@Ruger357,You clearly haven’t met a normal Frenchman, only Frenchmen from big cities i presume. Quite the same by saying all Americans are arrogant bigmouths when you only met New Yorkers. Digging up WW2 amongst people who weren’t even born in that era is a bit....well...

I am weak and cannot ignore the idiotic comments about the French military. This is something I originally posted a few years ago.

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Regarding the whole French “surrender monkeys” idiocy, that’s something that deserves a little reading of actual history. World War II is of course the conflict that everyone thinks of when trotting out that stale canard, but who else surrendered in that war? Poland was first (if we don’t count how the British and Czechs backed down to Hitler without a shot), but ultimately what were the other countries that surrendered? Finland, Norway, Italy, several small Axis allies, Japan, and let’s not forget the greatest surrenderer of them all: Germany. (Germany surrendered twice in 27 years to abandon major wars; France surrendered once during the period, and then started fighting again. French forces made more than token contributions on the side of the US and the UK during WWII, but they initially refused to surrender to us in North Africa.)

And what about World War I? Who besides Germany surrendered? Russia and Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), and some smaller nations.

Returning to France, yes, they surrendered in World War II—after suffering close to twice the battle deaths in less than six weeks than the US did after in years in Vietnam—and we surrendered as well. (Okay, ours wasn’t a formal surrender, but in most ways it was more disgraceful because our population was far larger, our army wasn’t destroyed, and the country wasn’t on the verge of being destroyed; we just got tired, picked up our ball, and went home despite being points ahead.) And as in as much as several other countries also fought on the Republic of Vietnam’s side, it could be said that the Australians and the others also surrendered in that war. Plus, let’s not forget that the RVN surrendered formally.

In Korea the US and other UN forces didn’t actually surrender, but we all said, “Okay, that’s enough; we’re going to stop trying to defeat the aggressors in this war”: not exactly worthy of parades down Broadway. The only difference between that and what happened in Vietnam was that we didn’t pull out to leave South Korea to be overrun by the Communists.

More recently, the Soviet Union surrendered in Afghanistan, so that was twice in 72 years for Russians as compared with once for France during the period. If we include all of the twentieth century, Russia surrendered three times (first to Japan).

But what about Điện Biên Phủ, didn’t France surrender there? Yes, but that was a battle, not the war, and if we consider it a surrender, what about the Australians at Gallipoli, or the British at Dunkirk, or the US (again) in the Philippines, or the British (again) at Singapore, or countless other battles, big and small, that saw someone other than France surrendering? The Germans surrendered big time at Stalingrad in WWII. Individually, Russians, British, Italians, Germans, and other nationalities surrendered in droves during that conflict. The French did pull out of Vietnam—but in the same manner as virtually all the other colonial powers around the world. Those retreats were often in response to armed uprisings, and were at least de facto military surrenders as well.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I am weak and cannot ignore the idiotic comments about the French military. This is something I originally posted a few years ago.

There's an old saying, (and it's likely older than anyone on this forum.):

"Give a German a gun, he goes to France."

Sigfreund, in your extensive "Viva La France" diatribe, you left out some key points. France NEVER misses a chance to criticize U.S. Foreign Policy. In '86 France wouldn't allow our F-111s to fly over their territory when we bombed Qaddafi.

Their "Surrender Monkey" history goes further back than WW I & WW II.

You also seemed to have forgotten the Siege of Paris in 845 where Vikings sacked Paris. The French response? Pay the Vikings ransom.
(i.e.. "Surrender")

As a people, except the older generation who lived through WWII or remember it's impact, most French people look at Americans with distain and have an obvious air of superiority. Fact is, they'd all be part of Germany if not for U.S. They criticize our "gun culture", yet when Germany decides to kick their ass again, we'll be the first people they cry to for help.

Yes, France is a U.S. and NATO Ally. But they pick and choose if/when they will support us and won't hesitate to complicate our initiatives.

So, here in America we make jokes about the French "Surrender Monkeys" and you can sure as hell bet, they joke about us American "Cowboys" and how violent we are with our American "Gun Culture".

Back to the OP's original intent... The Glock 17 is a great choice for any military (especially when the country in question doesn't make their own firearms) I like the two-tone look and I have no doubt it will serve them well.

Also... Glocks are known to do well... In...

Wait for it...

Drop tests!

Let's see if we can try this again without the jokes.

I like the looks of the U shaped rear sight. Does it function better than the 2 dot rear sight? I've never used the U shaped before.

I met some French police in Afghanistan in 2010. I think they had HK rifles and Sig pistols, or the other way around, if I remember correctly. They gave me one of their MREs which was luxury dining compared to ours.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I met some French police in Afghanistan in 2010. I think they had HK rifles and Sig pistols, or the other way around, if I remember correctly.

Probably Gendarmes, in which case they would have most likely had HK 416 rifles and Sig SP2022 pistols.

French MRE’s rock! I humped a Barrett up a couple hills with the COS cats.

I think highly of the French SF cats...but what do I know?

18Z50

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I like the looks of the U shaped rear sight. Does it function better than the 2 dot rear sight? I've never used the U shaped before.

I tried out a set of the Vickers with the U notch rear and narrow front post. I felt like they were a bit quicker to acquire than the standard 3 dot setup, at least for me.