Special Ops Mission on Military Channel

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phuphyter

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“Special Ops Mission,” a new series beginning Thursday night on the Military Channel, sits on the spectrum of living-room heroics somewhere between “24” and a first-person-shooter video game. The premise is that actual special operators — former Army Rangers, members of the Navy Seals, Force Recon Marines — play out situations like terrorist-camp infiltrations or pirate takedowns as authentically as possible. Everything is real, we’re led to believe, except the bullets. Oh, and the presence of the camera crews."

Has anyone seen this show? I'm not sure if its as authentic as it can be or if its semi-scripted or edited, but I find it as one of the most captivating shows on cable at the moment. One soldier on a role playing mission against other soldiers using simmunition. The episode I saw was one where the main guy had to rescue hostages in an empty hospital building where they were being held captive by four "terrorists" played by other seasoned soldiers from different branches of the military. He had to infiltrate the building by finding his way up the roof, rappel down the side of the building, go through an open window, and proceed to do recon and strategize his plan of attack.

In addition to the first person POV by the gun mounted camera and the camera crew (which I thought would be a dead giveaway to his position:rolleyes:) there's also a computer generated map that shows overall what's going on as well as animations of the tactics used, such as "slicing the pie" which I thought was really cool.

If you got the military channel, set this one for record on your DVR or try to catch an episode online.
 
I've seen previews, but it looks "so so" to me.

Did any of you guys watch a show that was on a LONG time ago called "Combat Missions"? Now THAT was a cool show. Too bad it only lasted one season.
 
I liked it, didn't seem all that scripted and the use of simmunitions was cool.
 
I don't know too much about the military, so I geek all over this modern warfare kinda stuff. I compare it to watching survivorman, although it has a bit of a Man vs Wild kinda feel to it with the camera crews and such.

There are things that I may learn, but may have totally no use for. Take for instance the tactical maneuver "slicing the pie." I've heard of the term but never seen it illustrated and performed before this show. Watching someone apply it and have it work for him was pretty cool to see. Maybe if I go paintballing or play airsoft I would be able to apply the technique. Who knows?
I may know how to make and use a firedrill but I highly doubt I'll find myself in a situation where I would absolutely need too. Good to know though.

I find it pretty entertaining for what it is.

I've never seen Combat Missions, but it sounds similar to this show, except its one vs many and simmution rather than the lasers. Hmmm... Maybe someone stole the concept from Combat Missions.Sounds like cool show though! Sucks that it only lasted one season. We'll see how long Spec Ops lasts.
 
I'm not sure what you mean. I agree with you, the show can't be taken as a literal example of real world combat but they're playing with simunitions. I find it more realistic than lasers. Am I missing something?
 
I spent my entire career training with simunitions. If you think that a scripted show with bullets made from detergent and planned scenarios is anything like real combat you have another thing comin.
 
can't imagine its anything like the real deal otherwise it would make interesting intel would it not?
 
Jake Bauer said:
Did any of you guys watch a show that was on a LONG time ago called "Combat Missions"? Now THAT was a cool show. Too bad it only lasted one season.
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That was a decent show, the guy that starred on it, Scott Helvenston, went on to work for Blackwater, and was one of the four killed in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31st 2004, in the ambush where they burned and then hung their bodies from that bridge.
 
I saw the show.
Way better than most of the crap out there.

A couple things bothered me, but may be due to limitations in filming.

1.) None of them transferred to the opposite shoulder, ever. As you "slice the pie" going around a right hand corner without transitioning the rifle to your left shoulder, you end up exposing most of your body before your weapon is on target. Two of the OPFOR got it because of over exposing themselves, and WW (our hero) almost got it because of that.
2.) It was very rare when cornering or coming up on bad guy positions to do anything but stand up. Very little vertical displacement was used.

* corrected
 
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The one I am looking to check next is "Disaster Survival" something or other. just regular folks (suposed to be) with regular skills, and how to gt out of all manner of wierd casualties.

Just saw my first preview yesterday, it airs sept 1st i think.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
I saw the show.
Way better than most of the crap out there.

A couple things bothered me, but may be due to limitations in filming.

1.) None of them transferred to the opposite shoulder, ever. As you "slice the pie" going around a left hand corner without transitioning the rifle to your left shoulder, you end up exposing most of your body before your weapon is on target. Two of the OPFOR got it because of over exposing themselves, and WW (our hero) almost got it because of that.
2.) It was very rare when cornering or coming up on bad guy positions to do anything but stand up. Very little vertical displacement was used.
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Can you elaborate on these points?

I'm having a hard time imagining it. Say I'm a right handed shooter going around a left hand corner slicing the pie. The stock is naturally in my right shoulder, so I should then "shoot lefty" as I round the corner?

And I'm not sure what's meant by vertical displacement. Was standing up the right thing to do?


Very interesting observations that I wouldn't even know to look for.
 
PayetteRucker said:
I spent my entire career training with simunitions. If you think that a scripted show with bullets made from detergent and planned scenarios is anything like real combat you have another thing comin.
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Oh I gotcha. I thought that you thought that they weren't shooting at eachother at all. Yeah, nothing can be like the real thing, of course.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
That was a decent show, the guy that starred on it, Scott Helvenston, went on to work for Blackwater, and was one of the four killed in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31st 2004, in the ambush where they burned and then hung their bodies from that bridge.
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Yeah I heard about that! That guy was a royal dick on the show, but he didnt deserve to go out that way. No one does.
 
phuphyter said:
Can you elaborate on these points?
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Sure

phuphyter said:
I'm having a hard time imagining it. Say I'm a right handed shooter going around a left hand corner slicing the pie. The stock is naturally in my right shoulder, so I should then "shoot lefty" as I round the corner?
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Sorry, got it backwards (still on Vicodens from surgery). It's standard practice that if you're slicing right, or covering the right side of your formation, you shoot lefty - no matter your dominant side. Think about it a minute. If you're rounding a corner to your right, you have to expose most of your body before the rifle is "unmasked". Same thing covering the right side. If the rifle is in your right hand, you have to turn your trunk farther before bringing the weapon to bear.

phuphyter said:
And I'm not sure what's meant by vertical displacement. Was standing up the right thing to do?
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Vertical displacement meaning you change your height. It could mean crouching, going prone, going "SPETSNAZ prone" (kneeling, shoulder your rifle is in is on the ground. Good for shooting under object, while being able to displace quickly), etc to change your profile/expose less of your body to the enemy.

Another thing he did was crowd his cover. Meaning to be right up against a wall or other object used for cover. This is bad because, once again, you have to expose more of your body to fire around the cover than if you are a few feet back.
 
About Scott Helvenston, did you guys know that he was a Navy Seal at age 17 ! He went into the Navy at 16.
 
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