Who Dares Wins/ good guy with a gun- in Kenya

[SSN Vet]

A good friend from my navy years went to serve as an "outback" missionary in the south of Kenya with his wife and young kids. They were in Masai country and lived there for 15 years. They were near the big game preserve and there was a significant army presence across the river to patrol the reserve, as it is the nations largest source of revenue. They were in very good standing with the Masai, as they built a commercial duty well for the village, a church, a school and a clinic. There were no Muslims in their area.

After a missionary couple from another group was robbed and raped in Nairobe, my friend got a Kenyan handgun permit and always carried when going into the city, as any white face was an automatic target for random crime or gang violence.

But their group also had a team in the Lake Turkana reagion, where there are many Muslems and (go figure) a lot of problems. The local police saw the Missionaries as trustworthy and a reliable force for good in their district, so when things got dicey and they started having bands of muslim fighters coming down the lake and raiding, they deputized the missionaries and they were permited for ARs (which they purchased themselves).

I guess they figured that if they really cared about these people (which they did) they couldn't just cut and run when things got ugly, but needed to stay and help defend their village.

Organization, disciplined and dedicated crew, reliable transportation, good communications... that's a platform you can build on. Just add guns and ammo and you've got a viable defense force.

I thought it was very interesting that the Kenyan police knew who they could count on in a pinch.

 

[SSN Vet]

To man (and I use that term, as all that I have had the pleasure of working with) are PT beasts. As noted above, you have to be in peak physical condition to handle the rigors of this type of work, as well as the bodies dump of hormones when this all kicks off.

My experience as a bubble head in the 90s was the same. We did covert insertion training with SEAL Team 2 and they were to the man, fitness beasts. And their XO (a LTCDR who was an enlisted SEAL in Nam, with multiple Silver Stars) was down right scary.

We had three ways to deploy them from the ship and during one excercise, they needed to rig an outboard motor up the ladder well to the top of the sail. One of the SEALS simply looked at it, looked at the hatch, huffed it up on his shoulder and scrambled up the ladder. The watchstanders in the control room were rubbing their eyes and the officers were mentally counting all the safety violations they just witnessed.

 

[lemaymiami]

Yes there are folks around whose physical fitness level and hand to hand abilities are downright spooky.... I did encounter one or two on the street - and was extremely lucky that I kept my distance and avoided any confrontation. The one guy I always worried about was the guy who didn't look particularly fit at all -but wouldn't have had the slightest problem dealing with three street cops at the same time... Fortunately those with the physical abilities and the training are usually never a threat to anyone -and they don't go around causing the slightest problem for ordinary folks.

 

[FL-NC]

A good friend from my navy years went to serve as an "outback" missionary in the south of Kenya with his wife and young kids. They were in Masai country and lived there for 15 years. They were near the big game preserve and there was a significant army presence across the river to patrol the reserve, as it is the nations largest source of revenue. They were in very good standing with the Masai, as they built a commercial duty well for the village, a church, a school and a clinic. There were no Muslims in their area.

After a missionary couple from another group was robbed and raped in Nairobe, my friend got a Kenyan handgun permit and always carried when going into the city, as any white face was an automatic target for random crime or gang violence.

But their group also had a team in the Lake Turkana reagion, where there are many Muslems and (go figure) a lot of problems. The local police saw the Missionaries as trustworthy and a reliable force for good in their district, so when things got dicey and they started having bands of muslim fighters coming down the lake and raiding, they deputized the missionaries and they were permited for ARs (which they purchased themselves).

I guess they figured that if they really cared about these people (which they did) they couldn't just cut and run when things got ugly, but needed to stay and help defend their village.

Organization, disciplined and dedicated crew, reliable transportation, good communications... that's a platform you can build on. Just add guns and ammo and you've got a viable defense force.

I thought it was very interesting that the Kenyan police knew who they could count on in a pinch.

When I was there in the mid-90's working with the Kenyan army in the Archer's Post rea, there were entire villages of shanties throughout the area that were made entirely of somali "refugees". They were considered unfriendly, and were known for banditry, poaching, and other misdeeds. They were smart enough not to mess with us, although I was struck once in the back with sniper fire by a projectile from a child, from considerable distance, which I assume was fired from a slingshot. It hurt and left a nasty knot, and the assailant(s) successfully broke contact after the shot. They start them young there.

 

[entropy]

Very nice example of old time honored military doctrine if one is too weak to defend themselves attack instead.

Oh, I wouldn't say he would have been to weak to defend himself.......but he was Johnny-on-the-spot, and certainly more than well qualified to orchestrate the counterattack.

 

[hdwhit]

taliv wrote:
...its safe to say he doesn't follow the advice of this forum.

Shame on you.

The advice given on this forum applies to people with 1) little to no firearms, 2) little to no military and 3) little to no counter-insurgency training. Someone from the SAS had all of that. It is the height of hubris, fantasy and hypocrisy to suggest that anyone without that sort of training should have been expected to behave in the same way.