Katy Couric, a network TV newsanchor, was interviewing a US Marine in Iraq via cell phone last week.

You could tell that the marine was tiring of her stupid questions but he was a gentleman and answered as best he could.

Her last question was, "Tell us, corporal, what do you feel when you pull the trigger to kill an insurgent?"

The marine thought for about two seconds and answered, "Recoil".


I laughed for ten minutes.

Yea I heard about that...
Kept me thinking for a while.

HAHAHA. Jesus Marines are the cats meow. I'm really glad i grew up with them which is another reason why i have such a sickening sense of humor

Jordan

OMG....
gotta laugh at that.... LMAO

LOL Glenn. That's so funny... I can just imagine it

Dan.

Has anyone seen this posted on Youtube? I'd love to see it but a quick search didn't turn anything up

too bad its not true... huh?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/recoil.asp

check you sources

Still funny though! I can't say I've heard it before so it makes no difference to me, hell I don't even know who Katy Couric is.... but I got a good laugh out of it that's all that matters

Well shooting someone for a sniper is much more personal than just shooting at them and hoping to get lucky like regular groundfighters.

But if this was the Airforce she would ask an F-15 pilot what he felt when he dropped bombs on insurgent targets, and his answer would be "2000lb lighter". Its really that inpersonal when your out of harms way, its like a video game. So yea I think sniping someone could not be done without some kind of emotional attachment.

Ummmm. Actually my step uncle was in Vietnam carrying a 50 cal in the jungles and he told me after you have been in it so long you just stop caring and feeling and just keep shooting. To this day he still jumps you cant just walk up to him without him seeing you first. War really screws people up man. But cant really do that from the airport strapping bombs huh. But hey Arc you Strappem I Droppem

Jordan

That's an old joke, I heard it for the first time about a year ago

Carrying a 50 cal...? Like, humping along in the bad with a M2 50 caliber machine gun?

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m-...cal-dvic552.jpg
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m-...cal-dvic550.jpg

I never got that close to the fighting, although there were a few times some SOB's tried to knock me down...and me armed with a freakin' M9...maybe an M4...if I'm lucky...which we typically weren't. I do know what a bullet sounds like going over my head...WAAAY too close.

Yes sir humping the jungles in Vietnam with a 50 Cal. I kinda stared at him like wow Jesus Christ. I used to want to be in the Marine Corps i have changed that idea however it is a back up plan if my first plan does not follow through.

Semper Fi, Jordan

With all due respect, check your facts. I have worked with some pretty tough SOB's and not one of them could have "humped a .50 cal". Certainly an M-60 machinegun but NOT a .50 cal. Most snipers (US Army, anyway) in the Vietnam era used modified Remington 700 BDL's, if I remember correctly. The sniper that occasionally worked with my team did. The .50 cal sniper rifles didn't come along until after Vietnam. The Armalite AR-50 wasn't developed until the very early 90's, if I remember correctly.

Well, if anyone did hump a Ma Deuce in the boonies it would HAVE to be a Jarhead (oops ....Marine). Us Army types are too smart for that - that's why Bell and God made the AH-1.

Ranger I wasn't talking about a Sniper buddy. I was talking about the actual 50 Caliber machine gun. I sat there and talked with him for hours about Vietnam. So with all due respect ill take his word for it not yours. And also he didn't have the privilege of turning his head and an entire 20mm machine gun turn with it.

Regards
Jordan

I stand corrected. The M-2 .50 caliber gun was used during the Vietnam War. Carlos Hathcock, a Marine sniper and certainly arguably the best sniper in the business, used one to record a kill at a range of over 1.4 miles.

One note to add from a personal perspective, when I "turned my head" a CAR-15 or an AK-47 was in my hands. And a ruck sack that weighed upwards of 100 lbs. was on my back. Me and five of my best friends (to this day) were doing what young guys like us did best.

And i respect that. I have always had high respect for you man. And so have others.

Regards, Jordan

He didn't carry it alone, did he? I mean, the thing weighs over 80 pounds and the tripod is over 40...plus a belt of ammo weighs about 10 pounds...I'm just wondering how they did it...

No Sir he didn't carry it alone. If i remember right he said he had several guys along with his platoon. I got to hear some really graphic stuff about what his 50 did to people. He didn't carry the 50 all the time just on major missions where they didn't have much of a chance without it. He mostly carried an M-16 with the 20 round clip.

I hate war, and guns.....

Archangel, how can you compare war to video games? Are you forgetting that in war people actually die, a video game is a a game, no one dies. I say this having never been in war.. but I know the effects of it, not just from video games. War totally messes people up as said before, but in no way can you compare it to a video game.