>SWAT teams appeared to be the first ones to start wearing the new military-like look. Tight fitting helmuts, body armour, kneepads, goggles, etc. In Black Hawk Down I noticed that the Delta ops guys had a similar look. Even the Rangers to some extent. Looking at the coverage of the Gulf War II the US and British Marines have this new look as does the regular army.
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>My question is... did the military borrow this look from the police SWAT teams, or did the SWAT teams adopt this after military-style training? Were special ops using this, but just not as visible to the public eye as the SWAT teams were?
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>Canada's special ops, JTF2, has this SWAT look as well. In fact the JTF2 was formed by the military after the RCMP disbanded it's counter-terrosim (think super-SWAT) because they felt uneasy using aggresive and pre-emptive lethal force... potentially even assinations.

Evan;

United States police departments emulate our military. This has been going on since the late 1960’s. I could not understand why local police departments had to be issued M-16’s. For those of you who have used an M-16, you may know what I mean! Remember Vietnam vets had to have a job when they returned so a lot got into police work. You get to kill people when you are a policeman – just like in Vietnam.

Here is one incident I will never forget. Live coverage in downtown Los Angeles (we were in North Hollywood) 1968. SWAT team deployed. M-16’s ready at ground level and roof tops. Someone was seen with a rifle in the neighborhood. 6 PM news. Suddenly the front door of a flop house opens and a wino steps out with a small brown paper bag in his hand, apparently drinking from it. He was shot at least 40 times with .223 shells. Very dead. The SWAT team withdrew to fight another day.


Tom