It was a challenge for sure....many washed out and many burned out once they got into the teams........life was tough in there.
I must be obsolete...
- Thread starter Bumblebee
- Start date
You don’t know what a fight is.
And comparing a person in an olympic sport to a person who has to do what a special forces operator has to do is not realistic either....
Take some time and research what entails the duties of an operator and what it takes to be one first.....I know what it takes to be an olympic athlete, that's easy to research...that and I met a few of them.
I didn't know this was a fight....I always thought this was a discussion forum...I don't know where he got the idea this was a "fight."
I obviously have no idea, but the small amount that I have seen and heard makes me have no doubt about that.
Of course you are trained intensley to do something, and that comes with some degree of risk itself, but I cannot imagine what it must take to put some of that into practice in the real world, with no more safety nets.
I'm not just talking about combat either, but oceans, jungles, extreme heat and cold, dangerous animals, poisonus plants and bugs, cliffs, tall buildings, caves, unhospitable terrain, and having to go anywhere to save and or kill someone at a moments notice...just the thought of that to the average joe like me is pretty incredible.
It's no wonder to me that so few are able to do so.
Knowing "buddies" and being in their boots are two different things.....this isn't a duck measuring contest....
and...........I'm retired....don't really care what they are doing these days......I know what I did and can only stand behind that.
I still say the olympics has run it's course and has no further use other than political band-standing so some politician can brag about what the athlete did that they poached from some other country.....sadly it's the athletes who are the pawns in all this.
There's a reason people get burned out.....
I don't understand the comparison.
SpecOps have to really do anything at any time.
Sure, maybe one group is better for that mission than another, and vice versa.
But, if I'm an olympic athlete, or a professional athlete...I have to be good at that one specific thing.
That probably entails some fitness cross training, with running, weights, biking, and anything good for cardio, like boxers, they box, but also run alot, so much so that alot could be competitive in running events.
Athlete vs SpecOp both have and need great cardio, but as an armchair quarterback, that's where the comparison ends for me.
SpecOps have to really do anything at any time.
Sure, maybe one group is better for that mission than another, and vice versa.
But, if I'm an olympic athlete, or a professional athlete...I have to be good at that one specific thing.
That probably entails some fitness cross training, with running, weights, biking, and anything good for cardio, like boxers, they box, but also run alot, so much so that alot could be competitive in running events.
Athlete vs SpecOp both have and need great cardio, but as an armchair quarterback, that's where the comparison ends for me.
They are retired also, some with missing a leg. But they all seem to double dip, they find something really useful to do with their lives after retirement. They don't consider themselves better either and disrespect the olympics.
It is about disrespect shown for the olympics and disregarding how hard the athletes who win gold medals have to work and dedicate themselves.
It is about someone who places himself better than that because he has served.
They both deserve respect, not only the latter. Go back to his post where this started.
The US won 40 gold medals btw., Canada only 9. Probably makes his day.
It's a free world baby.......
When it comes to "disrespecting" the olympics.....that's my right to do so...I'm not disrespecting the athletes.....just the institution of the olympics...
Nowhere did I say I was better than anyone else......I'm not boasting nor am I entering a duck measuring contest with anyone...
I too have many (many) former colleagues and friends who served and served with some very fine individuals so we need not get into the "who we know" game.....
Take time to re-read the title of this thread.........and let that mull over in your head for a while......then you might get the entire premise of this thead and these posts....
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I at no time disrespected any athletes....I know what it takes for them to get to the olympics.....I will disrespect the olympics all I want....that is my right to do so.
You are correct, I served, I did my time and then some...I at no time said I was better than anyone, however our training was very intense, more intense than most-that was my point.....it is you who started comparing what I did to that of an athlete and how we (I) were inferior somehow...a point I was arguing against.
I served with many Canadian and international units and fought alongside them......I've earned the right to speak on this and won't apologize for that to you or anyone else.
The US got 40 gold medals.....yes they did, the US also has almost 10X the population of Canada so there's that.....
If Russia were allowed in the olympics that number could have been less....
That would be like saying someone disrespects the Canadian military, but they don't disrespect the troops. What would the olympics be without the athletes then?
Don't you think that is a bit left field?
I certainly do.
I believe I brought the military comparison in here, as over here in the US, they are a different bunch, good people with good values. They have sincere bonds and would give their lives to each other. They respect authority. Good people. Not the kind of folks who would disrespect the olympics. With respect, they show discipline and good conduct much more so than the average entitled American. You are different and that surprised me a little, as you have served.
As you say it is a free world, free speech and we can say what we like and show who we are.
He dislikes the olympics, but I didn't see him disrespect the athletes or place himself above them.
Well........I did serve and for 33 years mostly in the special forces...I've served with many other international special forces and regular forces soldiers and I will tell you.....you don't know all you seem to think you know about military members and how they feel or think....you are an outsider to these people as you would be to me if I was still serving.
I'm certain if you and I were actually sitting and talking face to face, it would be an entirely different conversation.....
As for the olympics....I'm not alone in how I feel....lots of people like watching the events but don't like the olympics as they have been degraded to a political platform and the last one in Paris went woke which turned a lot of people off......and more than a few of these are my former colleagues.....professional, well trained military folk of varying ranks and backgrounds....
I watched some events and have known several olympic athletes, coaches and trainers....I know what it takes to get to where they are but they didn't get there because of the olympics.....they compete nationally and internationally against the same athletes they encounter at the olympics....there are no surprises.....in many cases the athletes have the same coaches and train together......then when the olympic rosters are announced, they go compete for their home country even though they don't live there.
Nothing to do with disrespect for the human athletes...they go where they need to go to compete whether it's at the olympics or at an international meet.
Nothing to do with the fact that I risked my and my team's lives on several occasions on foreign soil and how I would lay my life down for my country and team mates....how I sacrificed many things in order to serve my country....missed countless anniversary's, birthdays, family deaths and on and on......the fact I don't believe in the olympics and what they stand for has nothing to do with my personal military experience. I'm a rarity as I visit this forum and speak about things that none of my former colleagues would ever do...it might be a weakness I've developed.
So......there we are......this is why I feel as I do....
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I agree the opening of the olympics were a sad state of affairs.
I believe you discount the fact that we both served. Military changes a person, it teaches discipline, respect for authority and structure, which is sadly missing in our young generation. You and I grew up on opposite sides of the world. Where I grew up, even if you disfavor your President, those who did not vote for him, would not disrespect him. Those days there was respect for authority, respect for seniors and society would generally take offence for example the things you say about Trump. The things you say about the olympics. I see a lot of that discipline among my military friends. My stepson served, been in Iraq twice, also Kenya.
In terms of an outsider, you are not in a position to judge that, as you don't know the community I live among, my circle of friends etc.
Very interesting, I am busy doing a new construction home for a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent. Him and his wife are relocating here from PA. From Captain United States Marine Corps to FBI Supervisory Special Agent. Don't get Frank talking about corruption and the Bidens, and about what the FBI has to do before they can arrest someone legitimately, with a water tight case which will stand up in court. Then he compares that protocol to what Trump has been charged with, and how ridiculous that is. Don't get him talking about ex director James Comey, or Christopher Ray.
I most definitely am in a position to judge this as I myself would be an outsider to serving members....they would recognize me as a former serving member but would not recognize me as part of their collective so to speak.
There is a special bond between military members who served or fought together and although I fought beside many international soldiers and we grew close, there is still a sense of division due to the fact we were from different units/countries so therefore are held at arm's length...
Even members of my former team will talk to me and sometimes seek advice or even to vent keep me at arm's length as I am no longer in their circle even though I trained most of them and was their leader....
It's a strange bond between soldiers....I don't need to know your particular community to know.
You and I could go around in circles and get nowhere as we are both equally stubborn....better to agree to disagree and move forward.
As a note, the ex chief medical officer of now Fort Liberty, is one of my best friends. The guy who was in charge of arranging the choppers and all the logistics to get soldiers to Bin Laden, and to again get them out, works with me. The group of military friends they surround themselves with has accepted me as an immigrant, we all do stuff together, I feel at home with these folks, never felt like an outsider.
Agree to disagree, perhaps just a last fact of life below, we all have to accept who we are and that we are different.
Ask an Arab in Saudi Arabia to reject his king and he will reject you.
Ask an, Ex South African, who grew up and lived in the OLD South Africa to disrespect his President, and he will lose respect for you.
Ask an American and a Canadian to disrespect their President and they will have at it, it will be impossible to stop them.
So Bee, it is perfectly normal for you and I to disagree.
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