The bizarre shootings happened as troops from a marines parachute regiment demonstrated to the public the techniques involved in hostage liberation exercises.
Really hard to believe how they could have fouled up so bad. I would hazard a guess that it was a deranged and/or disgruntled individual...
"Never try to teach a pig to sing; It wastes your time and annoys the pig." - Heinlein
Originally posted by ScotsVisitor: Marines parachute regiment ?
Strange combination - can't say I've heard of such before.
Considering that the unit is considered to be elite the critical observations made by others seem very appropriate:
REP; Régiment Étranger de Parachutistes; Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment. Initially battalion sized combat unit. Now an administrative formation of a number of individual para battalions
RPIMa; Régiment Parachutiste d' Infanterie de Marine; Marine Parachute Regiment. Organisation as REP. Elite rapid response infantry units.
1e RPIMa; 1e Régiment Parachutiste d' Infanterie de Marine; 1st Marine Parachute Regiment. As above except originally specialising in unconventional warfare, and increasingly a dedicated special forces unit.
Originally posted by ScotsVisitor: Somebody with a mega grudge against the individual concerned switched magazines ?
Just speculation.
And removed his blank adapter, and made him load that mag, and made him fail to double check, and made him point his muzzle in an unsafe direction, and fire enough times to wound 16 civilians?
Sorry, guys, I am calling BS.
There is no possible way on EARTH that soldier didn't know he was carrying live ammo and intended to use it.
It's not that there is no God or that He isn't listening. You're probably just asking the wrong questions.
Originally posted by ScotsVisitor: Marines parachute regiment ?
Strange combination - can't say I've heard of such before.
Never heard of the MPR that trained in Lakehurst, NJ in 1940. They became the First Marine Parachute Battalion, followed by the 2nd MPB. The 3rd MPB trained in Santee, CA outside San Diego. But they were disbanded in 43. The Royal Marines have their Marine Parachute Regiment, though. So you haven't heard of them. There are probably many different organizations folks these days never heard of.
Keep in mind we are talking about the French. They probably did not see the civilians waving the traditional white flag.
