Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines (OEF-P) is part of Operation Enduring Freedom and the U.S. Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Deployment first began January 2002 and involved more than 1,200 members of United States Special Operations Command, Pacific (SOCPAC), headed by Brig. Gen. Donald C. Wurster. SOCPAC's deployable joint task force HQ, Joint Task Force 510 (JTF 510), directed and carried out the operation. The mission was to advise the Armed Forces of the Philippines in combating terrorism in the Philippines. Much of the mission (Exercise Balikatan 02-1) took place on the island of Basilan, a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf. [ source: wiki ]
This 1/6 scale 12-inch US Army Special Forces Group (Airborne) Sniper “Jason” by Dragon was released in 2002. He is supposed to be part of JTF 510 during Exercise Balikatan 02-1 held in Mindinao, Philippines.
"Jason" is dressed in Woodlands camouflage boonie hat, shades, vest, Woodlands camouflage Battle Dress Uniform, SPEAR BALCS (SPecial operations forces Equipment Advanced Requirement) Body Armor/Load Carriage System, Eagles chest rig/harness, Motorola (spelt "Motoroia" for copyright infringement reasons) walkie-talkie radio, belt with Beretta M92F 9mm pistol in drop-down holster, two-quart canteen with holder, M9 bayonet in scabbard, ammo pouch with two M67 fragmentation grenades, SOPMOD (Special Ops Perculiar Modification) M4 custom carbine with AN/PEQ-2 laser aiming device, sniper’s scope, knee pads, and boots.
Dragon was the first 1/6 company that began manufacturing 1/6 scale figures with their individual head sculpts. This was a BIG step away from the clones that Hasbro (Hasbeen) had been producing since 1964 with soldiers having the same head sculpt but differing uniforms so that when they lined up in a row, they looked like an army of clones. Interestingly, the term "Clone Army" did not really appear until George Lucas' Clone Wars when the clone troopers of the Army of the Republic, cloned from Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter, first appeared in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones".
Dragon usually based their head sculpt on famous personalities, be it actors or footballers, but I can't seem to make out who he's supposed to be. Somebody said "Jason Isaacs" - an English actor who was in "Black Hawk Down", "The Patriot" and "Windtalkers" but the resemblance just isn't there.
Dragon also produced the Rip-stop BDUs, in line with their then desire to give 1/6 collectors something as close to the real thing as possible. Far have they fallen :(
Jason's two-quart canteen in carrier and his secondary weapon, the M9 pistol in drop-down holster
Jason's primary weapon of choice as a sniper, the SOPMOD (Special Ops Perculiar Modification) M4 custom carbine with AN/PEQ-2 laser aiming device and sniper’s scope. As he puts it, "Fancy hardware is all well and good, but it's the eye behind the scope and the finger on the trigger that counts."
I'd posted a series on "Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan" 1/6 military figures from August 1, 2008 up to August 16, 2008 with figures mostly released by Dragon.Previously posted: 1/6 scale 12" United States Marine Corps (USMC) Sniper code-named "Snake", released by BBI Elite Force in 2001.
A recent newspaper article on snipers in the waters off Somalia - "3 shots, 3 kills" HERE
This carbine looks good..
ReplyDeleteThe rifle used is the SPR (Stoner Precision Rifle) Mk.12 Mod.0 with free-float handguards. A modified version of a standard M16/M4 by Eugene Stoner with Knight's Armament... A perfect semi-automatic 5.56mm weapon for special forces.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS for that juicy bit of intel :)
ReplyDeletethis is actually a figurine of my dad, who accidentally got a pic taken of him while he was deployed, and was apparently the perfect action figure. : P
ReplyDeletethat's CoOL :)
ReplyDelete