Tactical Cheese (Part 2)

D

David Williams

Joined
May 22, 1999
Messages
1,474
Over at TFL Dr.Rob has a rant and makes some excellent points. He says it much better than I ever could.

http://www.thefiringline.com/NonCGI/Forum13/HTML/002168.html
All LEO's and soldiers please forgive this rant on the word TACTICAL.. cause ITS NOT ABOUT YOU or YOUR jobs.


I'm SICK of this word. No really I'm REALLY REALLY sick of it.


If if's a flat black plastic or neoprene its "tactical" If its ugly its "tactical". If its hypothetical and won't ever happen its TACTICAL.

How many people here ever studied TATICS??

How many people in here have EVER been in a TACTICAL SITUATION???

If you are lost in the woods is that a tactical situation? If you are being burgularized while shopping at a gun show is that a tactical situation? If you are destitue and the credit card companies are dunning your wages over your "tactical" spending are you in a "tactical situation". Or are you just screwed?
wink.gif


I see advertisments, testimonials, and recommendations for products based on "tactical applications" WHOSE tactical applications??? A cop's? A swat teams? The gooddamn Symbonese Liberation Army's??? (Hi I'm Patty Hearst for Arid extra dry.. the world's BEST Tactical anti-perspirant)

IF You have a "tactical" map case, toothbrush, laser pointer, poncho, skid plate, comb, toothpick, football,throwing dart, lawn furniture, brill cream,frisbee or whistle you have UNDOUBTEDLY payed a premium price to own something repainted and remarketed in flat black/neoprene/nomex/or parkerized that has little added value in the fact that its been so re-labeled.

Tactical? What does it mean?? Is it waterproof, does it double as a weapon? Will it float, can I eat it in an emergency??? Does Uncle sam NOT want me to have it it MUST be something TACTICAL.

When you strap on 50 pounds of paintball gear and run through the woods are you playing at tactics?? or playing TAG??

Do you practice/fantacize about leading "entryteams" against notorious deer organizations involved in nocturnal organized cornfield raids??? Did you buy your night vision goggles EXPRESSLY for this purpose???

Did you buy your flashlight based on its usefulness as a club? Do you carry a battering ram in your trunk?? No you own "tactical shin guards/armguards/flashhoods/goggles/bullet proof shields etc??" IF YOU ARE NOT A COP and you answered more than two of the above you need professional help.

I don't mean to get on a rant here but, IF One more out of shape lard assed no nothing armchair quarterback/general/expert uses the words TACTICAL SITUATION I'm gonna go get me a TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPON and drop it on his TACTICAL ASS in his tactical living room while he watches re-runs of suburban commando and red dawn on his non slip neoprene couch.

Don't worry i won't ARM it I'll just drop it on his FOOT like a BRICK. Cause we all KNOW that the Russkies got TAC NUKES the size of briefcases RIGHT???

Anyway time to make my TACTICAL RETREAT and let the FLAMES begin.
wink.gif



Your pal in advertsisng,

Dr.Rob
Click to expand...
I have a Microtech Socom MA as a daily carry. Is that considered tactical? It does have the black handle but not the black blade. It is a clip point not a tanto. I bought it because I liked the fit and finish. I carry it with the thought of utility use not self defense (but if it comes to that I think it will work well). I'm thinking of getting a Mini-Socom. Maybe with the black finished blade
smile.gif


I don't buy knives because they're black but I won't overlook them because they are.

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"A knifeless man is a lifeless man"
-Nordic proverb
 
I have to say that I really enjoyed that, and agree with the post in it's entirety.The
term "tactical" is overused and abused. It has lost it's meaning since it became a marketing device. If you want to sell something say it's "tactical" or add the word
"SEAL" to it. It will instantly attract a horde of male compensatory fantasy wannabee's
who will purchase it in record numbers.These mopes would not know tactical, from strategic, from a hole in the ground , etc..
Walter Mitty lives!



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"How do I stop this thing?"
 
I agree wholeheartedly. It's become a meaningless marketing jingle along with the obscene militarization/commandoization of just about everything, exploiting the consumer dupe into some sort of drug store ninja. This in the end is only demeaning to the REAL citizen soldier who deserves our respect and rememberance.
 
Let me describe the epitome of "tactical." Yesterday I went into McDonald's for lunch. As I exited my pickup, I noticed an armored car (Brinks type) pull up and a guard got out with a bag under his left arm. His right hand was on his Glock. He wore solid black bdu's (battle dress uniform) with a black nylon "tactical" belt over his blouse. He had his sidearm in a "tactical" thigh holster, a 7 inch bladed knife on the opposite side, handcuffs, mace, and a couple of other things I couldn't identify (might have been his blood pressure pills by the look of him). He was about 5'6" and about 240 lbs.! ALL THE BLACK TRAPPINGS YOU COULD HANG ON THIS GUY DID NOT MAKE HIM
"TACTICAL!"

The definition of the word "tactical" relates to the method of employment of military units from individual soldiers up through divisions and armies in the conduct of war. This is in contrast to the word "strategic" which denotes the method of employment of military forces to wage war with an enemy in his governmental, economic, and military centers. This is why the "Strategic" Air Command--responsible for delivering nuclear weapons on the home soil of an enemy--is named such.

Law enforcement has acquired the concepts of tactical employment over the years with their development and employment of special units (SWAT). The purchase and use of black uniforms and gear has rolled down to even the meter maids in some cities. It has become standard clothing and equipment for cops doing traditional law enforcement. Because of my military background, when I see a state trooper on the interstate wearing this type of clothing, having pulled over a speeder, I have to wonder if his attitude toward the public may have gone "tactical" as well. Another example are the members of the military police platoon in my last unit who purchased light bars for their personal pickups. These only flashed yellow--a warning or caution signal, because they weren't allowed to flash red and blue on their personal cars. But if they had been allowed, they would have!

I guess my bottom line is I am also sick of the "tactical" craze because it is prevelant among people who have no need to go "tactical." So is your knife tactical? darn right it's tactical--many Special Forces soldiers carry Swiss Army Knives, in addition to other bladeware--and they wouldn't carry these if they didn't consider them "tactical." Rest assured that Seal team members and Special Forces soldiers rarely walk around with tee-shirts bearing slogans underneath pictures of neoprene-clothed animals emerging from the ocean with weapons drawn. A-team and Seal team members are usually as indiscernable off duty as they are on a dark night, approaching the objective.

The use of the word "tactical" as a descripton in the name of something does not make it a tactical piece of equipment. Lets exercise a little discernment and restraint when we make our selections.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Bruce Woodbury
 
I'm not sure I've ever encountered the phrase "tactical situation" before. What could a tactical situation be ... I guess if you find yourself in a situation where your strategy has failed so badly you are forced to give up the effort to achieve your strategic goals and focus all your efforts on the purely tactical struggle to extract as much of your force as possible, that would be a tactical situation.

As long as you're still trying to extract some of your supplies too, though, it's not a purely tactical situation. If you haven't given up trying to destroy some of your supplies and weapons to prevent capture by the enemy, or if you try to blow up bridges as you retreat to prevent the enemy using them to supply their troops later, you're not in a tactical situation, either.

The other way to get into a tactical situation might be to achieve your strategic goals so nothing remains but tactics. If you surround the enemy and cut his supply lines all that remains is the purely tactical problem of resisting his efforts to break out of the trap -- no, you'd still have the strategic problem of supplying your own troops, so that wouldn't be a tactical situation ... if you essentially have no strategic problems, though, your supply lines are not threatened, you could consider that an essentially tactical situation.

Wait -- I've been using the Army definition of tactical through this whole post! If you use the Air Force definition it's easy -- any time you're in a situation where you're only bombing enemy soldiers and not bombing civilians, you're in a tactical situation.

-Cougar Allen :{)


[This message has been edited by Cougar Allen (edited 19 November 1999).]
 
I just have one question. Do I pay more for the black G-10 scales on my BM 710 and Spydie Standard that I would if it were, say, green, tan, blue, or natural (whatever color natural G-10 is)? If so, tactical sucks!

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It's just a ****ing staple!
Maybe we should make knife blades out of staples!
Outlaw_Dogboy, Pax River NAS, Republik of Marilundt


 
G-10 is glass-filled epoxy, both colorless materials, so if there weren't any dye in the epoxy it would be colorless (and translucent; you'd be able to see the glass fibers).

It might cost less, but only very slightly ... figure the dye in a G-10 handle might be worth a penny or so....

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
A lot of good points were hit on the above posts. Tactical is a meaningless word used as a sales gimmick to sell a whole bunch of products by irresponsible knifemakers and dealers. It isn't always going to be maaningless. Eventually it's going to be picked up by the media and will find it's way into knife legislation. Then we'll see the same people marketing their knives as tactical weapons trying to say that they're not tactical of made for offensive purposes.
They're just tools.
You think it can't happen? You think they can't make a knife illegal because of the way it looks? Do any of you remember a gun being an assault weapon and illegal because it had a muzzle break or a bayonet lug? The whole tactical thing is annoying but as long as the money flows the word isn't going to go away.
 
Whew! Good, because I like black, and not because it's called "tactical". I just think that the black handles contrast the bright, shiny steel really nicely!
biggrin.gif


------------------
It's just a ****ing staple!
Maybe we should make knife blades out of staples!
Outlaw_Dogboy, Pax River NAS, Republik of Marilundt


 
Thanks David for bringing Dr. Rob's rant here and all forumites for this enjoyable cyberdump on "tactical"!
smile.gif
 
If my wife is wearing a black jumpsuit to dinner does this make it a "Tactical Meal"?
I agree, this term is overused, abused and totally blown out of proportion.
I don't buy for any other than utility(well there is the occasional "hey that looks cool" appeal) So I say well said one and all.
Too funny.

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The bible is not such a book a man would write if he could, or could write if he would.

*Lewis S. Chafer

2 Tim 3:16
 
Valmet, thanks for that link. Been looking for it.

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lifter
Phil. 4:13

Dave
Wharton,NJ


 
Hey, I tactically think I just took a tactical cab ride this tactical evening in a sepia colored taxi to the tactical screening of that ever tactical movie "Being John Malkovich" in a tactically darkened cinema.

I tactically guess I also have a tactical labrador retriever and a tactical domestic short hair cat I should keep a closer tactical eye on in the tactical future now that I tactically know their tactical coloration makes them more tactically dangerous and tactically intimidating. Boy was I tactically clever in tactically acquiring them or tactically what?

Translucent G-10! Why hasn't anyone cashed in on the iMac like craze such a material could really portend? It would be cool to have anodized liners and translucent scales. The partially transparent knife would probably sell.

Hell, why not tactically phosphorize, impregnate with radium, or micro-krill lamp the G-10? The tactical handle could then tactically glow in the dark and be tactically more tactically useful as a tactical map reading tactical light than as the tactically supposed, but never really widely tactically used since the tactics of Viet Nam, "sentry assassination" tactical weapon all these tactical knives are tactically now. Besides, tactically speaking, when the would-be-tactical-warrior tactically fumbles his tactical blade in the tactically unlighted alley during a midnight tactical feline tactical assault on his tactical trash in the tactical rubbish cans out back tactically after tactically muffing the photo tactical sequence he tactically learned the tactical reverse grip tactical attack from out of some tactical magazine or tactical book, he'd be tactically able to tactically find his tactical blade tactically PRIOR TO tactically stepping on it tactically barefoot and tactically creating a tactical medical emergency.

I'm all for ridding ourselves of this hackneyed term. Sorry for trying your patience.

If tactics is the small unit or individual employment of forces, I guess I was in the Tactical Navy when operating the Captain's gig to shore. Or was that the Nautical Navy? I forget everything about such crap except for that we attempted to NOT use idiotic DoD approved acronyms and terms whenever possible.

The word tactical seems to have not been subject to such disdain in the other armed services and has now spread to the police.

And to think we ocassionally wore BDUs in the Persian Gulf and didn't become brainwashed into thinking there was anything particularly fun or "tactical" or romantic about it!

Perhaps wearing them everyday has a peculiar effect on some peoples' minds. It seems getting brainwashed into the tactical mindset from only periodically wearing BDUs happens nearly exclusively to non-veterans and gunwriters.


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Never confuse movement with action.

Ernest Hemingway

[This message has been edited by Oregon Duck (edited 20 November 1999).]
 
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