Long Hair is required for Trackers - Lessons learned from Vietnam

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Long Hair is required for Trackers - Lessons learned from Vietnam (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:43:58 AM EDT

The Story: Taken from a wacky website. Anyone think this is real?

"This information about hair has been hidden from the public since the Viet Nam War.

Our culture leads people to believe that hair style is a matter of personal preference, that hair style is a matter of fashion and/or convenience, and that how people wear their hair is simply a cosmetic issue. Back in the Viet Nam war however, an entirely different picture emerged, one that has been carefully covered up and hidden from public view.

In the early nineties, Sally [name changed to protect privacy] was married to a licensed psychologist who worked at a VA Medical hospital. He worked with combat veterans with PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Most of them had served in Viet Nam.

Sally said, " I remember clearly an evening when he came back to our apartment on Doctor's Circle carrying a thick official looking folder in his hands. Inside were hundreds of pages of certain studies commissioned by the government. He was in shock from the contents. What he read in those documents completely changed his life. From that moment on my conservative middle of the road husband grew his hair and beard and never cut them again. What is more, the VA Medical center let him do it, and other very conservative men in the staff followed his example. As I read the documents, I learned why. It seems that during the Viet Nam War special forces in the war department had sent undercover experts to comb American Indian Reservations looking for talented scouts, for tough young men trained to move stealthily through rough terrain. They were especially looking for men with outstanding, almost supernatural, tracking abilities. Before being approached, these carefully selected men were extensively documented as experts in tracking and survival.

With the usual enticements, the well proven smooth phrases used to enroll new recruits, some of these indian trackers were then enlisted. Once enlisted, an amazing thing happened. Whatever talents and skills they had possessed on the reservation seemed to mysteriously disappear, as recruit after recruit failed to perform as expected in the field.

Serious casualities and failures of performance led the government to contract expensive testing of these recruits, and this is what was found.

When questioned about their failure to perform as expected, the older recruits replied consistantly that when they received their required military haircuts, they could no longer 'sense' the enemy, they could no longer access a 'sixth sense' , their 'intuition' no longer was reliable, they couldn't 'read' subtle signs as well or access subtle extrasensory information.

So the testing institute recruited more indian trackers, let them keep their long hair, and tested them in multiple areas. Then they would pair two men together who had received the same scores on all the tests. They would let one man in the pair keep his hair long, and gave the other man a military haircut. Then the two men retook the tests.

Time after time the man with long hair kept making high scores. Time after time, the man with the short hair failed the tests in which he had previously scored high scores.

Here is a typical test:

The recruit is sleeping out in the woods. An armed 'enemy' approaches the sleeping man. The long haired man is awakened out of his sleep by a strong sense of danger and gets away long before the enemy is close, long before any sounds from the approaching enemy are audible.

In another version of this test the long haired man senses an approach and somehow intuits that the enemy will perform a physical attack. He follows his 'sixth sense' and stays still, pretending to be sleeping, but quickly grabs the attacker and 'kills' him as the attacker reaches down to strangle him.

This same man, after having passed these and other tests, then received a military haircut and consistantly failed these tests, and many other tests that he had previously passed.

So the document recommended that all Indian trackers be exempt from military haircuts. In fact, it required that trackers keep their hair long. "

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:50:03 AM EDT

[#1]

Has Ron Reid-Daly weighed in on long hair/short hair for trackers?

Stories from unnamed American Indians and Vietnam veterans are interesting, but hardly conclusive. Reid-Daly is pretty much the god of tracking in the modern age.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:50:35 AM EDT

[#2]

Plausible, we didn't evolve with the practice of getting regular haircuts and there probably is some interplay with how our ears and noses interact with long hair nearby that is based on evolutionary need.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:50:59 AM EDT

[#3]

Be more impressive if they still had the document.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:54:01 AM EDT

[#4]

If "retardedest" was a word, I'd say that that article is the retardedest thing I've ever read.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:55:02 AM EDT

[#5]

Very interesting. I would think having long hair would interfere (as it does) with hearing.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:55:15 AM EDT

[#6]

Ask yourself this - is your wife/girlfriend more aware of her surroundings or are you?

My wife, long hair and all, wouldn't notice if Bin Laden and zombie Hitler were running down the street at us with machetes while screaming "Death to America."

Myth.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:55:21 AM EDT

[#7]

I now know why I can never get laid following manscaping.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:57:09 AM EDT

[#8]

I can see some deep, hard-wired subconscious and reflexive muscular responses contributing to this.

Human brain has deep-seated hardwiring to make hair 'stand on end' in response to certain frequencies and sound patterns (cracking brush, missing background noise in certain environments, dirt moving in recently-walked path, etc). Things that are inaudible to the conscious mind.

Hair moves very slightly due to the follicular reflexive response. Areas of neck, shoulder and wherever long hair would touch are hardwired to sense those tiny changes and trigger certain conscious responses.

We hear things without realizing it, reflexive response causes us to feel things without realizing it, instinctive response gives us a conscious response that seems like a "sixth sense".

I know I can feel the wind and air currents very finely in my beard when it's long, and my wife can do the same thing easily with her hair (she has like 4+ feet of hair).

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:58:09 AM EDT

[#9]

Strange, but maybe not completely insane.

In my martial arts class, we used to do this interesting exercise where students would be lined up in a seated position, with their backs turned to the instructor. The instructor would toss a foam punching target to the right of a student he selected at random. The student's job was to knock the punching target out of the air as it passed by.

As you can imagine, it was epic fail when we first started. But some students, with sufficient practice, go to where they could reliably sense the approaching projectile. I don't know if their hearing became sensitive enough to hear vibrations in the air, or if their nerve endings in their skin could detect it, or what.

I don't remember if the best ones had long hair or not, though.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:59:24 AM EDT

[#10]

Does this testing include nose hairs?

If so, Tom Brown has nothing on me.

Posted: 12/10/2010 10:59:49 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Has Ron Reid-Daly weighed in on long hair/short hair for trackers?

Stories from unnamed American Indians and Vietnam veterans are interesting, but hardly conclusive. Reid-Daly is pretty much the god of tracking in the modern age.

I believe he just passed away only a few months ago.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:00:45 AM EDT

[#12]

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:02:43 AM EDT

[#13]

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:02:48 AM EDT

[#14]

So does that mean that those Woodland Tribes that wore scalp locks and the like were fucked for not having long hair?

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:03:36 AM EDT

[#15]

Do people really buy this kind of bullshit when they post it in GD like this?

I really hope not.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:04:28 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XKh_DDXuEnA/SR7vd5tWTkI/AAAAAAAAH4c/G20jwfi5YoQ/s1600/us_army_afeg_special_forces_mh-47es.jpg

For some reason, when I saw this pic, I thought.......

(in a pirate voice) "I senses the landlubbers with me epic red beard.....arrrrrrr"

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:05:03 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
Has Ron Reid-Daly weighed in on long hair/short hair for trackers?

Stories from unnamed American Indians and Vietnam veterans are interesting, but hardly conclusive. Reid-Daly is pretty much the god of tracking in the modern age.

Ron Reid-Daly died back in August.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:05:07 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Has Ron Reid-Daly weighed in on long hair/short hair for trackers?

Stories from unnamed American Indians and Vietnam veterans are interesting, but hardly conclusive. Reid-Daly is pretty much the god of tracking in the modern age.

I believe he just passed away only a few months ago.

Yes, so I heard. Regardless, I can't believe that this article and the unnamed study it references are the only places this phenomenon has ever been observed. No recognized tracking gurus were quoted or referenced. If a shaggy mane was this crucial to successful tracking, I'd think LtCol Reid-Daly would have noted it in one of his books.

I could be wrong, but it seems a little...odd. I've got Tom Brown's book on tracking at home. I'll have to see if I can dig it up and look for hairstyle tips.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:06:25 AM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Does this testing include nose hairs?

If so, Tom Brown has nothing on me.

That's hilarious . . .

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:07:17 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
If "retardedest" was a word, I'd say that that article is the retardedest thing I've ever read.

it is the most retardester article in all of retardia.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:10:31 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
If "retardedest" was a word, I'd say that that article is the retardedest thing I've ever read.

It's not, but I'll allow it for this thread.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:11:51 AM EDT

[#22]

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:13:05 AM EDT

[#23]

Easily proven false:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/wolves.html

If Long Hair was required for trackers (especially Indians), the Shadow Wolves would have it down to their knees.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:13:41 AM EDT

[#24]

I've never seen such a steaming pile of bullshit in all of my life...

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:14:52 AM EDT

[#25]

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:18:13 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Ask yourself this - is your wife/girlfriend more aware of her surroundings or are you?

My wife, long hair and all, wouldn't notice if Bin Laden and zombie Hitler were running down the street at us with machetes while screaming "Death to America."

Myth.

That's hard to argue with.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:18:16 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Has Ron Reid-Daly weighed in on long hair/short hair for trackers?

Stories from unnamed American Indians and Vietnam veterans are interesting, but hardly conclusive. Reid-Daly is pretty much the god of tracking in the modern age.

Who is this guy?

The best modern trackers that I know of are BP trakers, men like Jack Kearny.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:21:35 AM EDT

[#28]

maybe they were just bummed about losing their hair.....................emotions, effect how we act.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:24:00 AM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Has Ron Reid-Daly weighed in on long hair/short hair for trackers?

Stories from unnamed American Indians and Vietnam veterans are interesting, but hardly conclusive. Reid-Daly is pretty much the god of tracking in the modern age.

Who is this guy?

The best modern trackers that I know of are BP trakers, men like Jack Kearny.

LtCol Ron Reid-Daly was the commanding officer of the Rhodesian Selous Scouts.

I just realized that the tracking god I had in mind all along was another hyphenated Rhodesian: David Scott-Donelan. My mistake.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:24:10 AM EDT

[#30]

Mystical mumbo jumbo

The average Indian I've known couldn't track his way out of a crowded bar.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:25:56 AM EDT

[#31]

Light sleeper and good hearing are two criteria

Otherwise the article is retardideditesttt

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:33:09 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XKh_DDXuEnA/SR7vd5tWTkI/AAAAAAAAH4c/G20jwfi5YoQ/s1600/us_army_afeg_special_forces_mh-47es.jpg

Wow, I didn't know that Lynch, from the game Kane, and Lynch Dead Men, was real, but that pic proves it.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:35:38 AM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
If "retardedest" was a word, I'd say that that article is the retardedest thing I've ever read.

Yep

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:36:02 AM EDT

[#34]

If there was an effect I'd say it was likely a psychological one.

The whole point of the military recruit haircuts is as part of the process of depersonalization... part of a process of psychologically scrubbing the recruit in order to be reconstituted to fit a different mold. The fact that they have lost some of their previous personalized skills or characteristics is entirely believable from a psychological perspective as that's what the process is designed and intended to do.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:38:21 AM EDT

[#35]

This is such a load of bullshit

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:40:14 AM EDT

[#36]

I could believe that shaving your head after having it long your whole life could throw you off your game. Doesn't mean the hair helped, don't change part of the equation and act shocked that things play out different.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:40:33 AM EDT

[#37]

Maybe these guys knew something we didnt?

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:42:13 AM EDT

[#38]

BS.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:47:49 AM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
Maybe these guys knew something we didnt?

http://www.militaryartgallery.com/images_3_b/b_founding_fathers.jpg

That's it, we're gonna have to make it law in the Constitution that all presidents and legislators must wear a powdered wig during the performance of their duties.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:55:35 AM EDT

[#40]

As someone who worked closely with "trackers" during and post-Vietnam, this is complete unmitigated garbage.

Certain operational personnel assumed local customs and appearances to ease tensions and comfort those "natives" intruded upon, then later to adopt standard grooming habits once trust is established.

Long hair Voodoo magic assists tracking?

BULLSHIT.

Posted: 12/10/2010 11:59:45 AM EDT

[#41]

licensed psychologist who worked at a VA Medical hospital

So.................was the fucking doctor a tracker?

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:00:07 PM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Maybe these guys knew something we didnt?

http://www.militaryartgallery.com/images_3_b/b_founding_fathers.jpg

That's it, we're gonna have to make it law in the Constitution that all presidents and legislators must wear a powdered wig during the performance of their duties.

I dont know about the others but Washington did not wear a wig. He did powder his hair though. It was the fashion of the time.

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:02:10 PM EDT

[#43]

Best guy I knew at snooping out booby traps had a flat top and black frame glasses. Looked kinda like Drew Carey.

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:04:23 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/The-Men-Who-Stare-at-Goats-Image-535x319.jpg

That's the first thing I thought about too.

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:04:38 PM EDT

[#45]

Here is where I knew it was BULLSHIT:

What he read in those documents completely changed his life. From that moment on my conservative middle of the road husband grew his hair and beard and never cut them again. What is more, the VA Medical center let him do it, and other very conservative men in the staff followed his example

So why the FUCK would a VA doc grow his hair out because "trackers" needed it? For "tracking down medical records"? Using the word "conservative" mulitple times to show that even a "stodgey anti-hippie figured out that long hair was OK"?

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:04:55 PM EDT

[#46]

Horse shit.

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:05:48 PM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:
Horse shit.

Makes it easy to track Cavalry.

Posted: 12/10/2010 12:05:52 PM EDT

[#48]

it is the same reason why blood hounds are bred with long draping ears. the ears help consolidate the smells.
how many times have you smelled fire before you saw it