I get a lot of email, with lots of good stuff. Heck, I rely on it. I can't keep my eye on everything, and if readers are sending stuff they find interesting... chances are other readers will too.
But, some of it isn't quite what it seems to the emailer. Like the one I got this morning.
Incredible footage!
Subject: SOF Mission First
When you hear the media's talk of war deaths from "friendly fire," or rage, or pure murder, you have to remember that war is not the one-on-one shootouts depicted in movies and TV. War is hell, ambushes, and often being overrun and out numbered. This video show the close air support provided by a USAF AC-130 supporting the extraction of a small group of commandos. Modern technology helps identify the good guys from the bad guys, but you can see how quickly the decisions have to be made. You will see several RPGs fired at the good guys only to have the person launching the RPG being sent to see his 72 virgins. I pass this on so that you can better appreciate the environment that our soldiers are subjected to. Were our members of congress and our senate personally involved with this the way o ur troops are I think that the troop support votes would be a lot different...
AC-130U Specter Gunship built by Lockheed, flown and operated by the USAF 16th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field , FL. Their motto .... "you can run but you'll only die tired."
Now this is how CAS is supposed to work! The person you hear talking to the crew is on the ground. He is with the British Special Air Service (SAS) Commandos in a firefight making their way to the Helo extraction point Landing Zone (LZ)
Only, it isn't incredible footage. It's a saved movie file from a game, Call of Duty 4. I'm not an AC130 pilot or gunner, but every video I've seen (important caveat) has a lot more chatter confirming targets than this one does. *Especially* in urban areas. That was my first thought when I saw it - then I just started paying attention to other cues, like the graphical similarity of the trees, the "bubble" effect in the RPG trails, etc. I've been involved, as a SME, developer, and player of military sims for decades so I notice things like that (not that it isn't darn good stuff here) But the clincher comes at 5:25-5:31... the "game saved" dialogue in the upper left hand corner, above the HUD text.
I admit - I may order the game. Here's a screen cap of the dialogue - click here.
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