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#1
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Gabriel demonstration team
When did the Gabriel demonstration team disband? (or discontinue, whatever is a better term). A mentor of mine growing up was retired SF and had a demo team come to a local high school; I was discussing this with a buddy recently. I was in junior high at the time and my 'mentor' wanted me to go to Bragg with him to "see the team," and since we never could pull that off, he had some SF guys come up to do a demo/recruiting event.
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#2
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Mid-late 80's I think.
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God is great, beer is good, people are crazy...... |
#3
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I was doing it as late as '92
Boatloads of fun THAT was... PA
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I cannot empathize with a slackard, a shirker, and a coward. I would probably kick your ass as well, if one of the other members didn't beat me to it. Happy New Year Message from TR- 1/1/04 |
#4
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If I remember correctly, the actual "dedicated" Gab team was disbanded in the late 70s. After that it became a detail that got handed around while guys were in support cycle.
Idle trivia, what was the "working knowledge of" language of the junior demo man? ![]()
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Hold Hard Guys Rick B "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not sticking it up your ass." "Experience is what you get right after you need it." both authors "unknown" |
#5
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What a dick.
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No one will take better care of us, than us: Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255 |
#6
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We were running the Gabriel demonstration with TO & E teams from the 7th SF Group in 1976 on a case by case basis. I was at the rappel station and did two of them. I think they tore up the dirt airstrip about 1978~1979 for what would become the "All American Highway." The late 1970's were not a good time for SF personnel or funding. Things improved in the mid-1980's, but I don't recall any formal effort to reinstate even an ad hoc Gabriel demonstration. There were a few "capability briefings" at the Mott Lake Isolation Area and a range I cannot remember (north of St. Mere Eglise DZ) where we could do live fire, demo, and Spectre as a part of the presentation. |
#7
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Thanks for all responses, gentlemen. My mentor, his name was John Wolf, retired mid-70s, really wanted me to go to SF (hence why he wanted me to see the Gabriel demo), but since my grandmother was a Marine, my dad was a retired Marine, and my uncle was retired Navy...well, you can see where I went. Still, the demo I saw was pretty awesome.
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#8
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As late as 2004 they still did them under the name "Modular Demonstration" or Mod Demo for short. It is, as someone mentioned above, a Red Cycle Tasking. There is a standard for the personnel required, Tm Ldr, Tm SGT, 18F, 18B, 18C, 18D, 18E, a Halo Guy and a Combat Diver Guy. For regular teams, the Halo and Diver are tasked from within the Battalion for the Demo.
There is also a standard layout for each MOS, with a pre-packaged set of weapons ready to go at SWC for sign out by the Bravo. The layout includes a manequin in Halo rig and a rubber boat for the diver. Finally the "blurb" you had to spout in your foreign language was also provided in the tasking memorandum. It was huge ass pain as it usually required a full dress rehearsal for the Company, Battalion and usually Group Commander and CSM. I only got tagged once, in '97 for the Pope AFB Air Show. I lucked out because all we had to do was prepare the layout, then Mr. Ron Emons (sp?), the Voice of Special Forces, narrated the blurbs as each one of us stepped forward and "snapped" and "popped" to Parade Rest with the precision of a Blackhat! ![]() ![]() I'll check later today, but I'm pretty sure they are still tasked occassionally depending on the depth of the pockets of the target dignitary, but with the ongoing conflict, it is usally for someone with some pursestrings we are trying to tap.
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"You cant walk on water if you dont get out of the boat," the Infamous Mike Brown "The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm." CR |
#9
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As CDR396 says, thats the way they do it now.
When I was in A/3/5 in the mid 80's, the gabe team was "padded", or the ghost team for the company, I think it was around then they got integrated back into a "regular team". We went to Ft Henry Harrison for some cold wx tng, and they where with the company, LTC Jacobelly was the Bn CDR then (it was a Bn tng thing). I think some of the "last" Gabe teamers where, Colero, Gregory, Creech (that may have been his nickname), Jackson, and that's about all I can remember. |
#10
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#11
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You are correct sir. That always cracked me up. I remember rehearsing at Devens as the medic.
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Hold Hard Guys Rick B "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not sticking it up your ass." "Experience is what you get right after you need it." both authors "unknown" |
#12
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BTDT Just marking time to Retire again.... |
#13
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wow i forgot all about that pain in the ass
hmmmm seems like my team always got tasked with station 7 (mountaineering) we did regular rappels / aussie rappels / lowered a litter / two rope bridge and te three rope bridge for whoever had the worse hangover - fond memories - NOT what were the stations again - i think 2 was the equipment layout, 7 was the mountaineering, 6 was survival and the snake house?? 1 was the intro and speil? OMG Alzheimers has hit me
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I dont recall ever being released from my vow to defend the constitution against all enemys foreign and domestic (read that liberals and globalists) |
#14
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Nice....Close, actually hitting on chicks unsuccessfully all day...seems without the flightsuit, just doesnt have the same effect
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__________________
"You cant walk on water if you dont get out of the boat," the Infamous Mike Brown "The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm." CR |
#15
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In 1966 , while with the 3d SFG I was detailed to do the A-Team walk on. We had a guy, Roy K. "Squirrel" Sprouse, who brought up the end of the demo by saying " I speak Hillbily and Profanity and have a working knowledge of English". That usually brought the house down.
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#16
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Mod Demos are still done and are usually coordinated through USASOC/SF/SWCS PAOs. Some gigs are definitely better than others and most are static. Only a couple of times per year do "full scale" demonstrations occur and they are by invite only, if I recall correctly.
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#17
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#18
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He died a few years ago from Altsheimers. I talked to him a year or so before his death when he was home for a weekend from the convalescent home his wife had him in. (She couldn't cope 24/7) He remembered me fom the team and we reminisced about old times. I called back the next day and talked to his wife and she told me that he could remember things from 30 years before but he didn't remember that he had talked to me the day before. Damn shame! Squirrel was one of the nicest guys to know and also one of the funniest......ciiuld have had his own stand up comedy show.
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#19
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I was in SFTG in '67 and got to do a bunch of details there including getting kilt as a VC.
Mostly repairs and area beautification, though. A complaint amongst us new guys was we wished we could see the whole show. It impressesed or at least significantly smoked most who did see it.
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Mike De Opresso Liber |
#20
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how short?
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