Hey all,

If you haven't bought the DVD of this fine movie already, save some more pennies, and buy the deluxe 3-DVD set. My wife got it for me as a surprise from WalMart for $30. It's got the movie itself in wide-screen, and then two DVD's with a 2.5 documentary on the making of the movie, and several History Channel and Discovery channel specials on Mogadishu and the raid. Awesome in-depth look behind the scenes. Well worth the price.

Oh, an AR/M16 question to keep this thread on topic of AR's. Why didn't any of the men with M16's fire full auto or 3-round bursts? Eversmann, Twonley and others all had 16's, but on the streets, they were all firing semi-auto. I'm not sure if it was a choice of the technical advisor (ex-Navy Seal), or based on real facts. I know several were blasting away with SAW's and MaDuces full auto, but no one else. Conservation of ammo? Seemed weird to me.

Ah well. I'm sure I'm over analyzing.

Be well all.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to check it out.

ls

Agree, it is an awesome DVD set.  

Ammo conservation is why there was little full auto fire.  Would you want to be dumping mag after mag in full when you've only got about 7 mags to start with and don't know when you'll get out of there or be resupplied?  A lot of people think full auto is the only way to go; it isn't.  You're better off firing one shot that hits its mark than 10 that don't hit anything.  Personally, I've got four M16's in my safe and they're a lot of fun, but if the SHTF the selectors get set to semi.

You are just now getting it.  What took you so long?

I have a question about the US Spec. Ed. of BHD...

I bought the Region 2 SE months ago (has two disks). The US version has an additional disc with National Geographic etc.
I have a region free dvd player so I can buy that version, but is it worth it? In essence paying 30 bucks for disc 3....
What else is on disc 3?

I love mine. Got it the day it came out [:D]

I have not seen the new version, just the original and the Hist Channel doc. A very good movie and I will buy the new DVD set. If you have not yet read the book, GET IT and read it!!
Goes into WAY more detail than the movie, and it is all based on the facts and not "dramatazations". As far as the full auto question about the movie, according to the book, a lot of the rangers (but not all) were going full auto, and as far as running out of ammo, they did that also. There are parts of the story when the were leaving in the convoy from the target house and the wounded guys were passing full mags up to the guys shooting back when they ran out of thier own mags. Of course, even shooting one round at a time, you are going to run out of ammo if you are being attacked by the entire population of a city. This was a true SHTF situation. The rangers in the convoy had no way of knowing how long they were going to be driving, but none of them expected to be going as long as they did. 20/20 hindsight, you conserve ammo, but when you think it wil all be over soon why hold back? At least, that is what the book portrays. Now, I am sure the D-boys (Delta) were putting every round down range into a target. But like they always say, "You fight how you train".  

I have the 3 disc set also I love it and watch it a couple times a week and I noticed something on thier uniforms(BDU's), the American flags are backwards. Any one know why? and to stay on topic the suppressed M-16 is awesome. I want one.

AK-kb,

The flags on the BDU's that seem to have the stars and bars reversed, with the blue on the right, are "battlefield colors". I saw an episode of Mail Call with R.Lee Ermy who answered the very same question on the air. He said the right shoulder wears this unique reversed flag to consistantly show the stars preceding the bars as you look from front to back. It may have to do with a flag waving in the breeze this way. It is the only time you will see this unusual use of the battlefield colors officially, or so R.Lee said. Someone correct me if my memory of this show is failing.

Be well.

The American Flag is always worn such that the blue field is moving foward.

The flag is reversed because otherwise it would look like it is retreating.

Wild full auto fire, for the most part, is for hollywood. In real combat, you want to make every shot count, hit your targets, and not run out of ammo.

I havent been in Combat But I have been to OCS in Quantico.....Full Auto fire IS not rec. in the condition and place they were in at all. Single shots at those distances were much more effective.

As an Full Auto Owner.. I can waste 280 rounds in seconds no problem. YOu would be suprised how quickly you can dump your battle load in FA fire... I for one would have used semi at all times.

The Flag is "backwards" so that it is always going forward into battle.

Full auto fire would have been good to use as cover fire, but other wise, aimed semi fire is the preferred method.

Carry on.

I haven't seen the new DVD set, but I've seen the movie and read the book, and I was actually kinda dissapointed by the movie.  I felt that there was a pretty strong effort made in the movie to avoid making the Somalians looks bad.  If you read the book, and the accounts of those involved, it is obvious that the Somalians were killed faster and in larger numbers then the movie portrays.  In the movie the rangers and D-boys seem to be firing blanks a lot of the time, as they often fire at Somalians without an appearant effect.  

One of the most noticable instances is early on when a Technical comes out into an intersection and is fired opon directly by an M2 on one of the HMMVs.  There are a few little sparks and they drive off, when as anyone here knows even a single hit on an unarmored vehicle with a .50 BMG round will do some immediately noticable damage.  The same goes for when they fire on Somalians themselves with the M2s. It seems to me that anyone who is hit should be instantly gored, but that doesn't happen much in the movie.  The miniguns also fail to go near there true capabilites.

The movie seems to lack some of the chaos of the actuall events as well, which is odd because normally movie makers like to [i]add[/i] the stuff.  In reality, the Somalians were filling the sky with RPGs in an attempt to hit any of the Blackhawks.  Why did the movie makers decide to skip the chance to have rockets flying all over the sky and instead [i]make up[/i] some special team of Somalies instead?  That Militia leader with the Krinkov and his little band of "Somalian special forces" are  unnecessary, made up characters.  

That all said it's a good action flick, but I'm always at a loss as to why hollywood substitudes made up events for real ones when the real events were already so dramatic.  

Thanks for the heads up, on that DVD set.

Bullsh*t.  Thats what a 3 disc set is for.  I have this set and I love it.  My favorite is the very special deleted scene where the 2 deltas are talking about their new Aimpoint scope and tungsten ammo.  Check it out.

I saw the movie when it first came out, then, only recently read the book (sorry I waited so long), I then watched the movie again.  Man, the movie is alright but really didn't even scratch the surface of what happened (at least according to the book.)

I really didn't like how the movie renamed some "characters" (Stebbins) and completely left some out (Macehunas, Howe).  I suppose there were some privacy issues that couldn't be resolved.

Just remember, "No one has bigger or better guns than America."

Single fire was good enough for the Skinnies..Sometimes they would keep on running for a good 1/2 block before they would fall.

People, dont forget, they had to cram an 18 hour + fight into a couple of hours with the movie. Characters werent renamed, they just had to combine some people with others. The movie is true to the book, its just much more abbreviated, as it had to be. Also, what you picture in your mind when reading the book, might be a bit different than what you see on the screen. Doesnt mean either is any more or less accurate.

Don't get me wrong, I loved BHD and even bought the original DVD. Should have waited for the deluxe set.....

But I met Michael Durant this weekend at FT Rucker and he spoke on BHD and how it really happened. Made me realize that Hollywood is still Hollywood, regardless of the story line.

This guy ripped klinton and the past administration a new one. Over and over.

I didn't realize and had never heard this before, but according to Durant, after he was released, klinton made a deal w/ Adid and protected him and carried him around like a VIP.  Makes me sick. As you recall, the movie only mentions Adid after the release as being killed by his own malitia.

To sum it up, BHD is a great Hollywood rendition of an actual event in which Great men took part. But in true Hollywood fasion, they F'ed Up the story.

[img]http://carrasco.home.texas.net/mastpara.gif[/img]

yeah but the editing for the movie sucks. Way too many special defects. Action is great.
GG

Roger that!  After playing around with my M16, not being in any military/law enforcement type job, I realized that full auto fire is basically only good for cover fire, clearing rooms, hail mary overwhelming firestorm, or when you have an unlimited supply of ammo and don't have to move (of course the barrel and gas tube melt down), and of course, entertainment - the only aspect I get to enjoy.  If SHTF, my M16 would remain in semi unless some really extraordinary circumstances arose...[;)]

That movie just plain kicks ass, and the deluxe version just makes it that much better.

Friend of mine participated in a match where you could use pistols or carbines to complete a course.  One fella had a FA AR.  The group kept after him until he agreed to make the run on full auto.  At one point he had to take out two targets about 3' apart in an area about the size of a bedroom.  For time's sake he fired a fair sized burst at the two as he moved through the course of fire.  When they scored him after the run he had missed BOTH TARGETS COMPLETELY from a distance of ten feet.