Merry Christmas from HiiRagi and the Army

I know it's a little bit early but I'm going on holidays from tomorrow... Yay! Me and the Army are going to take a break , chill out and come back bigger and better next year!

Have a good one!!! And remember, even Berserkers deserved a pressie, no matter how scary they are....

Terrain Training Tuesday: Move like a Commando (Part 4)

Moving with stealth means moving quietly, slowly, and carefully. This requires great patience.

To move with stealth, use the following techniques:

-Hold your rifle at port arms (ready position).

The second image shows what 'port arms' means, beret is optional

-Make your footing sure and solid by keeping your body's weight on the foot on the ground while stepping.
-Raise the moving leg high to clear brush or grass.
-Gently let the moving foot down toe first, with your body's weight on the rear leg.
-Lower the heel of the moving foot after the toe is in a solid place.
-Shift your body's weight and balance to the forward foot before moving the rear foot.
-Take short steps to help maintain balance.
-At night, and when moving through dense vegetation, avoid making noise. Hold your weapon with one hand, and keep the other hand forward, feeling for obstructions.

Excessive use of military clothing is of personal preference but I'm of the mind that the more, the better...

Now what happens when you have to hit the ground? When going into a prone position, use the following techniques:

-Hold your rifle with one hand and crouch slowly.
-Feel for the ground with your free hand to make sure it is clear of mines, tripwires, and other hazards.
-Lower your knees, one at a time, until your body's weight is on both knees and your free hand.
-Shift your weight to your free hand and opposite knee.
-Raise your free leg up and back, and lower it gently to that side.
-Move the other leg into position the same way.
-Roll quietly into a prone position.

Yep, they're in the 'prone' position

Use the following techniques when crawling:

-Crawl on your hands and knees. Hold your rifle in your firing hand. Use your nonfiring hand to feel for and make clear spots for your hands and knees to move to.
-Move your hands and knees to those spots, and put them down softly.

Pinky and the Brain

"What will do do tonight Brain?"
"Same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the WORLD"

source

I love Pinky and the Brain. I don't think there's any need to say why....
If you can't see the video below, just go here

Terrain Training Tuesday: Move like a Commando (Part 3)

Oh yeah, it's the "rush". Sounds rather exciting doesn't it?! and that's because it is.

Now the rush is the fastest way to move from one position to another. It's a quick movement where each rush should last from 3 to 5 seconds. The rushes are kept short to keep enemy from tracking you. However, do not stop and hit the ground in the open just because 5 seconds have passed, this is a stupid thing to do if you are trying your hand at rushing. Always try to hit the ground behind some cover. Before moving, pick out your next covered and concealed position and what is the best route to it.

When you're ready, make your move from the prone position as follows:

 Slowly raise your head and pick your next position and the route to it.
 Slowly lower your head.
 Draw your arms into your body (keeping your elbows in).
 Pull your right leg forward.
 Raise your body by straightening your arms.
 Get up quickly.
 Run! Run! Run to the next position.

Whooooooooooossssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you are ready to stop moving and maybe feel the need to do a bit of attacking, you should be carrying a rifle or other weaponry (preferably something that can cover some distance, if I have to explain why a knife is no good you do not deserve to be a HiiRagi minion), and do the following:

 Plant both of your feet.
 Drop to your knees (at the same time slide a hand to the butt of your rifle if you are carrying).
 Fall forward, breaking the fall with the butt of the rifle.
 Go to a prone firing position.

However, if you have been firing from one position for some time, the enemy may have spotted you and may be waiting for you to come up from behind the cover. So, before rushing forward again, roll or crawl a short distance from your position. By craftily coming up from another spot, you may fool an enemy, who as well all know is a fool and is aiming at your previous spot spot, waiting for you to rise.

Yeah, I'm not convinced by the flower pots as adequate cover either....

Got no cover? When the route to your next position is through an open area, rush by zigzagging. If necessary, hit the ground, roll right or left, then rush again.

Rush minions, rush minions, rush, rush, rush!

Fear not, next week we go all stealth.

Illustrator Inspiration: The one and only Shaun Tan

I love Shaun Tan. I think everyone should love Shaun Tan, especially for a home grown talent. I met someone the other day who went to school with him and it elevated a rather ordinary person into a golden status in my eyes, sad isn't it?! Anyway I've accepted my shallowness as just another part of my all encompassing need to dominate the world, it's a rather good excuse for most things really....anyway as I was saying Shaun Tan is great. I mean look at this:

I love his fearlessness in his drawings, illustrating books that deal with social, political and historical subjects using surreal, dream-like imagery that usually poses more questions than it answers. Like the bull picture below:

I recently watched a great lecture given by Shaun Tan at the University of WA (you can download it on line here). He shows this image as one where the viewer has no idea where the bull is pointing, if it is the right direction to go in or if the girl has even asked the question. I admire that he is happy to leave the illustration open to discussion. I find it really hard sometimes with a concept driven idea like HiiRagi to not spoon feed people what it is all about, to be honest I think most often it is best to leave it up to the viewers imagination and in turn it creates a relevance that is all their own.

One of my very favourite images is this one:

So beautiful in its melancholy. It shows how sadness feels like rather than what it looks like and I'm now starting to sound like a complete art wanker so I will stop. Over to some more pictures:

And just one last thing! It took him 5 YEARS to complete The Arrival. I panic when something takes me more than a week to nail. I think there's something to be learnt here....or not. If all else fails, just buy print of his art here.

Terrain Training Tuesday: Move like a Commando (Part 2)

Ok my little minions, now we start looking at methods of movement so you remain undetected. In addition to walking, you can move in one of three other methods--low crawl, high crawl, or rush. Today we are looking at the crawls, both high and low (none of which involve alcohol because that just makes things messy and is definately NOT stealthy). So we were prepared last week to get ready for moving using methods seen below as well as some cunning disguises.

Utilising the low crawl gives you the lowest silhouette. Use it to cross places where the concealment is very low and enemy fire or observation prevents you from getting up. Keep your body flat against the ground. If you are carrying a weapon (in this case a firearm), let the front handguard rest on your forearm (keeping the muzzle off the ground), and let the weapon butt drag on the ground.

To move, push your arms forward and pull your firing side leg forward. Then pull with your arms and push with your leg. Continue this throughout the move and expect some chaffing and grazing....and rocks...

The high crawl lets you move faster than the low crawl and still gives you a low silhouette. Use this crawl when there is good concealment but enemy fire still prevents you from getting up. Keep your body off the ground and resting on your forearms and lower legs. Cradle your weapon in your arms and keep its muzzle off the ground. Keep your knees well behind your buttocks (kinda stretched out) so your body will stay low.

To move, alternately advance your right elbow and left knee, then your left elbow and right knee.

Next week we get off our knees and show the enemy some Rushing. Oh yeah....