FirstSpear kit shows up in the most interesting places.
A German Air Force Joint Terminal Attack Controller looks through a long-range thermal viewer during Bold Quest 15.2 on September 29 on the McGregor Range outside El Paso, Texas. Bold Quest is an international interoperability event where 13 partner nations come together to develop and test new tactics, techniques and procedures for the employment of close air support in battlespaces around the world.
(U.S. Air Force photo by A1C Emily A. Kenney)
Tags: FirstSpear
If this was their first time to Texas, especially El Paso, they got off the plane and wondered if they’ve been dropped off in hell’s parking lot?
The Germans are VERY well-established out at McGregor. Solid dudes making the most of it.
Yet Germans love the place. I worked with a German Customs inspector that did his little Bundeswehr spieltime in El Paso back in the 80’s. He still goes back every other year to visit. Absolutely crazy… He can’t stop talking about how amazing it is. I guess when northern Germany is perpetually rainy and cloudy it’s a nice change?
What he said.
Same with Norwegians coming to Spain and “enjoying” being at 40C in August in Madrid while us Spaniards hide until the night
I’m a huge fan of the high desert in that area. The city’s not great, but once you’re up in the mountains, it’s really nice.
Not my favorite place in the world, but not as bad as some CDN bases. Especially in Febuary!
Much of the Texas Hill Country area was settled by Germans and as you drive thru these areas you can still see the towns, streets and business places still have their German names.
My mom is full blood German, still going strong at 91! So her side of the family (my uncle was in Hitler’s SS!!) visited once….and they actually loved it here in South Texas which surprised me. My nephew even walked to the corner bar, not speaking much English at all, and closed the place down with some new Texan friends. I believe they had an beer summit.
Another Texas history+Germans fun fact from a VERY different chapter in our relationship: Texas had the largest number of German EPW camps of any state.
Camp Bullis is and example of a still-functioning DoD facility where EPWs passed the time adorning the buildings in ornately carved trims and building Schwimbads.
That’s actually a BDAT Modular Tactical System integrated into a pack the German is using on the left…
16.1 actually.
I was looking at the badass Til Valhall patch all this time…
What type of watch/wrist-top computer/gps are they rocking?
I completely understand that they’re probably good guys and that they are our allies, but the Germans and the rest of Europe are incredibly socialist. Supporting socialism isn’t a part of our foreign policy objectives, and I don’t know I feel about them getting great American gear. Obviously First Spear should be able to sell to whoever they want, but with the draconian domestic policies (no gun rights, businesses are mandated to close at a certain time, limited religious freedom, etc.) that are present in Europe, it just seems to go against what they stand for, and this is coming from a First Spear fanboy. Not being aggressive here, just my opinion.
… I am lost for words….
Well, since it’s your opinion…
If I’d been born 2 weeks earlier it would have been in the U.S. Army hospital in Heidelberg.
You understand that socialism and communism are vastly different approaches to economic policy, right?
I’m curious about which true “socialist” countries are imposing restrictions on religious liberty. No points for command-economy totalitarian dictators protecting their monopoly on wealth and power by practicing totalitarian elitism and soft-peddling it as socialism.
Hitler appropriated a term called “national socialism.” Hitler was a fake socialist. As an example, the Krupp family retained effective control of its holdings during WWII, and (secretly) liquidated its markers against the German treasury. Government paying industry for military product using funds negotiable on global markets: NOT SOCIALISM.
Absolutely. I certainly understand that Germany purchasing First Spear Gear with budgeted funds is not socialism. However, Germany and many other European countries impose many socialist economic regulations on their domestic industries. Additionally, some European countries including France and Germany are flagged in annual reports by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom for restrictions on religious expression by minority groups.
As a German always spechlees to read something like that. The vast non-understanding of our System.