Helmet cams

awesomeness, blather, Crazy, history, science fiction, weapons Add comments
Nov 192012

If you remember the movie Aliens – and if you read this blog, it’s a safe bet you do – one of the sci-fi elements you’ll recall is that all the soldiers had little video cameras on their helmets. In the mid 1980′s, this was of course a bit fanciful… any decent video camera would weigh several *pounds.* But those days are over; cameras you can mount to a helmet are now *smaller* than the ones in Aliens. And as it turns out, American soldiers & Marines are, in fact, going into combat with helmet cams.

Note: these are actual fighting men in actual combat. That means there’s some NSFW language. So if you’re at the office, crank it up, man!

A firefight with danger-close support from A-10s. The A-10 opening up with that monster GAU-8A gatling gun adds a certain special something to the proceedings.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

In this one, the solider gets shot. The description says that the round didn’t penetrate his body armor… another feature that Aliens got right, and that American soldiers in prior wars might have done well to have had.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

A firefight from the viewpoint of a machinegunner. You can occasionally also  hear one of his buddies light lighting the Taliban up with a shotgun… kind of the quintessential American combat firearm. Note that, as in many/most firefights in reality (rather than Hollywood), the bulk of the firing is suppressive firing… shooting not at individual enemies, but just in their general direction to make them keep their heads down. That’s why it takes tens and even hundreds of thousands of rounds, statistically, to kill a single enemy.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

And a firefight in what sure looks like a giant patch of weed (with the ultimate combat commentary at about the 0:40 mark):

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

Posted by admin at 12:14 pm
  • Chris Hlynka

    It should be noted that one of the biggest changes on in this most recent wars is the use of helmet-cam videos as training tools. Whole squads will muster up and watch eachother’s videos pointing out where a given trooper did well and where he f***ed-up. The second one is actually a rather infamous “Don’t be this guy” training video that’s been circulating for the last year or so.

    He allows himself to be isolated from the rest of his team and generally makes poor use of movement, and terrain. His communication also leaves a lot to be desired.

  • Bill H.

    When I read that you mentioned Aliens, I searched your blog and found no mention of this. http://www.scifiairshow.com/. This is a pretty cool website that you will relate to I am sure! Very well done and played straight. Hoping they do the C57D soon.

  • Anonymous

    That first vid with the A-10s is intense. Since they’re flying straight at the line and the shells are supersonic, the impact of the rounds is heard before the buzz of the gun itself. Glad I wasn’t there and I’m sure the troopers loved having an A-10 as overhead watch.

  • Anonymous

    And yet no one has yet captured a terrorist hiding behind women and children?

    • Anonymous
      • Anonymous

        Both link to the same Israeli propaganda, where a child is actually removed out of the way, no gunfire or IDF is seen anyway. But add a caption and it makes nice propaganda. If you want to see children used as human shields, try:

        • Anonymous

          Note that the Israeli soldiers aren’t hiding behind their *own* people, but rather behind captured enemy combatants. Still bad (and illegal, and those Israeli soliders who do this get in trouble with their *own* legal system), but quite a bit different from those brave Hamas and Taliban fighters who snatch up their own children to hide behind.

          And I’ll note that in both of the photos you link, I see no gunfire or Hamas. So, as irrelevant as you want my videos to be, more so are your photos.

© 2013 The Unwanted Blog Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha