Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Weaponry in Unusual Settings

The CBS Local News Baltimore website has a story about guys robbing a UPS truck and driver. This took me back to musing I did during the Vietnam conflict.

It went like this. UPS vans drive around with their doors open, so did the iconic Huey helicopters of the Vietnam conflict.

My whimsical thought: in our big cities' roughest neighborhoods UPS vans need door gunners, like Vietnam Hueys. Imagine a UPS van with a pintle-mounted air cooled light machine gun plus gunner wearing a safety harness standing in the passenger side door. It is a great image, real Mad Max stuff.

Seeing serious weaponry in places you don't expect it has an impact. I remember the first time I saw airport security Gurkhas carrying submachine guns, or shotgun-toting civilian guards outside jewelry stores, both in 1985 Hong Kong. Even stranger were the security police in armored ninja suits at Tokyo's Narita International - very exotic.