Nicks and Kicks

[skura]

I have a friend who says his dad was a Lieutenant in the Polish army...which (I'm assuming) he couldn't be anymore since they live in Canada now...but he tells me that when they visited Poland when his dad was still in the Polish army (while living in Canada?) he was not only allowed on base, but allowed to shoot some rifles (he would probably have been 12-13 years old if this really happened).

Anyway, he said he shot the AK and the Colt and that there was hardly ANY kick!  I told him that there's no way he was strong enough to handle the kick from those guns at those age but he persisted in telling me he handled it...so I was wondering if they even called the AK and Colt those names in the army and what the kick is really like on those weapons?

Thanks

 

[MG34]

Not too sure about the rest of his story,but the recoil from both the AK and M16/AR15 (I take it he means this when he says Colt) have very little recoil. A kid of 12 or so would have no trouble at all with either on semi automatic,full auto would be another story.

 

[MedCorps]

One does not need to look too far to find bands ot child soldiers touting both the AK and AR family of weapons about.  The can use both platforms with deadly accuracy often by the age of 14. 

ICRC estimates that there are 300,000 children under 18 this very moment actively (willing or not) participating in armed conflicts around the world. 

What a great world eh?

MC

 

[skura]

Okay, so I bit the bullet on telling him he couldn't handle it...

But what about his dad remaining in the Polish army while living in Canada?

 

[ModlrMike]

But what about his dad remaining in the Polish army while living in Canada?

Not terribly unusual. Many countries maintain "National Service" regulations that require all men of fighting age to serve. Some place you on permanent reserve service once you full time stint is complete. Switzerland and Norway come to mind...

 

[AmmoTech90]

Heck, my brother had worries going to Italy until he was 29 because he was born there to Canadian embassy staff parents and there were worries about being conscripted. So if you can be thrown into an army without being a citizen I don't doubt that you can be in the reserve while living in another country. Don't know if it was age thing or a legislation change but he can go there now no problem.
As far as firing weapons at a young age, I fired .45, a M16, and a M60 when I was 12 at the US Marine Security Guard Unit family day in Athens.  They had sandbags for the feet for the M60, everything else wasn't a problem.

 

[Blindspot]

I have had many friends, whose parents were Greek, that were apprehensive about visiting Greece for fear of being conscripted even though they were Canadian citizens. Come to think of it, after a friend of Turkish descent returned to Turkey, I never heard from him again.

 

[QORvanweert]

One of my dad's friends from High school returned to Italy when he was 32 and he still got thrown into a combat engineer company, so, stranger things have happened. In regards to this Polish fellow, the odds are he was in some sort or reserve program.. how long was he in Canada?

 

[skura]

Moved here when my friend was two, and the story my friend tells me is when he was 12, so it would have been ten years...but he would have obviously visited, how frequently I don't know...and I don't think he was a reservist because he made Lieutenant, and I read somewhere what reservists can make, and the highest was below Lt., unless I'm wrong again