts-Smith] … murdered four Afghan men”. BRS is on the hook for more than $30 million in legal fees, though he has stated he intends to appeal to the High Court.

Sadly, due to mounting legal fees, he cannot afford a suit that fits.

It does make you wonder, though, how could Australia's Father of the Year, the face of an anti-king hit campaign, and the "stay kind" campaign, possibly do unlawful things?

I’ve been under the microscope for the last six years and, you know what, my record is spotless. - BRS

War crimes context
Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is an ongoing clusterfuck characterised by leaks, unnecessary delays, and limited outcomes. The general view is that Australians in Afghanistan were involved in "competition killing and blood lust" with "inhumane and unnecessary treatment of prisoners" with comparisons made to My Lai and Abu Ghraib. "Soldiers would do bad stuff to fit in. It becomes part of the banter," is one comment attributed to a special forces insider. Another states: "guys just had this blood lust. Psychos. Absolute psychos. And we bred them."

One such example was an incident where a SAS soldier severed one hand from each of four Afghan insurgents for ID purposes. Fingerprints and eye scans were the norm, however, it came out that 9 days before, they had attended an official training session where

Some SAS members claimed that the two experts explicitly sanctioned the removal of hands, one SAS trooper claiming that the experts described it as the “gold plate solution”. Another said someone asked, “So you’re sweet with us bringing back a hand?” to which the reply was, “Yes … you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do on the ground”.

The Defence scientist who was present — described in the report as “possibly the most independent person at the training” — characterised the advice given by the experts as, “Here are a range of techniques that can be used to gather evidence from a scene. It’s up to those guys, under the tactical situation that they’re experiencing, to determine what is the most appropriate technique to use.”

The Captain in the patrol, Andrew Hastie, told his men not to sever any more hands and the next day reported the incident to his commanding officer. He is now a senior member of the Liberal Party and is expected to be the party leader come the next election.

Ben Roberts-Smith (BRS) - timeline from here

RS [Roberts-Smith] repeatedly smashed this guy in the cheek and kneed him in the guts. I went, ‘Whoa whoa whoa. Back off mate.' (2010)

In 2018, the Age and the Herald (two major newspapers owned by Nine) published information about BRS conduct in Afghanistan. BRS filed a defamation suit claiming that the allegations were false. All allegations below, excluding the DV allegation, have been repeatedly recognised by Australian courts as substantially true (based on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities).

2006 (not considered in the court proceedings)
Two members of an Australian patrol noticed an Afghan teenager approaching the observation post. They made the determination not to engage. BRS and his 2IC, Matthew Locke, arrived, and "decided to hunt down and shoot dead the two 'enemy' after concluding they had spotted the patrol" (the patrol report included a single unarmed spotter, but BRS provided an oral account to the Australian War Memorial of two people - later said he misremembered). BRS allegedly called the two patrol members cowards, making threats and engaging in ongoing intimidation that spanned years.

BRS received an MG for events that occurred later that day. The citation does not include the above event. Interestingly, BRS has mouthed off about his SAS colleagues as bullies, and was the subject of complaints from patrol members about behaviour that "fractured relationships" in the unit.

During the battle where BRS earned the MG, a junior member of the unit (who stated that BRS "would hit him in the head while he was driving on the training ground, and told him he was an incompetent soldier, undeserving of a place in the SAS") had their gun stop working because he hadn't brought oil. BRS approached him in the team room after and said, “if your performance doesn’t improve on the next patrol, you’re going to get a bullet in the back of the head”. He reported the comment, and BRS threatened him again, allegedly saying “if you’re going to make accusations cunt, you’d better have some fucking proof.” The junior's performance was substandard, but considerably improved after he was moved to a different unit.

2009
While on a mission, two Afghans were found in a tunnel of a compound. They were taken prisoner. BRS killed one and directed a rookie to kill the second as an initiation. Witnesses and BRS say that no one was killed in a tunnel, and that two insurgents were killed outside. The man BRS had a prosthetic leg that was souvenired, becoming "Das Boot" and used for drinking back at base.

2012

During a training exercise in Perth involving the mock capture of an Afghan prisoner, three SAS soldiers witnessed Roberts-Smith instruct Trooper J to shoot the detainee.

"RS grabbed [Trooper J] by the shoulder and said, ‘F--ing kill him, f--ing kill him'," an SAS soldier who claims to have witnessed the event said.

The soldier alleges Trooper J responded by half-heartedly simulating a mock execution ("he went ‘bang' as a joke," recalls a witness).

This witness alleges that Robert-Smith then said, "You good with that?" The witnesses who observed the order said that two patrol commanders informally challenged Roberts-Smith, telling him to "pull your head in".

BRS kicked an unarmed and handcuffed villager off a small cliff. BRS then directed two soldiers to drag the man to a tree, where he was stood up and then shot dead. BRS claimed that the man was a Taliban spotter, and the shots were lawful.

BRS directed an Afghan soldier (via interpreter) to either shoot a prisoner, or have a subordinate do it. BRS's alibi was that he was not present as he had been stood down after shooting a dog (later admitting the alibi was incorrect).

BRS directed a soldier to kill a prisoner as an initiation. The soldier who was initiated objected to giving evidence on the grounds of self-incrimination.

BRS shot a prisoner and commented that it was “the most beautiful thing [he'd] ever seen”, commenting to another soldier that he had shot a “baby-faced” prisoner in the head.

BRS's defence was that those who gave evidence against him were driven by “enormous jealousy”, or simply too traumatised to remember.

Not included in the suit, but relevant SAS fuck-ups - BRS was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service for exemplary "mentoring … of his patrol and less experienced members", which was followed by a written complaint by a SAS regiment sergeant, signed by five SAS members and lodged with a senior officer, against the officers who compiled the citation. "As SAS soldiers, we are responsible for accurate reporting and honesty, in the field and in camp. This citation is a contradiction of those values," the complaint said.

The unit had ongoing issues, including friendly fire, which caused tensions due to an alleged cover-up, on top of soldiers taking unnecessary risks. BRS kept the award, publicly complaining that the scrutiny was "un-Australian".

A note on the friendly fire incident (no casualties) - BRS mocked him in front of the group, punched him in the head, and made threats to report him to The Hague. There were other breadcrumbs, like two juniors making internal complaints about BRS impacting their mental health, but that's beside the point.

Also not included in the suit is the killing of an elderly Imam, in which BRS was "directly involved," ordering a subordinate to shoot him after he was seen to allegedly speak on a radio, though witnesses say the radio was planted after his death. This was recommended for consideration by war crimes investigators.

2018
BRS punches a woman he'd been having an affair with in the eye after she'd fallen at an event. The judge ruled there was a lack of evidence to determine if this occurred, but said that because Roberts-Smith’s reputation had been so damaged by the other findings that he was a murderer and war criminal, that did not matter.

Investigations
The AFP announced in 2020 that no charges had been laid against BRS. There was another probe in 2021 for alleged destruction of evidence relating to war crimes investigations, however, this could not lead to a prosecution due to potentially inadmissible evidence (use of coercive powers to question serving members). Within the evidence were letters written by BRS to send anonymously to SAS members he thought would testify against him. He also buried USBs in his backyard, including classified documents and incriminating photos of other soldiers, such as a senior commissioned SASR CO "simulating a sex act with a high-ranking soldier using an object taken from a model camel." Oh, and credible evidence of desecrating corpses.

 

[ToEnsureVerification]

Another interesting video from Dead Warrior Society. It makes sense that Green Berets are rudderless and brutal. They were originally created to stay behind in a Red Invasion scenario in Europe and help with partisan activity, but ended up in the brutal role of Counter insurgency, supporting some of the most cruel and corrupt regimes in the World, as a ""necessary evil"" to keep communist influence down.

They did the same with the Karzai cartel. They created a worldwide heroin epidemic just to keep their puppet in power in Afghanistan. What a great group of guys.

Oh, and Baldhalla VFT (Green Beret) is still cashing in on the SEAL derangement syndrome about a 20 year old operation. Dude, shouldn't you be planning on how to blow up a Cybertruck or something?

 

[PiedPiper]

I only found one reference to this in another thread, but thought it would be appropriate here.

Post in thread 'General GunTuber thread'

Dec 3, 2021

Shit he probably privated the video. There was also a long chain of comments where someone took the time to explain that the cheaper steel cased stuff is often loaded with less but faster powder, so you get reduced velocity but way lower port pressure.
The Vigilance Elite dude is clearly lacking something in the intellectual department. He also went up to Taran's range while Keanu was shooting there, filmed some stuff with him, then posted a video claiming he trained Keanu for John Wick even though he was never hired to do so. Taran had to issue a copyright takedown of the video because...

• UVB-76

• 

Shawn Ryan aka Sean Palmisano

 

[clipartfan92]

Racist memes shared by Navy SEALs prompt investigation, disciplinary actions
Associated Press (archive.ph)
By Lolita C. Baldor
2025-05-21 07:45:36GMT

This private information is unavailable to guests due to policies enforced by third-parties.

 

[karz]

Escorting Bremer after a meeting in Al-Hamra Hotel, Baghdad, 2003

The whole shitty thing about Private Military Contractors (read: mercenaries) is that they're truly only accountable to their internal company hierarchy and those who contracted their services. The ones paying contractors can punish them by not being repeat clients for future jobs, but that's effectively all a client can do, short of using the state Attorney General to prosecute them (And that's only if the state even chooses to bring charges against the mercenaries in question).
There's a reason why nation states started disenfranchising mercenaries around the 1800s. Soldiers of fortune are exactly that—soldiers of fortune.
They fight for no flag, only those who pay; and mercenaries are particularly brutal because they know the consequences for any unwarranted violence they commit are limited. Blackwater showed its impact in Iraq in the early 2000s. Wagner Group did so on a grand scale in 2023, advancing within 200km of Moscow, all the while executing deserters and Prisoners of War by beheadings and bludgeoning.

 

[M1 Carbine cuckubine]

Kiwi farms got mentioned in passing by Jesse Cinco (former delta) yesterday on his stream!

 

[WhoBusTank69]

Kiwi farms got mentioned in passing by Jesse Cinco (former delta) yesterday on his stream!

I'm not scrolling through an 11 hour stream for a passing mention but that's neat.

 

[deleuzeon]

Kiwi farms got mentioned in passing by Jesse Cinco (former delta) yesterday on his stream!

Positive or negative?

As of March 2021, a full 95% of all SEAL and combatant-craft crew officers were white

I knew it was high, but not that high. That's almost cartoonish. It's like a reverse NBA.
I'm not exactly anti-racist, but when you see a figure like that and you know how subjective selection is (cadre picking targets they don't like for bullying and so on), you really do have to be suspicious.

 

[Großmann]

Positive or negative?

I knew it was high, but not that high. That's almost cartoonish. It's like a reverse NBA.
I'm not exactly anti-racist, but when you see a figure like that and you know how subjective selection is (cadre picking targets they don't like for bullying and so on), you really do have to be suspicious.

It’s not a big secret that there is a good ol’ boys network in SOF. The NDAs and the subjectivity of selections makes it pretty easy to hide how these things can go sometimes. There are definitely non-whites in that world, but the number is small enough to raise an eyebrow. Black SMs are typically bottom-rung in terms of work ethic and career aspirations, but there are enough high-performing SMs out there that you should see a little more in SOF than you tend to. This goes double for hispanics, who make a pretty sizable chunk of the US military at this point, especially when you factor in that many of them are at least bilingual — which raises their competitiveness for selection.

 

[los pepes]

It’s not a big secret that there is a good ol’ boys network in SOF. The NDAs and the subjectivity of selections makes it pretty easy to hide how these things can go sometimes. There are definitely non-whites in that world, but the number is small enough to raise an eyebrow. Black SMs are typically bottom-rung in terms of work ethic and career aspirations, but there are enough high-performing SMs out there that you should see a little more in SOF than you tend to. This goes double for hispanics, who make a pretty sizable chunk of the US military at this point, especially when you factor in that many of them are at least bilingual — which raises their competitiveness for selection.

Isn't that sort of like the whole armageddon "wouldn't it be easier to teach astronauts to drill holes than oil drillers to become astronauts" meme? It would probably be much more efficient to teach a SEAL to speak spanish than take some spanish speaker and spend a year trying to make them into a SEAL. I don't see why the ability to speak spanish (especially) would have any competitive advantage when selecting for SOF. Maybe already being fluent in Arabic or some Euroslav language might give an edge. But certainly not spanish. They are not trying to join CBP.

 

[Großmann]

Isn't that sort of like the whole armageddon "wouldn't it be easier to teach astronauts to drill holes than oil drillers to become astronauts" meme? It would probably be much more efficient to teach a SEAL to speak spanish than take some spanish speaker and spend a year trying to make them into a SEAL. I don't see why the ability to speak spanish (especially) would have any competitive advantage when selecting for SOF. Maybe already being fluent in Arabic or some Euroslav language might give an edge. But certainly not spanish. They are not trying to join CBP.

SOF does operations in many Spanish-speaking countries (SOUTHCOM, parts of INDOPACOM), so speaking Spanish is a useful skill. Plus, being bilingual increases the chance of being able to learn more languages. As for "wouldn't it be easier to teach astronauts to drill holes than oil drillers to become astronauts,” SOF SMs are typically assigned a language to learn based on regional alignment during their training pipeline. What this means is that SMs don’t typically switch languages after they are trained for a particular one, so you don’t have a situation where SOCOM plucks a guy out of his regional alignment and retrains him for a new language. Learning a new language for the pipeline typically takes at least 6 months — and even then the proficiency is just passable. It’s not plug-and-play.

EDIT: Quote box bugged out

 

[M1 Carbine cuckubine]

Positive or negative?

Negative, him and one of his friends from the SOF world were making fun of the people on r/Jsocarchives and he mentions kiwi farms then he talks about reddit cloner dorks

 

[ToEnsureVerification]

Criminal Sean Palmisano and criminal Fat fuck Vickers дурак have a nice talk.

 

[PiedPiper]

Scott Jones - Bedtime Warries Podcast.

Provides an entertaining overlay to the Australian SOF drama

Bed Time Warries

 

[deleuzeon]

Criminal Sean Palmisano and criminal Fat fuck Vickers дурак have a nice talk.

I watched this through. Here's a way too long recap of my thoughts.

Vickers is by far the most clear and coherent Delta guy they've had on. Claims to have been sober his entire life, which I believe. Shawn seemed to find it unbelievable that an SF guy should avoid alcoholism, but Vickers responded that it's more of them than he might think. You can tell Vickers has contempt for drunks and druggies the few times the topic comes up. He also says his dad was 54 when he had him, and that his brother is diagnosed autistic; that info combined with his fixations on weapons and soldiering, I definitely believe Vickers has a touch of the 'tism as well.

He goes into a lot of detail about selection and training. If you've read Haney's book, it's nothing that isn't in there; but otherwise you don't often hear this level of detail presented this coherently.

He goes into a lot of detail about the planning and execution of the Panama prison raid, which he was on. There are many details in here that would be red meat for the thread. Guys not clipping into helicopters and getting injured because of it, guys getting hit in the pro-tec helmet with rotor blades and "never being the same again," a guard being shot while in the shower but "he had a gun in his hand "

At the end they talk about his legal issues. He explains that he had a massive gun collection (about 700) and that it had become an addiction for him. He says he knowingly broke the law to get AKs from Russia for this personal collection. He says he takes full responsibility for it which is consistent with his guilty plea. He hasn't been sentenced yet, and might not be this year. He's actively soliciting help with getting his gun rights back and perhaps getting a pardon in light of his service to the country. Shawn says that he will try some backchanneling of his own.

He invokes God very often, but unlike Shawn and most of Shawn's guests, he doesn't go into religious tangents.

He has a few short political tangents about not liking Democrats and Biden. He makes a weirdly high number of references to Nazis and his favorite guns from his selection were a pair of FG42s that each cost the same as a nice house.

Vickers said that he had been a shitty husband and shitty father. His marriage is on the rocks and it sounds like his kid may have drug problems and not speak to him. Vickers did not elaborate much, except that it's not a financial issue, but he definitely talked himself down a lot and took full responsibility for being a terrible husband and father. Would be nice to see more guests on this particular show behave in this way, honestly.

Shawn seemed hung over on this episode. A few of his questions lasted for about five minutes. One was so incoherent that Vickers misunderstood it and answered what he thought Shawn had asked, resulting in multiple minutes of boomer confusion.

This guy is a funny slang factory on par with GBRS, as he tends to use the same unusual terms repeatedly. I'm gonna be introducing my friends to people as "MACV-SOG Legends" for a while.

 

[Großmann]

Vickers is by far the most clear and coherent Delta guy they've had on. Claims to have been sober his entire life, which I believe. Shawn seemed to find it unbelievable that an SF guy should avoid alcoholism, but Vickers responded that it's more of them than he might think. You can tell Vickers has contempt for drunks and druggies the few times the topic comes up

It really is sad though how deeply rooted alcoholic culture is in SOF world.
Power leveling slightly: I was at an event where everyone was doing “shoey,” which is when you pour alcohol into your shoe and chug it, and some people were pissed that I had the audacity to refuse to do that lol. There were lots of other alcoholic activities and games happening outside of that as well.

 

[VargReallyDidNothingWrong]

It really is sad though how deeply rooted alcoholic culture is in SOF world.
Power leveling slightly: I was at an event where everyone was doing “shoey,” which is when you pour alcohol into your shoe and chug it, and some people were pissed that I had the audacity to refuse to do that lol. There were lots of other alcoholic activities and games happening outside of that as well.

why would you want to drink booze infused with your foot fungus and sweat

 

[Großmann]

why would you want to drink booze infused with your foot fungus and sweat

When you’re drunk, you don’t make good decisions. We had to fly out the next day and I wasn’t about to pack a wet shoe in my luggage.