[Stalin's Ghost]

Just saw "Act of Valor," with real Seal teams and amazing action unlike any other movie I ever saw, including what appears to be a lot of real firing of real weapons.
After a HALO jump, the sniper/spotter team provides covering fire for a CQB raid in a very impressive scene showing the effectiveness of aimed sniper support fire and the importance of team sniper/spotter action..
The sniper uses what appears to be perhaps a folding stock supressed M24 Remington, while the spotter uses an electronic tablet to both calculate solutions and keep in touch with drones overhead -lots of state-of-the-art target identification and overhead recon stuff.
Very exciting movie, not a dry eye in the house at the end, but no Hollywood sappiness about it.
Also, the Swift boat action is awesome -I'm saving up for a couple of GE Miniguns and grenade launchers of my own as soon as the quad 50s are paid for!
(It's worth pointing out that the movie Seals use semi-auto fire like real teams, not blazing away full auto like every other movie I've seen -they actually aim!)

 

[Joop]

From the ads on TV, I wasn't sure if I would like this movie, or not. Seems to be getting decent reviews from the gun community, though. I'll have to check it out.

-I'm saving up for a GE Minigun of my own!

Looking forward to your range report. :laugh:

John

 

[AbueloMark]

Mike Evans, The Hollywood Insider, heard on many radio stations reviewed the movie. He gave it 3.5 out of 4 starts. That is high praise. He isn't one of those guys who says every movie is wonderful.

 

[vogt]

I would have to agree. Pretty good flick over-all. The combat scenes had a very authentic feel to them, or at least more so than other war movies.

 

[finestkind]

One of the radio stations talked with one of the actors and supposedly they use live ammo for a lot of the scenes and thermis not cgi in the film at all. Have not seen it yet but am going to see it.


Finestkind.

 

[Davis]

While they are still weak in believability, military movies have at least moved beyond the 1980's spray-from-the-hip fighting style. Heartbreak Ridge was one of the worst - seeing a supposed Marine Recon unit standing upright, leaning back some, M16 at the hip, firing fully automatic while turning left to right to left to right in a 30 degree arc at the bad guys. Dad hated the 1980's war movies for that reason (or because they were cynical Vietnam war types that trashed the US). I was too young to know better - after all, the A-Team shot that way. Dad would point out they also never hit anything or anyone they were shooting at, either.

 

[SPEEDGUNNER]

I am not sure if they are Swift Boats, they look (and behave) more like PBR's. The Swift Boat is much longer, and not as maneuverable. Unless they are the latest derivation, I would like to see more data.

 

[srinde]

I have heard that the good reveiws and popularity of the movie has pisssed off the liberal Hollywood types. Enough reason right there for me to want to see it.

 

[greendevil41]

I've seen this flick and it was good. I'm sure somebody will point out all the flaws and how the acting was weak. I liked it for the very reason they didn't use some overpaid hollywood liberal who goes to some week long "boot camp" then pretends to be a S.E.A.L.. I was dreading another "Pearl Harbor" love story but was pleasently surprised. It got a C- from our local movie reviewer who manages to find some homoerotic sub-plot in every movie he reviews. When he complained about the almost non-stop action and violence, I knew it would probably be good. And yeah, the end will hit any military or patriotic American pretty hard. I will go see it again and recommend it here unhesitatingly. A good entertaining kick ass movie!

 

[eastbank]

i loved vn,it was the only place i had more pimples on my as* than on my face(i think they were pimples). and the only love i had in vn was with the head as i had the shiTs alot, eastbank.

 

[sniperfreak]

It got a C- from our local movie reviewer who manages to find some homoerotic sub-plot in every movie he reviews.

Guilty conscience, perhaps...

 

[Stalin's Ghost]

Had a friend tell me that two full dress Navy officers and their wives from Naval Postgraduate School were sobbing or wiping their eyes at the movie's sad end - been to too many funerals. Guess that vouches for the reality of it.
Also, when I went, the whole audience applauded big time when it was over.

 

[P. Greaney]

The personnel who man the craft that deliver and pick up the SEALs are known as Special Warfare Combatant Crewman. The selection process is highly selective and the training is very rigorous. They are among the most highly motivated personnel in the Navy, as they must be, as the SEALs depend on them with their lives.
The boats employed are not PBR or Swift boats. I don't know the designations of the various craft they use but their performance is very impressive. They have one rigid hulled boat that can be moving up a river at a high rate of speed and stop dead in mere feet.
I believe they are mostly found in SBT Special Warfare Boat Teams. They perform numerous other missions in addition to working directly with the SEAL community.

 

[Stalin's Ghost]

Thanks for the info. I assume the boats have Kevlar hulls as they are light enough to pick up and transport fully loaded with helicopters, a trick I never knew was possible.

The personnel who man the craft that deliver and pick up the SEALs are known as Special Warfare Combatant Crewman. The selection process is highly selective and the training is very rigorous. They are among the most highly motivated personnel in the Navy, as they must be, as the SEALs depend on them with their lives.
The boats employed are not PBR or Swift boats. I don't know the designations of the various craft they use but their performance is very impressive. They have one rigid hulled boat that can be moving up a river at a high rate of speed and stop dead in mere feet.
I believe they are mostly found in SBT Special Warfare Boat Teams. They perform numerous other missions in addition to working directly with the SEAL community.

 

[SturmGrenadier]

SWCC!

 

[Stalin's Ghost]

Yeah, I got it wrong when I thought they were Swift Boats -they are SWCC boats, pronounced "Swick."
The Brown Water Navy has taken to the air for helicopter insertion -way cool! No bugs up there.
Here's a video of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqoja3iWWaE

The sniper's spotter uses a small model-like overhead drone that he calls a "Raven" which sends both thermal and natural light imaging to a handheld electronic tablet. IDing targets at eye level and from a drone overhead plus ranging and calculating shooting solutions at the same time -it would take a serious video gamer to multitask like that!
Here's some stuff on the Raven drones:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVironment_RQ-11_Raven

As for me, I'm still trying to get used to having a parallax knob on the left side of my scope and a laser rangefinder, as much tech adventure as I can handle..

 

[rickyracer2]

Nice to see the Seals have Sig 226s.

 

[SturmGrenadier]

Their designation for the 226 is MK25.

 

[rickyracer2]

Cool!