#Counterterrorism Training

[etz-ashashiyot]

The thing is that there is nothing Jews can do to stop antisemitism, just like there is nothing a victim can do to stop the abuse or a bullied child can do to stop the bully or any other minority can do to stop bigotry against them. We cannot control anyone else's behavior or attitudes towards us. The only thing we can do is to take reasonable steps to protect ourselves, whether those are institutional, by taking reasonable precautions to avoid dangerous people and places as much as possible, and to fight back when it is not.

But even if we batten the hatches, put up hardcore security systems at our institutions and events, remove as many visible cultural symbols as possible, don't stay out late at night or walk alone on Shabbos, even if every building has a bomb shelter and locked doors and every Jewish leader receives active shooter and counterterrorism training, even if we put armed guards at the entrances of every shul and JCC and Jewish day school and retirement home and Holocaust museum, even if we build our own country and army or alternatively reject that country vehemently, even if we are as nice as possible to everyone we meet and give tzedakah and commit to every progressive cause and stand in solidarity with every other minority, even if we demonstrate that we are just like them and/or that we are willing to just totally do our own thing, even if we give and give and give and give some more—

We can't make them hate us less or try to harm us less.

All we can do is mitigate the harm by avoiding what we can and defending ourselves against what we can't, and refusing to give up who we are in the process.

We can't make you be better people. That is what I have learned over the last 10 months.

[crowdedimagines]

Roadkill - Aaron Hotchner Imagine

Based around the season 4 episode 23 titled Roadkill! I am going through a rewatch right now and just watched this one!! Also I am trying to stick to the storyline of the episode, but obviously things will be a little different in how they play out 🤩 3.6K

"How do you feel about Oregon?" JJ asks immediately after I pick up on the third ring.

"I have a feeling I would like Oregon a lot more when it isn't 3:00a.m." I tease, sitting up in bed, already knowing whatever she's calling for is going to be bad enough to to call us in this early.

"Can you be in to the office to brief in an hour? Wheels are up around 4:30."

"I'll be there!"

We both get off the phone so we can pack our go bags and get the day started, although earlier for both of us then intended. I manage to take a fast shower by the time I get out my phone is ringing again, this time it's unit leader Aaron Hotchner.

"I assume you've been informed that we have a case and we're meeting shortly." Hotch has his stern, yet tired voice on.

"Yep, showered squeaky clean. I just need some coffee and I will be on my way!" I smile, wringing out the moisture that's still in my hair and put the phone on speaker to set it down on the bathroom counter.

"I actually just made too much, I'm on my way in now. I could bring you coffee." He offers.

I pause in my actions, surprised by the offer. Although I would've been a lot more shocked a couple weeks ago. When I started with the team Hotch was going through a divorce, but in recent weeks there's been a shift in our dynamic and I'm not sure I'm dreaming it up. It all started a couple weeks back when I dropped off some baked goods after a rare long weekend away from work for him and Jack since it was his weekend to have him. They invited me to stay and I spent the rest of the afternoon with the boys. By the end of the night I was calling him by his first name instead of 'Hotch' which was a new development. Ever since it's been small gestures and looks that tell me something is different.

I've been a part of the BAU for a couple years, growing in confidence and skill the more cases I get under my belt. I spent four years in the military as a designated marksman before continuing my training with the FBI, which lead me to the Counterterrorism Division, and then to the BAU.

"That sounds great actually." I grin. Bringing me coffee to work is another new thing. Aaron has been chattier, smiling more, but coffee is a new ball park.

"Alright, I will be in around twenty. Drive safe."

I mutter back a "you too" before we both hang up. As I make my way into the office I'm the first to reach the bullpen, I came a little early once I knew Aaron was going to be in. A traveling mug is sitting on my desk and I take a long sip. It's still hot, and it's exactly how I always make it. It's also the traveling mug he almost always can be seen with. I set my bag down by my desk before climbing up the stairs to Aaron's office.

"Good morning." I knock lightly on his open door, "Thank you for this. It's perfect."

He looks up from the folder in front of him and the frown leaves his face.

"I'm glad."

I take a seat in one of the chairs across from his desk. It'll be fifteen minutes before the rest of the team joins us. Hotch begins to fill me in on some of the details without going too much into it. We still have to brief as a team.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a vehicle being used as the weapon." I surmise.

"It's highly rare. I've never seen a case likely this first hand." Aaron admits and we discuss a few more aspects of the case.

Eventually the rest of the team trickles in and after some light conversation I go back to my desk. Garcia comes in stomping directly to my desk.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Kevin is looking into a working a secret job and I wont even know where he'll be!" She gushes.

"Slow down, he what?" I spin around in my chair. Garcia fills me in on the details of the job and exactly what he had said to her. The worry on her face is permanent.

"Don't worry yet. He hasn't gotten the job, and if he's offered, you don't even know if he'll take it! Lets just wait to worry once we have something to worry about."

Penelope nods agreeing with my words before moving onto Morgan's desk to do the same and I smile and shake my head. JJ pulls us all into the conference room.

"An unsub that kills with his car." Emily states, "I haven't seen that before."

"Neither have the police in Bend, Oregon." JJ replies, displaying pictures on the screen in front of us.

"Two victims in the last twelve days." Hotch adds, "First was hit on a morning jog and the second was a woman stranded after her car broke down."

"Both female victims, but completely different age groups." I speak up, "The first victim was 23 and the second was 43."

"Maybe they aren't connected." Morgan thinks out loud.

JJ pulls up more pictures and explains that both victims were backed over after they were hit. No chance of accident and the same tread marks at both scenes.

"With where these wounds are, the worst of the blow is high on the bodies." I comment looking through the file, "It has to be a truck or SUV to match these wound patterns."

"See if Garcia can follow that. Try tracking makes and models." Aaron directs.

"There should be significant front end damage to the vehicle." Spencer chimes in.

"Unless our unsub is smart enough and skilled enough to cover his tracks." I begin, "Somehow I don't think it'll be as easy as finding a damaged truck."

It's a five hour flight from DC all the way to Bend but thankfully it gives us all the opportunity to rest up again. By the time we land we can go straight to the police station.

"I think it's safe to say our unsub is male." I read over the case file, thinking out loud with Aaron. This is something new too, we often brainstorm together and work well to get the other thinking outside the box.

"I agree." Hotch nods, "Given what we know about aggressive driving and road rage."

"And the fact that men have an unnatural bond with their cars." Emily laughs. JJ chimes in to agree, which turns into Morgan disagreeing before Rossi is also adding to it.

"I think he has to be overcompensating. Why else have a need for a truck that big." I guess.

"Possibly." Spencer comments, "If the unsub is physically defective the car not only gives the power and control he otherwise lacks, but it also serves as a shield."

"A way for him to avoid physical contact?" Hotch asks.

"He wants power and control of his victims." Prentiss shutters, "Female victims. It almost reads like an assault profile."

"I wanna know why he isn't getting personal with it then. If this is how he assaults women, what if there's something that prevents him from going a more traditional route. It's possible he's disabled." I suggest.

Hotch tells Garcia to look into it to see if anything recent could be a trigger and to look at the people surrounding the victims. Morgan and Rossi head to the highway to get a feel for it and see what they can get from it from the second victim's scene. Hotch and I head to where the jogger was hit.

"Not a lot of people jog here. It's a physically demanding hike." The sheriff informs gesturing to the trail.

"Well, she was a triathlete." I remind.

"The assailant drove behind her and ran her down right here." The sheriff walks us in to where the red stained gravel remains.

"She was jogging alone? Any woman would know if a car was following her up the trail. Her intuition would've been driving her crazy. She would get off the trail or call for help."

"What if he was already here waiting." Hotch agrees, taking in the scene, "What if she was the reason he was here and it wasn't random. He was waiting for her specifically."

"That would mean we underestimated him. It wasn't a random attack, it was planned and vindictive.

The team meets back at the station to go over what we've discovered. The second victim's husband comes in and recalls seeing a large black truck parked by their house giving us something. This confirms that he's targeting and stalking specific individuals.

"Ready be done for the night?" Aaron asks, he peeks his head into the conference room that only I occupy at this point. The rest of the team has already gone to the hotel to call it a night, but Aaron was still talking with the husband and I was just pouring over people in the area that raised some of Garcia's flags based on what we know so far.

"I suppose." I close the file I had been reading and rub at my eyes.

"It'll still be there tomorrow." He reminds.

"I know, the sooner the better though." That's something I don't need to remind him on. We both know it all too well. With an unsub this aggressive we know he isn't stopping anytime soon.

The drive to the hotel is short and comfortably quiet. Neither Aaron or myself have the energy to discuss anything as we're going on a fifteen hour day.

"Goodnight, Y/n." Aaron carried my bag in from the car to the foot of my bed in my room, even with multiple reassurances that I could carry it just fine. I give him a soft knowing smile before he leaves for his own room.

The next morning it's discovered that the unsub sabotaged the second victims car in order to strand them. He's very focused and well planned.

"We need to figure out why he's picking these women." Hotch states, "What makes them a target and links them together."

"Road rage, maybe they cut him off at some point?" I question, "Also how does he have the time to stalking these women to know their routines, sabotage a car, park and wait."

"Roughly eight percent of the United States is unemployed." Reid rattles off.

"Including someone who could be disabled and lives off of a pension." I remind from my earlier guess."

"Have Garcia look into it." Hotch states before walking away and I smile.

"Pretty girl is on top of it this case." Morgan teases with a smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I roll my eyes.

"Maybe it's something to do with her getting the case early and going over it with Hotch before our team briefing." Reid says with his nose already in a new file. I can feel my face turn a shade of red.

"Pretty girl is getting extra credit!" Prentiss joins in happy to tease, even adopting Morgan's typical nickname for me and Penelope.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about. I simply got in early and we were both at the office." I take a sip of my coffee, looking for any distraction, reaching out to grab a file for myself to ready through. I'm really glad that I didn't bring Hotch's travel mug in from the hotel, I still have it and I almost used it today. That definitely wouldn't go unnoticed with the people surrounding me.

Thankfully the team lets us move on and were able to brainstorm some more. Unfortunately it doesn't take long for JJ to interrupt to tell us there's been a third victim.

"Impact nearly cut him in two." The sheriff explains.

"Male victim?" I question as we arrive on the scene. The unsub hit him in a parking garage, pinning him between the truck and elevator doors. "He's getting more aggressive."

Cigarettes butts are discovered where the truck was parked in waiting. All of them stripped of the filter showing signs that he's military.

"Guys I think I know what ties the victims together." Reid interrupts, "All of the victims drove two door red coupes."

Garcia was able to look into car accidents that left someone injured enough to the point that he can't kill traditionally. He holds the person responsible for his accident for killing his loved one and his own disability. There's nearly twenty five people to still filter out off of the specifications we gave her.

"Wait you guys I think I found it." I sit up from the most recent file that had red flags, "Ian and Sheila Coakley crashed while driving home from Napa Valley on route 7 around midnight. It appeared their car was run off the road. His wife died at the scene."

"And Ian?" Rossi asks.

"He survived although he suffered a spinal cord injury."

Morgan and Prentiss go to his doctor to verify some information while we try to track down Ian. His house foreclosed after the accident.

"Track the parts for his specific truck. He's been doing his own repairs so they have to be sent somewhere." Rossi suggests to Garcia.

"Rossi gets a gold star!" Garcia sings, "He's having the parts drop shipped, I'm sending you guys the address."

"Hey, what do I get for knowing he would be disabled?" I jest, I called that from the plane.

"Nothing but my love, sugar." Garcia says before hanging up.

"I don't have a gold star, but well done Y/Ln." Aaron nods.

Arriving at the home Ian had been renting we find it empty but lots of surveillance photos of the victims and one other person who hasn't been harmed.

"Send this to Garcia now, we need to know who this is." Rossi hands me the picture. I send it to her and she's able to run his plate from the image.

It doesn't take her long to find him and contact his home, where she finds out that he's out biking with a group doing a thirty mile loop.

"Y/n, you're with me. We'll take the north side, Morgan and Rossi you start south and we'll meet in the middle." I quickly get in the passenger side of the SUV and Aaron takes off.

The biking club that target is in covers a lot of milage as Aaron speeds through the dirt road trying so hard to meet the group before the unsub does. Eventually we're closing in, but unfortunately the black truck is ahead of us and gaining on the bikers faster than we're gaining on him.

"Hold on." Aaron takes a risk by cutting Ian off before he can clip the mass of bicyclists. He does this by driving the front left corner of our car into the back right of his truck.

The airbags go off and were spun around from the impact.

"Y/n." Aaron calls. He says it a second time with more panic when I don't answer.

"I'm okay." I groan. The unsub is attempting to back his truck out of the ditch we're both stuck in to finish his mission. He took a much less impactful hit from our collision. I unclip my seatbelt and swing open my door, shattered glass falling from my lap as I stand up.

"Y/n, wait." Aaron instructs, he pulls hard on his seatbelt. It seems like he's stuck from the accident, but the worry on his face is only for me. I give him a look to say I've got this, while he continues to pull at his jammed seatbelt.

"Ian Coakley." I call out, and the man looks over to me briefly. It registers on his face that I am holding my gun and it's aimed for him, he has tears in his eyes.

"This is for Sheila." he floors it heading straight for the group that's waiting after witnessing the accident.

I plant my feet and aim for the back window of the truck, hoping to hit Ian's shoulder. Enough to stop him in his tracks before can harm anyone else without killing him. I've done enough killing myself over the years, and even with all he's done he's a man suffering with the grief of accidentally killing his wife.

The bullet leaves my gun with a loud crack, shattering the back window of the truck. He swerves but not enough to take him off the road. I let out a breath and fire again, this time sending a bullet into the back of his chair and sending his car off the road again to be stopped by a tree. I let out a huff of exhaustion from the impact leaning against the SUV.

Morgan and Rossi pull up and stop to get out and help Aaron and I after seeing our totaled SUV.

"Go" I wave them to keep driving to the unsub to see if he's ok and they do. Aaron manages to get out of the car finally, I hear Morgan call out to radio in an ambulance.

"He's still alive." Rossi shouts to us referring to Ian, they have him laying down now while applying pressure to his wound. The top of his shoulder which shouldn't be fatal, I sigh in relief.

"Are you okay?" Aaron asks finally rounding the back of the car to join me where I stand, he steadies himself. I nod, finally putting my gun away, feeling how stiff my body is.

Aaron fully ignores my nod, taking my head in his hands and pulling my eyelid open to check for signs of a brain bleed. He wipes at my forehead, pulling back his hand with blood on it. Maybe we were hit harder than I thought. Damn airbags.

"I think you have a concussion-" He states, "and you might need stitches."

The worry on his face is deep. I can feel the guilt radiating off of him, he was the one driving. He's the one that chose to hit the unsub's truck.

"I'm okay!" I reassure him, placing my hands on top of his that still rest on my head. This is crossing a new line. He's never touched my face, and I've never touched his hands like this.

"I shouldn't have done that. It was reckless."

"I'm glad you did." I disagree, "If we had waited any longer he would've been able to get his last victim. There's an entire biking club alive right now because of you."

This reminder seems to help slightly, he looks over my shoulder where the crowd remains. I pull him in for a hug, both of us shaking slightly from the adrenaline. After a while we pull apart, the rest of the team arrives as well as a couple ambulances. One takes Ian away immediately, escorted with two police officers as well.

"It took two shots? You're losing your touch." Morgan teases, thowing an arm around my shoulder that makes me wince a little. My phenomenal aim has always been a touchy subject with him, not liking being second.

"I'm concussed and he was driving fast." I defend, fully knowing how whiny I sound.

"Statically of our entire team Y/n would be the only one likely to have made that shot with the variable speed that Ian Croakley was traveling at." Spencer chimes in.

"I knew you were my favorite for a reason." I grin pulling Spence in for a hug effectively shaking off Morgan's arm.

"Yeah, whatever." Morgan shrugs, ruffling the hair in top of Spencer's head.

"Ma'am, you really need to get looked at." The emt reminds, interrupting our conversation. I leave the group and look over to see Aaron sitting on the back of one of the ambulances. We both finish getting evaluated, thankfully nothing too serious that we have to delay our flight home.

"You were right about the concussion." I grin walking up to Aaron as the sheriff walks off.

"And it would seem the stitches too." He reaches out again, thumb hovering over the threading sticking out of my forehead.

"Yeah, should make fore a pretty badass scar." I tease.

"I'm sure it will." He smiles, a real smile. The Aaron smile that I have seen so rarely, but more frequent lately. The plane ride back home is quiet, everyone drained, Aaron and I just flat out sore. By the time we get back to the BAU, Aaron sends everyone home saying the paperwork can wait for the following day. Everyone clears out and he goes back up to his office.

"Not following your own advice?"I question, walking into his office. I make my way round to his side of the desk and lean back on it. The edge of my thigh just barely meeting the outside of his arm from where he sits.

"Just wrapping up a few things before." He sets down his papers, his eyes raking all the way up me from toe to head, we both pretend I don't notice.

"You know, since I have a concussion they said I need to be under observation. No sleeping, crazy delusions, slipping into comas that sort of thing. You know anyone who wants to stay awake with me?"

"I can think of someone" He smirks, "I can put on a pot of coffee."

I pull out the to go mug he had brought my coffee in a few days ago out of my tote and hold it out to him.

"Take me home Aaron."

AHHHHHHHH i hope yall like this! i haven't written in forever to it was honestly just fun to do! :)

[probablyasocialecologist]

According to documents obtained by Grist and Type Investigations through a Freedom of Information Act request, the FBI’s Minneapolis office opened a counterterrorism assessment in February 2012, focusing on actions in South Dakota, that continued for at least a year and may have led to the opening of additional investigations. These documents reveal that the FBI was monitoring activists involved in the Keystone XL campaign about a year earlier than previously known.  Their contents suggest that, long before the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines became national flashpoints, the federal government was already developing a sweeping law enforcement strategy to counter any acts of civil disobedience aimed at preventing fossil fuel extraction. And young, Native activists were among its first targets. “The threat emerging … is evolving into one based on opposition to energy exploration related to any extractions from the earth, rather than merely targeting one project and/or one company,” the FBI noted in its description of the Wanblee blockade. The 15-page file, which is heavily redacted, also describes Native American groups as a potentially dangerous threat and likens them to “environmental extremists” whose actions, according to the FBI, could lead to violence. The FBI acknowledged that Native American groups were engaging in constitutionally protected activity, including attending public hearings, but emphasized that this sort of civic participation might spawn criminal activity.  To back up its claims, the FBI cited a 2011 State Department hearing on the pipeline in Pierre, South Dakota, attended by a small group of Native activists. The FBI said the individuals were dressed in camouflage and had covered their faces with red bandanas, “train robber style.” According to the report, they were also carrying walking sticks and shaking sage, claiming to be “Wounded Knee Security of/for Mother Earth.” “The Bureau is uncertain how the NA group(s) will act initially or subsequently if the project is approved,” the agency wrote.  The FBI also singled out the “Native Youth Movement,” which it described as a mix between a “radical militia and a survivalist group.” In doing so, it appeared to conflate a specific activist group originally founded in Canada in the 1990s with the broader array of young Native activists who opposed the pipeline decades later. Young activists would play an important role in the Keystone XL campaign and later on during protests against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock, but the movement had little in common with militias or survivalists, terms typically used to describe far-right groups or those seeking to disengage from society.  The FBI declined to respond to questions for this story. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Minneapolis field office said the agency does not typically comment on FOIA releases and “lets the information contained in the files speak for itself.”

[...]

Environmental activists and attorneys who reviewed the new documents told Grist and Type Investigations that law enforcement’s approach to the Keystone XL campaign looked like a template for the increasingly militarized response to subsequent environmental and social justice campaigns — from efforts to block the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock to the ongoing protests against the police training center dubbed “Cop City” in Atlanta, Georgia, which would require razing at least 85 acres of urban forest.  The FBI’s working thesis, outlined in the new documents, that “most environmental extremist groups” have historically moved from peaceful protest to violence has served as the basis for subsequent investigations. “It’s astonishing to me how such a broad concept basically paints every activist and protester as a future terrorist,” said Mike German, a former FBI special agent who is now a fellow at the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice.

[loving-n0t-heyting]

Seal Team 6, the clandestine US Navy commando unit that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China, according to people familiar with the preparations. [...]

CIA director Bill Burns told the Financial Times last week that 20 per cent of his budget was devoted to China, a 200 per cent rise over three years. [...] “With the Pentagon’s reorientation over the past few years to focus on great power competition, it was inevitable that even the nation’s most elite counterterrorism units would seek out roles in that arena, for that path leads to relevance, missions and money[.]” [...]

Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific command, recently warned that the US military would turn the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from China, into an “unmanned hellscape” if Beijing were about to attack. He said doing so would involve unmanned submarines, ships and drones to make it much harder for the PLA to launch an invasion.

[zvaigzdelasas]

US Threats led to rupture of vital military ties, Nigerien leader says - WaPo

A crucial military relationship between the United States and its closest West African ally, the country of Niger, ruptured this spring after a visiting U.S. official made threats during last-ditch negotiations over whether American troops based there would be allowed to remain, according to the country’s prime minister.

In an exclusive interview, Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine put the blame for the breakdown squarely on the United States, accusing American officials of trying to dictate which countries Niger could partner with and failing to justify the U.S. troop presence, now scheduled to end in the coming months. Niger has been central to efforts to contain a growing Islamist insurgency in West Africa.

The rift between the former allies has created an opportunity for Russia, which has moved quickly to deepen its relationship with Niger, dispatching troops to the capital, Niamey, last month to train the Nigerien military and supplying a new air defense system. Russian and U.S. troops now occupy opposite ends of an air base.

After a military coup d’état ousted Niger’s democratically elected president last year, the United States froze security support as required by U.S. law and paused counterterrorism activities, which had involved intelligence gathering on regional militant activities from a massive drone base in the country’s north. The United States has kept more than 1,000 military personnel in place while negotiating with Niger over their status and urging the junta to begin restoring democracy.

“The Americans stayed on our soil, doing nothing while the terrorists killed people and burned towns,” Zeine said. “It is not a sign of friendship to come on our soil but let the terrorists attack us. We have seen what the United States will do to defend its allies, because we have seen Ukraine and Israel.”

Niger’s insistence that American troops depart culminated in the U.S. announcement last month that it would withdraw them. The pullout, which two U.S. officials said would begin in coming months, represents a significant setback for the Biden administration and will force it to reconfigure its strategy for countering Islamist extremists in the volatile Sahel region.

Though tense discussions between U.S. and Nigerien officials have been previously reported, Zeine’s remarks revealed the extent of the disconnect between the two countries. While the Americans were pressing their counterparts over democracy and their relations with other countries, Niger was asking for additional military equipment and what it considered a more equitable relationship between the two forces, according to his account. He also revealed just how exasperated the Nigeriens had become with the United States.

Relations with the United States have been strained since the junta took power, appointing Zeine, an economist, as prime minister two weeks later. The U.S. government condemned the coup and called for the release of President Mohamed Bazoum, who was put under house arrest.

Zeine said leaders of Niger’s new government, known as the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland, or by its French initials CNSP, were bewildered that the United States had frozen military support while insisting on keeping the troops in the country without justifying their continued presence. The American response in the wake of Niger’s coup contrasted sharply with that of other nations, including Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, he said, which have welcomed the new Nigerien leaders with “open arms.”

He said the Nigerien leaders took particular umbrage at remarks by Molly Phee, the State Department’s top official for African affairs, who he said had urged the government during a March visit to Niamey to refrain from engaging with Iran and Russia in ways objectionable to Washington if Niger wanted to continue its security relationship with the United States. He also said Phee had further threatened sanctions if Niger pursued a deal to sell uranium to Iran.

“When she finished, I said, ‘Madame, I am going to summarize in two points what you have said,’” recounted Zeine, who has led negotiations with the United States. “First, you have come here to threaten us in our country. That is unacceptable. And you have come here to tell us with whom we can have relationships, which is also unacceptable. And you have done it all with a condescending tone and a lack of respect.”[...]

Since 2012, the United States has maintained a military presence in Niger, with most U.S. personnel stationed at the Agadez drone base, which cost about $110 million to build. That base has been “impactful” for counterterrorism efforts across the region, said Gen. Michael E. Langley, who heads U.S. military operations in Africa. In an interview earlier this year, Langley warned that the U.S. losing its footprint in Niger would “degrade our ability to do active watching and warning, including for homeland defense.”[...]

When Phee first arrived in Niger in December, Zeine said, he showed her photographs of Nigeriens waving American flags during protests against France, Niger’s former colonial power. While protesters set fires and smashed windows at the French Embassy, he noted, they left the U.S. Embassy untouched.

“Nigeriens were saying, ‘Americans are our friends, they will help us this time to annihilate the terrorists,’” said Zeine. “But there was radio silence.” He added that Niger would have not looked to Russia and other countries for help if the United States had responded to requests for more support, including for planes, drones and an air defense system.[...]

Although Niger is insisting that the U.S. military leave, Zeine said that his government wants to continue economic and diplomatic relations with the United States and that “no Nigerien considers the United States as the enemy.” He said he told Phee and Campbell that Niger would rather have American investors than soldiers.

“If American investors arrived, we would give them what they wanted,” he recounted telling the States Department officials. “We have uranium. We have oil. We have lithium. Come, invest. It is all we want.”

14 May 24

[txttletale]

wanted 2 ask u cuz i think u know more than me:

most of the acab / police aboltion stuff i see is based on the US system, backed up with US stats and events, and suggesting changes to the US policing system.

but a lot of the proposed changes i see are similar (i think?) to what we currently have in the UK, and the power imbalance and training issues and violence are much worse in the US (but not absent here obvs). while the institution is still racist. but I'm wary of the usual 'it doesn't happen here' response that ppl usually employ to dismiss movements like BLM in the UK.

how much of acab rhetoric applies here, and how should we adapt the plans for reform for the UK policing system?

i mean the USA is definitely an outlier in terms of police and prison violence but this is broadly a quantitative rather than qualitative difference. i assure you that the police in the UK are just as horrifically racist and violent--they're just not as armed and don't have the same amount of political capital as the far more militarized USAmerican police.

the Metropolitan Police's own report (lol) found them to be 'institutionally racist'. police in the UK have fucking absurd powers, such as being permitted to commit any crime while undercover without judicial review, as long as it's in the interests of 'national security' or 'preventing disorder' or 'protecting the economic well-being of the United Kingdom' (!). they are relentlessly and disproportionately violent towards BAME people. they have a systemic culture of violence and brutality. Bristol police tased their own race relations advisor, twice. when a woman, sarah everard, was raped and murdered by a police officer, police suppressed and brutalized protesters at her vigil.

here are stop and search statistics for the UK police in 2021:

the UK policing system is just as racist and just as much of an oppressive apparatus as the USAmerican one. don't trust anyone from the UK who tries to tell you otherwise. all cops are bastards because the institution of policing under capitalism exists first and foremost to protect capitalist property relations.

obviously the demands of BLM protesters in the USA cannot be adapted 1-for-1 to the UK, and as a revolutionary communist i think there are very hard limits to what can be meaningfully accomplished under liberal democracy. but i think a good place to start if you want achievable short-term reform to happen is relentless protest and action against the recent bills that have expanded police powers more than ever, against the Blair-era counterterrorism legislation, for the abolition of the Met Police, and for justice for victims of police brutality.

Because the state arose from the need to hold class antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a rule, the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class […] This public power exists in every state; it consists not merely of armed men but also of material adjuncts, prisons, and institutions of coercion of all kinds

— Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State

[thegoofyfanaticus]

(( Art is commissioned from the incredibly talented ArtReplicant. Original story by me. )) Daniel grinned as he finally forced Greg to the mat. The two instantly were locked into the battle of mount versus guard. Greg had immediately gotten his legs wrapped around Daniel with his hips into perfect position for a guard that Daniel would have to work hard to break through while Daniel used his immense upper body to put himself in position to at least strike Greg with one hand. Greg defended himself from the strikes by getting his right hand on Daniel's face at the check and jawline to press Daniel back to not allow him to have the clear shot or leverage to strike while Greg's left arm worked to get up against Daniel's right pec to push Daniel back. It was a scramble and Greg, while impressed, also confirmed exactly the level of training Daniel had. There was only one spec ops force which was the elite of the elite. This spec ops unit only recruited from the other spec ops units from all the branches of the military and then gave their forces even more specialized training to handle the most dangerous of missions as ordered by the president or the secretary of defense. Greg smiles knowing he is facing a former Delta Force member. This would put his SEAL training to the test. Delta Force members conducted missions involving counterterrorism, hostage rescue, special reconnaissance, and even covert direct action missions against the highest of value targets. Their teams were small and the best. To fight one of them would be a challenge and a test of everything Greg was capable of. "Challenge Accepted," Greg thought to himself. It also made sense to Greg how the gym worked and operated. Both Garin and Daniel had to be Delta Force and they used the same philosophy to grow the pack. Garin would scout the elite underground fight circuits looking for only the best fighters. When he saw a prospect, he would send Daniel to fight that guy in order to test him. Daniel would win nearly all the time because he would use his training. However, that was also part of the test. Daniel evaluated how much fight was in the potential alpha. Basically, it was a true test if a dude was truly an alpha fighter. Then If the guy passed Daniel's evaluation, the invitation would be offered and another elite fighter would join the ranks of the pack to train. Using their training from when they were in Delta Force, Garin, and Daniel would help the pack get stronger. Those who then could actually beat Daniel in a fight would then be the ones to fight each other for leadership of the pack. This was how Garin ensured that the pack was led by the true alpha who could take on just about any threat. It also explained why the pack was able to keep the gangs and other criminal elements that converged upon Daytona Beach and others at bay. All of those fighters were no match for highly skilled alpha fighters. It created a very symbiotic relationship with the town and the gym not to mention an amazing entertainment venue for the town.  Daniel and Greg continued to struggle for control on the mat. While they did the pack looked on with intensity. They wondered if Greg would prevail and join the ranks of the elite or if Daniel would notch another fighter as dominated by the Zeta. Murmurs started as pack members started to wager on who they thought would eventually dominate the fight. Wyatt, on the other hand, solely focused in on Greg watching Greg's muscles twitch and fire as he worked to get Daniel off of him. Wyatt was getting hard as he watched. He was rooting for Greg so Greg would eventually challenge him for dominance. He knew it would not take long for Greg to do that because of the tension the two felt every time they were near each other. The collision between them was only a matter of time. That is if Greg could get past this one huge hurdle first. If Greg did, and once Greg challenged Wyatt for dominance, Wyatt would claim Greg's ass for himself. Wyatt slowly licked his lips at the thought of breeding Greg.

[meffez]

I genuinely don’t get the hate around jordan todd because she was a realistic depiction of what a semi-normal** person be like in the bau. @/frankiebirds made a really good post about it here, which you should absolutely go read.

(this got kind long, the rest is under the cut)

in addition to that post, I want to add the jordan had very little training. she shadowed jj for a bit (but didn’t actually shadow her during a case). that’s it. she was thrown in the deep end with no real knowledge of what she was getting into.

and she was put in the media liaison position. over the course of the series, we’re shown just how hard that job is and the toll it takes on jj, who’s been at it for years.

in addition (and as frankiebirds points out in the post it made) the other members of the bau are varying levels of desensitized to the horror they witness. jordan isn’t. she’s completely new to this world and these horrors.

and she’s honest about it. and I feel like people see her as weak for this honesty. when, in reality, most people would be in jordan’s position—scared, unsure, and traumatized.

rossi, one of the team’s most seasoned, tells her that it’s okay to not be able to do the job. and I think she finds deep relief in that. enough relief to not feel like a coward for leaving.

criminal minds is gray area central and people just Can’t Handle It for some reason. why jordan catches all the flack is beyond me (besides the fact that she’s a woman of color who breathed).

anyway. rant over. thank you for coming to me TEDtalk.

(**she did work in counterterrorism, so she likely had some interactions with the dark & disturbing, but not like this)

[eretzyisrael]

By Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg

Throughout the 17 years since the Hamas takeover, numerous reports have been published and videos posted detailing the growth of the terrorist capabilities inside Gaza. The frequent clashes with the IDF exposed additional information on the terror network and command centers located under and inside civilian locations, such as hospitals, mosques, schools and residential buildings. In the course of the operation that began following the October 7 attack, the IDF and journalists have added to this information, posting numerous pictures and videos showing the links between the aid operations and Hamas installations.

UNRWA is the largest aid framework operating in Gaza. It employs 30,000 staffers, mainly Palestinians, as well as about 200 international staff members, many based in Gaza or periodic visitors. It strains credulity to claim that the heads of the organization were unaware of the Hamas activities under and in the immediate proximity of their facilities and residences. In fact, evidence indicates that UNRWA international officials maintained a code of silence and cooperation with Hamas and associated terror groups, including promoting their propaganda and incitement and training of children for terror. Many UNRWA teachers have participated in antisemitic social media platforms, as documented repeatedly by UN Watch and other watchdogs. (On UNRWA corruption, see “UN Aid Chief Quits Amid Probe Into Palestinian Refugee Program.”) In May 2021, following the 11-day conflict, the top UNRWA international staffer in Gaza was forced to resign after acknowledging that the IDF counterterror strikes had been “precise” and “sophisticated.” The logical assumption, to be examined in this documentation process and evaluation, is that other UNRWA officials would have had similar information.

In addition to UNRWA, at least 12 other UN agencies are active in Gaza, including UN-OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization. A preliminary review of the history indicates that the officials and employees of these organizations also followed a policy of silence, and in some cases, directly cooperated with Hamas.

Similarly, UNICEF maintained direct and open cooperation with terror-linked NGOs, such as Defense for Children in Palestine (DCIP). UNICEF also provided medical services during the Hamas-organized violent confrontations along the border with Israel under the facade of the “Great March of Return” (2018-2019), which served as rehearsals for the October 7 massacre. In addition, UNICEF’s disregard for Israeli children targeted in missile attacks from Gaza, including those who were murdered, is another important part of the record.

The same questions and issues apply to documenting the terror-enabling activities of diplomats and officials from government aid organizations. The EU is the largest single financial supporter and aid donor to the Palestinians, and therefore likely to have been a major source of materials diverted to terror. In this context, it should be noted that the European Union’s Head of Delegation (ambassador) to the West Bank and Gaza, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff (2019-2023), met with officials of NGOs linked to terror organizations (see below), and in February 2022, participated in an EU-funded workshop “focused on the strategies and mechanisms needed to combat counter-terrorism policies, regulations, and policies (sic).” In July 2023, von Burgsdorff smuggled a paraglider into Gaza and demonstrated its use, declaring, “Once you have a free Palestine, a free Gaza, you can do exactly the same thing.” Three months later, the Hamas attack involved terrorists using paragliders.

The third category concerns leaders and employees of NGOs that operated in Gaza. NGO Monitor has compiled a list, based on UN financial information, of 70 NGOs that were active in recent years, and the total is likely to be higher. The largest, as measured by budgets and extent of involvement, include the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and Islamic Relief. Many major donor countries, including the US, maintain a list of “trusted partners” whose activities and personnel are exempt from detailed oversight and review.

[nesaluvstherecoms]

𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱.

ᴍᴀɪɴ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ʀᴇᴄᴏ�� ᴄᴏʟᴏɴᴇʟ ᴍɪʟᴇꜱ Qᴜᴀʀɪᴛᴄʜ x ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍ ᴍᴀᴊᴏʀ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ꜰᴇᴍ. ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ ʟɪɴᴋ

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐋𝐏𝐇𝐀 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭

MSpOT11 (Pronounced: M spot eleven) (Marine Special Operations Team 11) - Previous unit name. Colonel L/N’s Special Operations unit, composing of 10 main highly trained operators and 4 additional spots for other operators who were replaced regularly depending on the mission. These four spots were reserved for allies, mission-specific specialists, and operators assigned by higher up commanding officers. All operators were often divided into two sub teams of 7, where the commanding officer (Y/N) would choose which one to lead depending on the task.

ALPHA - Recom unit name, given officially by General Frances Ardmore. Regarded as the RDA’s muscle alongside Colonel Quaritch’s Deja Blu unit, ALPHA is Major General L/N’s special forces team. Since the very top of command remain only the Generals, ALPHA takes orders from them only, and are to assist them in any circumstances. The unit composes of the Recombinants of the 10 main operators, along with the Recombinant of F/N L/N who has the authority of commanding officer.

This data sheet displays detailed information about the operators before Project Phoenix was launched. However, in some sentences the Recoms are also mentioned.

Commanding Officer: Colonel (As a Recom: Major General) F/N L/N

Operators:

1. Captain John Keller (Callsign: Phantom)

2. Master Sergeant Oscar Bailey (Callsign: Coma)

3. First Sergeant Scott McCaskill (Callsign: Pyro)

4. Second Lieutenant Riley Jones (Callsign: Phoenix)

5. First Lieutenant Fernando Álvarez (Callsign: Alpino)

6. Sergeant Major Diego Silva (Callsign: Fuego)

7. Sergeant Major Maria Herrera (Callsign: El caos)

8. Master Gunnery Sergeant Henry Davis (Callsign: Ranger)

9. Gunnery Sergeant Khalida Fadel (Callsign: Liberty)

10. Artillery Officer Stefan Kessler (Callsign: Berlin)

1. John Keller

Mental age: 38 years

Nationality: British

Place of birth: UK

Rank: Captain

Callsign: Phantom (Has a talent for moving silently and versatilely, materializing anywhere in the front line during combat like he just came out of thin air, like a phantom.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Hostage rescue

- Kill - capture missions

- Sniper techniques

- Close quarter combat

- Counterterrorism

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- Versatile in multiple environments

- Expert in interrogation techniques

- Seek-and-strike expert

- Shock-trooper

- Long-range reconnaissance operator

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The “dad” of the group.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Pushes the unit to stay clean of alcohol and smoking because it’s bad for their health and then after everyone has fallen asleep pours himself a cold glass of whiskey and lights a cigar. (He thinks no one knows but everyone knows. Whenever this is brought up within the squadron, Riley says: “Let the old man dream.”.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The first person he met in the unit was Oscar Bailey. Oscar was 23 years old then and was making a name for himself as one of the most talented young operators, rising in career. They met in a track-and-kill mission when Oscar and his teammates got ambushed by a terrorist group and John with his unit came to the rescue. Since then John feels a fatherly love towards Oscar and has been watching over him ever since.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ You can hear him clearing his throat and sinuses in the bathroom sink with the volume of a thousand mountain banshees in the early hours of the morning after he has just woken up. (Yes, he bolts the whole house awake, and their PTSD doesn’t make it better. Oscar has gotten more used to it than the rest but the first time it happened the whole squadron rushed to the bathroom armed to their teeth, thinking that someone stabbed him in the throat and he was choking on his own blood. What they found was a sleepy but startled John, standing in front of the bathroom sink with his thick ass black socks, and his pajama pants holding onto the curve of his half exposed ass for dear life, looking back at them with wide eyes and fists balled up ready to throw punches. Not a fun morning. Later at the breakfast table he cracked a “Who pissed in the cereal?” joke to lift up the mood. No one laughed.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Doesn’t give a fuck who is in front of him. If someone is being disrespectful or purely showing ignorance, he doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind and put them in their place, even if they are higher in rank than him and hold more authority. (He used to get in trouble because of this before he met Y/N, but now she covers his back.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Snores. Loudly. And when he’s tired; very, very loudly. (Y/N personally made sure that the rooms in their dorm were soundproofed. Her reasoning was “to give all of us privacy” but everyone knew it was because of John’s 60 decibel, chainsaw sounding snore (and some others who also snore obnoxiously loudly, ahem… Fernando). The whole unit prays that they do not get sent on missions where they have to spend the night in a foreign base, sleeping in the same room. When he’s on open air missions, he doesn’t sleep, afraid that he’ll be loud and lead the enemy to them. Once, he spent six days without sleep because of this and started to hallucinate, until Y/N intervened and forced him to go back to base.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He's been shot, captured, blown up, locked up, tortured, and left for dead, multiple times.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is a HK433.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He taught Oscar how to fish, and they go fishing together if the weather is good and they have the day off.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Workaholic. Puts his job before anyone and anything.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He used to have severe insomnia, but slowly got better until it was gone. Before his insomnia he didn’t use to snore.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s constantly feeling nauseous and sometimes dizzy but no one can figure out why, not even the medics.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ For some reason his feet are always cold and he tends to wear thick socks when he’s at home.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Always reads for a little bit before going to sleep, and he has reading glasses too.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s a well known name among the military world.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ An excellent and harsh trainer. Often times, units and new talented recruits are put under his supervision and guidance.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He nearly has an aneurysm every time he hears Americans say “soccer” when referring to football. (When this happens he gives them the biggest side eye. This happens a lot with Henry, the only American in the unit.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once, Oscar referred to him as “grandpa” and he was genuinely hurt.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Oscar convinced him once to go to a concert and they left 20 minutes in, because the man has PTSD and you can guess yourself what the flashing lights, screams and loud sounds of the CO2 jets were doing to him.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Women hit on him a lot and he doesn’t understand why. He also politely declines each time because he is a loner. (When this was brought up one day and he said he doesn’t get why, Maria and Scott turned to him with the biggest shit eating grins on their faces and started to explain it to him with the sentence: “Because you’re daddy material.” Y/N had never seen the fearsome Captain John Keller widen his eyes so much before, not even in the middle of battle.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His voice is naturally deep (not entirely considering the cigars but I digress) and it gets even deeper in the morning. This happens with the other male operators too but everyone teases John when it happens to him because he’s the eldest in the unit and they love teasing him. (Y/N always jokes that he sounds like he’s narrating a “Ford” commercial in the morning.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He is one of the few people that General Ardmore genuinely trusts.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Always praises the team and tells them that they did good even if the mission failed. He does this because he doesn’t know when he might lose them. Throughout his career he has lost a considerable number of people dear to him and he regrets the last words he has said to some of them, without knowing that the next time he’d see them they’d be laying dead. John now tries to show his team how much he appreciates them as often as he can.

2. Oscar Bailey

Mental age: 26 years

Nationality: British

Place of birth: UK

Rank: Master Sergeant

Callsign: Coma (Has a tendency for shooting enemies in the stomach before bashing the butt of his weapon into their skulls, either killing or sending them into a coma.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Target elimination

- Covert surveillance

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- High tolerance and tactical awareness

- Demolitions

- VIP protection

- Counterterrorism

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Oscar was the only one in his class to pass the RTI (Resistance To Interrogation) testing, and pass selection with the highest possible scores on all courses, at 20 years old.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has spent most of his career hunting terrorists.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has been routinely subjected to physically and mentally harsh scenarios.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The first person he met in the unit was John Keller.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Loves spicy food and any type of tea.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He firstly joined the British Army and then got transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps where he met John and the rest of the unit.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Before he enlisted for the British Army, he used to frequently go to concerts and music festivals.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once during a mission, he got heavily injured, resulting in a concussion, a broken collarbone, a broken femur and multiple stab wounds. The person who carried him all the way to safety was John, while yelling at him to stay conscious. It took Oscar some time to recover. He had to undergo some surgeries and have a metal rod and plate placed on his femur. During the weeks he was in bed rest, the unit would take turns visiting him so he wouldn’t be alone. (During one group visitation, Fernando made a joke and started laughing, and forgetting that Oscar was still injured, before the unit could reach out and stop him, slapped Oscar’s thigh with his damn gorilla strength. Let’s just say the medics forbid anyone from visiting Oscar for a few days….)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once fell out of a speeding JLTV while trying to shoot an enemy vehicle mid-confrontation. It’s a miracle that he dropped flat in time and did not get run over by the other vehicles behind the JLTV but rather let them drive over him before rolling off the track and running to a safe zone.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He sucks at fishing. The only reason he goes to fish in the first place is because it makes John happy.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He secretly judges every decision that the people in command make, but unlike John and Riley, he doesn’t voice it out. He only tells John what he’s thinking once they’re alone together.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The only reason why he doesn’t complain about John and Fernando’s snoring is because he falls asleep with his earphones in, even though Y/N advises the squadron to keep their doors and ears open at night for cautious reasons.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Sometimes when he’s very tired he will snore softly.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is a SIG MCX.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He lowkey believes that Riley secretly likes cuddles. He doesn’t know why. That’s just the vibe he gets from him.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Whenever someone takes a picture, he looks like he doesn’t want to be there.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He is insanely good at carjacking. (The first time he did this in a mission, the whole team stared, not having expected it, while John was standing a few feet away, smiling proudly.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Out of all the operators in the unit, he is the one who is the most careful in missions. While the others sometimes act out of instinct, Oscar has the ability to control even his instincts almost entirely. This has led to him saving his fellow troopers individually or in groups, multiple times during altercations.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He tried weed once and hated it. Now he huffs in annoyance every time he smells it one someone.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has crashed a helicopter before. Why was he flying a helicopter in the first place, when he’s not a pilot? Interesting question. (They were in a rush to get away from an ambush and he thought he could pull it off. The most careful operator of the unit, ladies and gentlemen.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He loves diavola pizza to a concerning level.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When the unit was first assembled, Fernando asked him if he speaks Spanish and he said he didn’t. Fernando grinned and told him that he’d teach him all the curse words. He did in fact do that. So now Oscar walks around with a Spanish curse words vocabulary that could send a Drill Sergeant into a coma.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He once saw Henry make tea with “Lipton” teabags and forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. I’m not even exaggerating, he genuinely stopped breathing, and stared at Henry in horror. (A few moments later he taught him how to make loose leaf tea. When he told John and Riley about it later they also stared in horror. Everyone in that dorm was banned from using teabags ever again.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a scar on his left eyebrow. When he was born, the doctor who performed a c-section on his mother accidentally cut the corner of his left eyebrow and he has had that scar ever since. (He does not have this scar as a Recom.)

3. Scott McCaskill

Mental age: 29 years

Nationality: Scottish

Place of birth: Scotland

Rank: First Sergeant

Callsign: Pyro (During his early years as a trainee, he once accidentally triggered a few flares while getting his demolitions equipment ready and set fire to a MTVR.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Sniper techniques

- Demolitions expert

- Exceptional proficiency

- Remarkable speed and accuracy in room clearance and urban warfare

- Specialized in covert reconnaissance

- Counterterrorism operator

- Hostage rescue

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Scott set the record for youngest trainee passing selection and RTI testing with the highest possible marks on all phases of the course, at the age of 22. This record was then later on broken by Oscar Bailey.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The first person he met in the unit was Riley Jones. For his first mission he joined Riley’s team in securing a building that inhabited WMDs. During the mission, the unit was ambushed and Scott would have lost his life in bomb droppings from enemy aircrafts, if it wasn’t for Riley pulling him to safety. Since then, they have remained close friends.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He used to be a smoker, before he met John Keller who slapped the cigarette out of his mouth as Scott went for a handshake the first time they met. (Riley secretly grinned like a Cheshire cat.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Drinks coffee with strictly two teaspoons of sugar. Anything over or lower than that amount and he will not drink it.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Chatty…. Very chatty…. (Riley tends to zone him out anytime he talks.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Secretly frowns at how John smokes at night and mutters “hypocrite’ bastard” in his Scottish accent, under his breath.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he sleeps, he rolls himself into the covers like a cocoon.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once, after him, Fernando, Maria, Henry and Stefan returned from a mission, they found Riley sleeping on the living room floor. Scott got a not so brilliant idea and somehow convinced the others to join (it wasn’t hard, all four of them are as idiotic as he is, except maybe Stefan). The five of them turned off the lights and formed a circle around Riley. They started spinning while holding hands and chanting satanic verses. (Riley woke up and started swinging at everyone. Y/N had never seen five grown adults run so fast for their lives while their comrade chased them around the dorm with a combat knife.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His alarm sound is the Scottish national anthem. (Don’t ask.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He spends his off-duty days chilling in the living room, watching sports and drinking cold beer.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once went fishing with John and Oscar but did not have the patience to wait for the fish to catch the bait so he fell asleep while still holding the fishing rod.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He enjoys wearing war paint on his face during missions.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once got drunk out of his fucking mind, went to the rail of the living room balcony, before lowering his pants and boxers. He held his cock between the metal bars of the rail and started pissing with concernedly high pressure while screaming “SCOTLAND FOREVAAAAAAAA” while holding a fist up in the air. (Luckily their balcony faced the forest and no one got contaminated in the process. He also got two weeks of cleaning duty for that, and no one allowed him to drink that much alcohol ever again.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is an AR-57.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He gives the biggest side eyes to John and Riley when they question their authority figures, even if he agrees with them.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ One time he walked in on Y/N changing and didn’t say anything but wiggled his eyebrows seductively. (Y/N put him in a headlock and didn’t let him go until he started begging.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Constantly uses Scottish slang (Riley sighs each time he does this before asking him to “Speak English, you arsehole.”)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Masks his emotions with humor, but Riley can always tell what he’s truly feeling.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Gives the biggest bear hugs.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Every time Riley, John or Oscar do something remotely British he rolls his eyes and huffs out a “Fuckin’ brits.”

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He doesn’t have tattoos but he has been thinking of getting some of Riley’s drawings tattooed on him for some time.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has a habit of patting people firmly on their chest or on their shoulders as a greeting. (First time he did this Riley found it extremely annoying. But now it’s comforting to him.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he was a kid he was very close to his older sister. They did everything together, and were each other’s best friend. They grew apart after he joined the military and now he sees her and his mother only once a year.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He absolutely loves making Molotov cocktails and smoke bombs.

4. Riley Jones

Mental age: 32 years

Nationality: British

Place of birth: UK

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Callsign: Phoenix (He survived a helicopter crash where all of the people in that helicopter with him died instantly, including the pilot. When rescue forces rushed to the scene, they saw him rising among the flames and wreckage, like a Phoenix rising out of ashes after death.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Sniper techniques

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- Sabotage

- Infiltrations

- Master in clandestine tradecraft

- Ambush execution

- High Intelligence

- Torture Expertise

- Master Combatant

- Knife Mastery

- Counterterrorism

- Extremely high pain tolerance

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has spent most of his career executing covert assignments in classified locations.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His most frequent injury have been stab wounds.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Extremely organized. Has an agenda which he plans and follows strictly. This includes timetables, meetings, medical check ups, cleaning schedules etc.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His arms are covered in tattoos.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His favorite type of alcohol is bourbon.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He drinks a specific tea blend that is flavored with bee balm oil.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Before the crash, his callsign used to be Rico because he’s always armed to the teeth.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Sarcasm king.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Just like John, he doesn’t hesitate to point out flaws in orders or missions given by higher ups. The people in authority often get annoyed at this because they see it as him complaining about everything, but to Y/N this is extremely valuable as he provides the other perspective and helps her eliminate loopholes.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a little sketchbook that he keeps with him at all times, where he doodles or draws concepts for new tattoos he wants to get.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has a resting bitch face.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Loves to scare the living shit out of new recruits.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a feared reputation among the military world because of his brutal executions and high kill count.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He really likes knives and has a large collection of them. He’s always fidgeting with a combat knife and you’ll always find one on his person. (Yes, he keeps one under his pillow.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Even though he zones out when Scott gets too chatty, it gives him comfort when listening to his voice.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He did not believe that Y/N would be a good commanding officer for their squadron when she was assigned as such. It didn’t matter if she had grown up in a military facility or if she was a so-called prodigy, she was too young and did not have a lot of experience. The fact that she had been ranked Colonel at such a young age was, in his opinion, a huge mistake that would cost them. He also expected her to argue his opinion every step of the way just like the rest of the authority figures did. He was however proven wrong when they came out victorious in some of the most harsh and difficult missions they had ever been in, missions which she led by also listening to his insights. Riley eventually gave her his respect.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He knows that he comes across as threatening and that boosts his ego.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He used to be a Christian since he was a child but after serving for some time and seeing the horrors he has seen, he lost faith in God.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Rolls his eyes at people so much that John once joked that his eyes would get stuck like that one day.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Actively calls John “old man”.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He was the first to witness drunk Scott pissing from the balcony while screaming “SCOTLAND FOREVAAAAAAAA”, and that was the first and last time that Riley Jones malfunctioned.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He really enjoys cooking and often listens to corny music while doing so. (Scott never fails to poke fun at him for this.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is an ArmaLite AR-18.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s very cold and sometimes rude to people he doesn’t know personally.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He tends to be competitive.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Since the crash, he has had some levels of anxiety whenever he has to board a helicopter. (Of course he doesn’t show it.)

5. Fernando Álvarez

Mental age: 37 years

Nationality: Mexican

Place of birth: Mexico

Rank: First Lieutenant

Callsign: Alpino (From Spanish; Alpine. The environment he thrives in are mountainous terrains. Enemies stand no chance against him in such environments.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Counterterrorism

- Stealth expertise

- Sniper techniques

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- Target elimination

- Master combatant

- Sabotage

- Clandestine tradecraft

- Ambush execution

- Infiltrations

- Specializes in reconnaissance by fire

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he was a kid, his dream was to be in the army and would often skip school to watch the soldiers of his hometown do their daily drills.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a very loud voice and almost always soldiers jump startled when he starts yelling at them.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He grew up with Diego and they have been best friends since childhood.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Diego would often scold him for skipping school.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Later on, after they both had enlisted for the military, they met Maria.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His weapon of choice is a SIG MPX but his favorite weapon is his CheyTac Intervention which he calls “mami”.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Fernando and Maria have a “that annoying sibling” relationship.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Once said: “It’s not gay if it’s the homies.”

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Snores obnoxiously loud, to the point that people dread having to sleep next to him. The worst part is that his snore adds on top of John’s during the night and sometimes they leave their doors open, making it sound like someone has switched on two MS 881 Petrol Chainsaws all night.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He once got shot in his right asscheek. Luckily, it wasn’t a deep injury and it didn’t reach anything that shouldn’t be reached. (He quite literally ran around the battlefield with a bullet up his ass.) (He couldn’t sit on the toilet for three weeks.) (He cursed “puta madre” out loud approximately 400 times while trying to sit during his entire time of recovery.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has an insane amount of tolerance for spicy food. Has eaten Carolina Reaper peppers before and looked like he was eating candy. (He suffered on the toilet a few days later.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Very good cook. But ironically enough, he’s too lazy to cook.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Constantly goes to Maria’s room for the sole reason of making eye contact with her and staring her down judgmentally for 45 seconds, and then leaving the door to her room open, because he knows that it annoys her carnally.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Uh… very hairy. But he shaves regularly and keeps it neatly trimmed. Once tried waxing but the hair was so strong that the waxing tissue stuck to it. (On the bright side, as a Recom he has no body hair.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He once unintentionally decked a stripper square in the face because she tried to choke him unexpectedly while straddling his lap, thinking that he’d get turned on, but he got startled, causing his reflexes to kick in. (She got knocked out, suffered a broken nose, a fractured maxilla and nasal bone, and a few of her front teeth got knocked out. It took her months to recover fully. She sued him but he won the case, and out of spite sued her back for emotional distress. Ironically enough, he won the case and she had to pay him a mighty sum of money.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He really cares about Diego. He’s always watching over him even when he’s unaware of it. To Fernando, Diego is his brother and he will protect him with his life if he has to.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s especially deadly in mountainous terrains.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s insanely good at what he does, to the point that even John Keller had his jaw drop the first time he saw him in action. He knows the battlefield like the back of his hand and he’s extremely lethal in action.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He had an eyebrow piercing on his right eyebrow throughout high school, but had to take it out when he joined the military and it closed entirely. (His mom grounded him for three months when he got it.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he turned fourteen years old, he spent three months building a training field on his uncle’s farm. It was a piece of his land that wasn’t nutritious enough to grow produce or good grass for herds, so he let Fernando do whatever he wanted with it. With help from Diego, a few other friends and friendly neighbors, Fernando ended up building multiple tiny buildings to resemble houses, spread junkyard cars, old shipping containers and stacks of sacks filled with gravel, all over the place to practice open-air gunfight, and even made multiple dummies for target practice. He used that training field 24/7 religiously for four years until time came when he and Diego signed up for the military.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He loved Diego’s grandmother dearly and he would often go to spend afternoons at their house. At one point, she and Diego cleared out the old storage room in her house and let him have it. Fernando was deeply touched by this, and he did not take it for granted at all. He cherished that tiny room deeply and his mother even joked that it had become his favorite bedroom. (His mother always shared her cooking with Diego and his grandmother to show her gratitude for them making her son happy, and would pack some carefully in Fernando’s backpack before he would go over to their house.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ During his rookie years he would get into a lot of fights with other recruits for Diego’s sake, and he’d always win. He almost got kicked out of the military because at one point he beat up a dude so badly that his face looked like it had been shoved inside a meat grinder.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He likes going to watch rodeos, and always invites Diego to come with him.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He makes the most delicious Enchiladas.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has a bullish devotion to Y/N and his fellow troopers. He’s always looking out for his squadron.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He can be very overprotective and possessive over the people he cares about.

6. Diego Silva

Mental age: 37 years

Nationality: Mexican

Place of birth: Mexico

Rank: Sergeant Major

Callsign: Fuego (From Spanish; Fire. He almost lost his life during a mission where C4 explosives were placed in the enemy-filled building he was clearing. He realized this moments before the explosives were about to go off. He decided to sacrifice himself for the mission and doused as much of the building as he could with gasoline so he could take out every enemy with him. When the explosives went off, not only did the building start to crumble but what was left caught entirely on fire. John was about to pronounce him KIA but then Diego was pulled out of the fire and rubble by Fernando who had rushed to the scene the second he heard that something had gone wrong.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Counterterrorism

- Stealth expertise

- Sniper techniques

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- Target elimination

- Master combatant

- Ambush execution

- Infiltrations

- Covert surveillance

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He is very friendly. Almost everyone eases up to him quickly. (Even Riley.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He would always scold Fernando for skipping school to watch soldiers train.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His parents were drug dealers and traffickers, and were never home.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he was young, he had a very close bond with his grandmother, who raised him. He would always spend his afternoons after school cooking and helping her around the house. After dinner, they would sit together by the fireplace and she’d tell him stories while teaching him how to knit and do embroidery. When she passed away, Diego took it very harshly and it took him years to recover. He still misses her dearly every single day, and keeps a small handkerchief that she embroidered with his initials, on him at all times.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a very strong brotherly bond with Fernando, and would sacrifice his own life for him if he had to.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The girls of his hometown all had a crush on him because he was soft, caring, kind and overall just a great guy. Often times friends of his grandmother’s would try to convince her to set him up for marriage with their daughters or nieces but she’d always politely decline. She’d tell him everyday that he had to let his own heart choose the person he wanted to be with.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Diego never wanted to join the military but he did so for Fernando’s sake.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is a SIG MCX.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Unlike Fernando, he has an easygoing friendship with Maria.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He, Riley and Henry do most of the cooking in the house.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a talent for zoning out Fernando’s snore.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he and Fernando first started as recruits, others would often pick on him because he was the least aggressive out of all of them. They tried breaking him because he was the only one who didn’t want to be there, and if you know you know that that’s no mentality to have in the military. Key word there: tried. Fernando beat them all up so bad that some of them dropped out and were never seen on the training ground again.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He doesn’t drink or smoke, and never has. He believes that those are poison to one’s body.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When Fernando was building his training field, he was the one who made the target practice dummies using his sewing skills.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His favorite dishes to cook are soups and stews. He also really enjoys baking.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He was always on top of his class since elementary. Even in military training, he always had the highest scores in written tests.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Do not be fooled by his friendly personality and soft looking features. Despite the fact that he does not really like his job and that compared to the others he seems somewhat non-threatening, Diego Silva has the rank of Sergeant Major for a reason. His skills, knowledge and specializations are right behind Riley’s and he places second along with Fernando on experience.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He uses handguns more than the rest of the unit.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s an excellent driver. Whether that be during a chase, a getaway, an open gunfire fight on the road, or just a plain simple change of location, Diego will always be behind the steering wheel. (Fun fact; Diego has never gotten a speeding ticket. Even with the corrupt police force in his hometown, he never got stopped.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he and Fernando visit their hometown, grandmas will still try to set him up with their nieces. (They gather around him like a flock of those seagulls in “Finding Nemo”. One time he even lost Fernando in the herd of abuelas, and found him half an hour later, sitting near their hometown’s small church while shoving pistachio ice cream in his mouth with a tiny plastic spoon.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He and Fernando have a secret hang-out place in an abandoned school in the forest near their hometown. It has been their secret place since they were five year old niños and before they signed up for the military they would always go there to watch the sunset or just to talk and quiet their minds. Whenever one couldn’t find the other, they always knew where to look. They still visit that place when they get the chance.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Whenever he is faced with something that is troubling him, he looks up to the sky and asks his grandmother for guidance.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ In the same chain where his Dog Tag is, he keeps a locket that has two pictures that are especially precious to him because they capture two of his core memories. The right one is a picture of his grandmother smiling at the camera while knitting in her rocking chair. She had saved up a lot of money to buy him that camera as a present for his birthday and Diego cried that day, because it had been a very expensive camera, especially for an old lady living on her pension. Her picture was the first one he ever took with it. The other picture in the left side of the locket is a picture of him and Fernando together, laughing as Fernando drapes an arm over his shoulders and hugs him close. That day, the both of them had volunteered in the soup kitchen of their hometown, and at the end of the day, the staff had thanked them and the rest of the few volunteers by offering them a meal. Before sitting at the dining table, Fernando pulled him aside. He told him his plans to sign up for the military in a month, the day of his birthday. Diego listened carefully as Fernando told him the plans he had made for his life and that the decision was final. Even though it did not come as a surprise to him, Diego still had felt a pang of dread in his heart. That moment he decided that he would never separate lives from Fernando, and told him he would sign up with him too. Fernando was caught back and asked him to reconsider but Diego’s mind was made up. The words he then said will forever be in Fernando’s heart, for he told him: “Aquí no hay nada para mí sin ti, hermano mío. Nunca me perdonaré si dejo que nuestras vidas se separen. Te seguiré hasta la tumba, Fernando Álvarez.” (There is nothing for me here without you, my brother. I will never forgive myself if I let our lives separate. I will follow you to the grave, Fernando Álvarez.). They later went to the dining table with tears in their eyes and sat down. The rest raised a toast while laughing happily and Fernando wrapped his arm around Diego’s shoulder before hugging him close. That’s the moment a friend of theirs pulled out his camera and snapped the picture.

7. Maria Herrera

Mental age: 37 years

Nationality: Mexican

Place of birth: Mexico

Rank: Sergeant Major

Callsign: El caos (From Spanish; Chaos. Has the ability to cause havoc everywhere she goes, if she wants to. Moreover, has often unpredictable and erratic behavior when she’s irritated.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Counterterrorism

- Stealth expertise

- Sniper techniques

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- Target elimination

- Ambush execution

- Infiltrations

- Covert surveillance

- Track-and-kill missions

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Most of her career has been spent hunting down cartel leaders and narcos.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She prefers being the undercover operator during missions because she gets to display how good she is at having a poker face. (Plus she loves the thrill.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Flirts with Y/N more than she should.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She once got kidnapped by the enemy and they gave her back after 14 hours of captivity because she had objectified the men so much that they felt violated. When Oscar, Diego and a small team of operators arrived at the warehouse she was being held in, they found her in the middle of the building, tied to a chair with a note stapled to the front of her shirt that wrote: “In my 15 years of crime, I have never had a hostage make my guys so uncomfortable. They’re not objects.”. (Maria still keeps that note as a souvenir.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Most of her time in the gym is spent on working on her arms and thighs, providing her with a nice set of firm thighs and muscled biceps that she loves flexing. (She was devastated to see that her recom body had average looking arms and thin thighs. That was her only concern waking up for the first time.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She once started a cult because she was bored. (It was awfully successful and Y/N had to intervene and shut it down.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Her parents were cartel members. When she turned eighteen, she was expected to join said cartel with them. When she refused, her parents attempted to kill her, saying that she was a disgrace to their blood. No one knows what happened that night. But Maria joined the military a week after, and no one has seen her parents ever since.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She has multiple tattoos. The biggest one stretches from her shoulder to the elbow of her left arm.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ After she had been in the military for a while, Fernando gifted her a golden chain because she was a good friend to Diego. She wears that chain everyday.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She grew up in the same town as Fernando and Diego but they never met before the military. However, Diego’s parents worked for Maria’s parents.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When she was young she wanted to be a tattoo artist.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She loves dogs. She was the one who always wanted to take care of the K9s and no one bothered to stop her.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Has a pretty high alcohol tolerance. (She also loves beer.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She was a bully and a class clown in school. (The teachers despised her.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When her, Diego and Fernando first started as recruits, she would get into a lot of trouble for talking back to the Drill Sergeant. She despised that man so much that she slept with his wife out of spite.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Her preferred weapon of choice is a Heckler & Koch HK43.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Despite the fact at how carnally annoying she finds Fernando, she does indeed care about him and Diego.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When she got heavily drunk in a bar one night when the team were celebrating a recent victory, she made scissoring gestures with her fingers at Y/N who sighed and told Khalida to keep an eye on her. (She ended up fighting a random dude at the bar and Khalida helped her.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She can be extremely jealous and possessive over the people she cares about.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She has a cross necklace that she wears along with her gold chain. Her family were Christian so she kinda stuck to it. She doesn’t really agree with Riley’s view on God but she understands and respects his opinion.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She really likes Riley’s drawings, especially the doodles, and she got one of them tattooed. (It’s a doodle of a Heckler & Koch HK43. Riley has multiple full pages in his sketchbook with doodles of every type of gun and combat knife he knows.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She once took a picture of Y/N working out and dripping in sweat and when Khalida and Henry looked at her questionably she cleared her throat and said: “For research purposes.”

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She enjoys beating the shit out of new recruits during training. (She unironically refers to them as “fresh meat”.)

8. Henry Davis

Mental age: 35 years

Nationality: American

Place of birth: U.S.A

Rank: Master Gunnery Sergeant

Callsign: Ranger (He spends a lot of time making presentations to explain the plans and strategies he proposes for upcoming missions. The unit started calling him PowerPoint Ranger because of this, so his callsign became Ranger.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Advanced sniper techniques

- Weapon handling and proficiency

- Counter-insurgency

- Special reconnaissance

- Information warfare

- Tactical planning and coordination

- Anti-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction

- Counterterrorism

- Sabotage

- Ambush executions

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s very positive. You’ll always find a smile on his face.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Cracks the most horrendous dad jokes.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Just like Diego and Riley, he’s a very good cook and does most of the cooking in the house with them.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He is arguably the most skilled sniper in the unit.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His intelligence and mission planning tactics are of the highest level and he is one of Y/N’s most valuable assets.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s a family man. Moreover, he absolutely loves kids, and they stick to him like glue whenever he’s around.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He is the one who bakes the birthday cakes for teammates’ birthdays.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Before the team decided to give him the callsign “Ranger” they called him “Stars n Stripes”. (Because he’s American, badum tss.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He can be as friendly as Diego. Arguably, even more.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Both of his arms are covered in sleeve tattoos.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He had to babysit his nieces during duty hours once. They wanted to play dress up and forced him to participate. The problem was that he had a very important meeting with the team and the General at the time, to discuss an upcoming classified mission. He showed up to that meeting with green eyeshadow, smudged mascara, smeared red lipstick and hot pink blush, because his nieces would start crying when he’d attempt to take it off. Needless to say, the whole unit was horrified and Y/N avoided eye contact with the General at all costs. Henry kept his head down and avoided drawing attention to himself as much as he could. (The whole unit was secretly dying inside from laughter.) (When the General asked who would be planning the infiltration tactics for the operation, Y/N hesitantly pointed to Henry, who gave the General the most awkward half smile. Y/N wished the ground would just open below her feet and swallow her whole.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is a M4A1 carbine.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ As mentioned in his specializations, his most important missions included counter-insurgency, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, information warfare and anti-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Henry has played key roles in ensuring definitive victories against emerging terrorist networks.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Before he joined the unit, he was an operator for the Special Activities Division of the CIA.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His favorite equipment are laptops, sat-phones, and rocket-equipped combat drones.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Since the SAD is permitted to execute missions against enemies of the state, without consulting the Pentagon or White House, Henry has been involved in multiple actions to assassinate enemy leadership.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He really likes the doodle that Maria got tattooed from Riley’s sketchbook. He brought it up one day and he said that he also was thinking of asking Riley to get one tattooed on him. That day the team talked about it and joked that they each would get one tattooed.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He is Y/N’s right hand in planning tactics. He is the first to come up with a plan, then if Y/N approves they are to present it to the rest of the team and the higher ups.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Before Y/N became their commanding officer, he and Riley would argue every single day. Henry absolutely despised the way Riley would shit on his mission tactics proposals and that became the reason why they would be at each other’s throats every minute of every day. He still hates the way Riley finds something wrong with every single plan he makes but since Y/N finds it useful he doesn’t argue that much anymore.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He joins Fernando in watching rodeos when he has time because he genuinely enjoys it.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He had a mustache and a beard which he had had for years, so when he woke up as a Recom he was devastated to learn that Recombinants can’t grow facial hair.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He and Y/N were the only ones who actually researched about Pandora and the Na’vi before they signed their Project Phoenix contracts.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He nearly got half of his body blown to pieces in a mission in Russia and he still gets shivers thinking about it.

9. Khalida Fadel

Mental age: 34 years

Nationality: ???

Place of birth: ???

Rank: Gunnery Sergeant

Callsign: Liberty (No one knows why. This was the callsign she had when she first joined the unit and she demanded that she kept it because it was dear to her.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Counterterrorism

- Stealth expertise

- Sniper techniques

- Expertise in weapon handling and proficiency

- Target elimination

- Ambush execution

- Covert surveillance

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She showed up one day and Y/N introduced her to the unit as the new member. She left no room for questions, so everyone has went along with it since then.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Not much is known about her past before she joined the squadron, except that she has a brother who lives in the Middle East. The only people who know the whole story are Y/N and John Keller.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She’s a master combatant and one of the best operators in weapon handling and proficiency.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She’s one of the best motorcycle riders that Y/N has ever seen and she prefers to ride one during missions rather than joining them in their military cars.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ You’ll almost never see her without an army headband on.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When she’s irritated, she cusses people out in Arabic.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She doesn’t usually initiate outside-of-work conversations, it has to be someone to talk to her first. But she’s very good at indulging in a conversation and it’s actually really nice to talk to her.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She’s very quiet in her combat. Has a talent for taking people out almost silently.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She has led all-women teams multiple times into battle and each time has resulted in victory.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Her preferred weapon of choice is an AK-47.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She can be excellent at motivating soldiers during battle, reminding them of why they’re there and that she’s right there with them.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Her tactic-planning skills are also quite impressive but unlike Riley she doesn’t prefer to intervene in Henry’s plans.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ For some reason, her and Riley cannot maintain a conversation for the life of them. Put them in a room together and they’ll make the most awkward chitchat before staying in the most uncomfortable silence that humanity has ever experienced.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She likes Henry quite a bit and she spends a lot of time talking with him. (Maria often jokes that they have a crush on each other.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Like John and Riley, she tends to call out on bullshit whenever it happens. She does tone it down a bit more than them, but still doesn’t hesitate to point it out, no matter of who it comes from.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Even though not much is known about her past, Y/N and John have dropped hints here and there that she has had a very hard life since childhood.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She has a locket necklace with a picture of a middle aged man inside but doesn’t tell people who he is.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Khalida doesn’t see war as just liberation of land but also as freedom from the old ways.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She introduced Henry to Arabic food and that man ate that day like he was never going to see food ever again.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ She has a talent for being able to use anything around her to her advantage during battle. Oil filters of a random vehicle? She’ll use it as a suppressor. Wax and random container of bleach? She’ll make a smoke bomb out of it. Broken glass on the street? Perfect for a Shiv.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Despite everything, Y/N doesn’t trust her very much. Except for John, no one else knows why.

10. Stefan Kessler (Keßler)

Mental age: 32 years

Nationality: German

Place of birth: Germany

Rank: Artillery Officer

Callsign: Berlin (He’s massive, and the tallest operator in the unit. He was the largest soldier in the entire Marine division. Because of this and because he’s German, he was given the callsign “Berlin” to compare him to the Berlin Wall.)

Skills and Specializations:

- Sniper techniques

- Expert in weapon handling and proficiency

- Sabotage

- Infiltrations

- Clandestine tradecraft

- Ambush execution

- High Intelligence

- Torture Expertise

- Master Combatant

- Counterterrorism

More about the character:

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Very quiet. He’s usually in his own world. He won’t really talk to people unless he knows them.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The first person he spoke to within the unit was Diego.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He spends most of his free time taking care of their guns and equipment.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He used to dislike Riley, since his behavior reminded Stephan of how much he hates people. Then one day, during a mission where it was the two of them, Oscar and Scott, he walked out to find a place to be by himself. He found a quiet place and when he walked a bit further, he saw Riley sitting by a tree, drawing in his sketchbook. He was about to turn back but Riley called him over. They ended up bonding over their shared talent for drawing, and talked for hours. Since then, they have had a good friendly relationship.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His favorite people within the squadron are Diego and Oscar.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He prefers to stay home when the unit goes out to celebrate victories. He just enjoys alone time. Sometimes he does go out with them but doesn’t do much, just stays at a table, slowly sipping from a pint glass of cold beer while watching whatever is going on around him.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ The smell of gun oil calms him down because his safe space is when he’s taking care of their guns and equipment.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ To keep his body mass he has to eat very large quantities of food, and he feels bad when one of his teammates says they’re gonna cook for the day. This has been brought up multiple times and everyone assures him that he’s really not the problem, because they’re all bulky built soldiers and they all eat a lot. (Diego, while tying his apron, also told him that he shouldn’t be feeling guilty about this when Fernando Álvarez exists.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Back when he was a recruit, when Drill Sergeants would see him for the first time, they would look at him like basketball coaches look at a very tall kid who has just stepped foot in the school for the first time.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He doesn’t curse much, only when something goes wrong in a mission or when he drops something while oiling their guns, and even then he curses under his breath and in German.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Even as a Recom, he is the largest Na’vi among both Recombinants and Avatars. He has it the hardest to move around in human-sized spaces and since he ends up tipping everything over, even people, Y/N mostly keeps him at their living quarters. And he doesn’t mind one bit.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a talent for crafting gadgets with very few materials. Give him a couple of batteries and some wire and he’ll make something very useful with it.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ When he was a kid he wanted to be a veterinarian.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s very intimidating and he knows it. But unlike Riley, he doesn’t enjoy it too much. He does like it that he’s able to intimidate the enemy with his size however.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He loves cats. He always feeds the strays when he sees them.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s a good babysitter. He minds his business. The kids mind their own and at the same time they don’t get into trouble because they’re lowkey scared of him. Who wouldn’t be, the man is huge. Boom. Babysitting 101.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s a smoker. John tried to get him to stop but to no avail. He smokes Marlboro religiously and will not have any other brands.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has a very good understanding of his body. From what foods are best for him to what exercises strain his muscles more. He knows his strengths and his limits perfectly.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His preferred weapon of choice is a M249 SAW.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He’s a master at grilling. Whenever the team decides to have a barbecue night, he’s the one slaying above the grill. (Scott has gifted him an apron that reads “Grill Daddy.” Yes, he had a lot of questions when he received said gift.)

⋆☠︎︎⋆ His father was a butcher so he basically grew up in a butcher shop. His mother was a drug addict so he never really saw her unless she came at their doorstep to beg for drug money.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ He has multiple tattoos on his arms and body and some of them he designed himself.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Just like Oscar, he is very calm and calculated during combat. Since he’s older, that makes up for Oscar’s lack of experience.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ If Riley or John are busy, then he is usually the guy who’s gets put in charge of the interrogations.

⋆☠︎︎⋆ Sometimes the team refers to him as the “Gun Bunny” because he’s the artilleryman.

[progmetol]

Cecil Headcanons #1

Ok this is assorted with no particular order or theme. I’ve been sitting on this for a while and I keep adding to it. So I’m gonna post it now while it’s a… “reasonable”… length, and probably eventually do a part 2. I also intend on eventually doing a GDA headcanons post because I have a lot that are more broad to the GDA as a whole and not just Cecil.

Discusses his backstory from the comics slightly but nothing that’s really a spoiler.

- From the outskirts of Jacksonville, Florida (dear God no wonder he’s the way he is). Has a southern accent that he represses, but slips out occasionally. It does in the show too, so this isn’t entirely conjecture.

- Father is from Alabama. Mother from Florida.

- Majored in counterterrorism (most 3 letter gov orgs irl require a bachelor’s degree, I can’t see the GDA being any different)

- Chose to enter the military initially due to his older brother being a victim of a supervillain terrorist attack. Previously a sports prodigy, he was left paralyzed and unable to pursue his dreams.

- Was a green beret before being introduced to the GDA. Was invited to the CIA’s SAD or the GDA’s SPECOPs. He chose the latter.

- Was a spec ops commando that worked to support behind the scenes of superhero operations. Basically, they’d do dirty work while the public superhero they are working with is soaking up the attention and serving as a distraction.

- His call sign was Rooster, inspired by his mullet. The hair in front would stick straight up, which caused him to grow that thing all the way out. He eventually was “promoted” to Phoenix, which got it after being, quite literally, reborn from ash. Had a few other nicknames too though, mostly derogatory and in reference to his scar.

- Usually supported/worked alongside Brit. They became best friends and still are to this day please don’t cut him from the show Amazon

- Due to the chemical treatments he takes to maintain his artificial skin grafts he looks older than he actually is. And that’s not even mentioning the immense amount of stress he endures. He’s actually in his mid 50s but nobody really believes him. Male pattern baldness is a bitch as well.

- Insane sharpshooter and is proficient with just about any firearm you put in his hands. Even to this day, sets aside an hour to train in the range and keep those skills sharp. Never know when you’ll need them. Always carrying heat.

- Addicted to coffee. Occasionally adds whiskey. That isn’t good for you, but nobody has the guts to scold him (anymore).

- Usually drinks coffee black since it’s easiest and fastest to prepare, but will not turn down a latte. Loves any coffee with three pounds of sugar and milk dumped in it.

- Also likes jack and coke but this is much more seldomly witnessed.

- Wine too. Anything alcohol he will drink really. Beer.

- Loves Italian food. Isn’t really a picky eater though and will eat just about anything put in front of him, for better or worse.

- Refuses to use any sort of cloning technology on himself. He believes that with the idea of only having one chance in the back of his mind, he will be more pressed to use that chance to its fullest. This isn’t public knowledge though.

- Really likes sweets and that problem is the primary reason for his weight gain besides stress. Baked goods are his favorite but he even likes shitty cheap candy.

- The US flag pin belonged to his wife. He wears that one specifically to remind himself of her. He likes his stupid ass reminders.

- Enjoys listening to music or sports while doing things like paperwork (but he never sets aside time to just listen to them). He enjoys classic rock, old school heavy metal, and surprisingly, piano music. If I had to name bands I’d say Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Led Zepplin, etc. As for sports he’s mostly into football (his team is the Jags).

- Messy as fuck, but in an “organized chaos” kind of way. He knows where everything is in his office but it looks like a wreck.

- Smokes a pipe. This actually isn’t a headcanon it’s in the early comics. It’s a rare occurrence, he is somehow not addicted. Despite this, his mouth and respiratory system are in perfect condition due to GDA medical tech.

- He’s a fucking hypocrite about a handful of topics, usually morality, emotions and relationships. He also is completely aware of it and views it as an unfixable flaw.

- He knew Nolan killed the guardians from day 1. He just hired the detective to make it seem to Nolan like the GDA didn’t know and was still investigating. Just a means to buy more time. His contingency plan for Nolan was not ready. I genuinely think this is canon btw but it’s never explicitly stated.

- He thinks the costumes that heroes wear are stupid and (mostly) impractical. The only reason they still are used is to divert the attention towards the heroes and not the fact that there is a government organization directing them.

- Black belt in Taekwondo + skilled in some other martial arts. Basically Solid Snake with his CQC. Similar skill set between characters. Is a stealth guy also.

- Carries four guns on him at all times. Two in his coat. One in his belt. One on his shin. One of the ones in his coat is a laser pistol, just in case you run into someone bullet resistant. But as the Heavy from TF2 says: it’s tough to find someone who can outsmart bullets. Unfortunately I can name three major characters in Invincible right off the bat that can. Tough luck.

- May come as surprising but he’s religious. His main thought process is that in a world as chaotic as his, some people may be inclined to think there isn’t a god, but he is inclined to do the opposite because he thinks that there are some situations in which you’ve done all you can and all that you can do now is pray. He isn’t really hardcore though. This idea stems from all the religious imagery that shows up around Cecil for some reason. I’m not tweaking I swear. I could go on a whole thing about that correlation but that’s a different topic.

- Adding on to this, a major idea in Christianity is that God allows evil to persist because it will eventually result in a greater good. SOUND FAMILIAR? He got it from somewhere.

- The only Korn song he knows is Here to Stay and he knows it by memory. Yes this is oddly specific and I will not elaborate.

- Tends to be crude, but in moderation. Definitely tries to tone in down in front of women. Professionals have standards.

- Dude could still break your back (assuming you don’t have superhuman durability) even in his older age. He’s a little out of shape but the muscle memory is still intact.

- Can sing surprisingly well. No training at all so he’s not professional level, but it’s pretty damn good for no training. It’s rare that anyone ever witness though. Once in a lifetime event if they are lucky.

- Can write with both hands, simultaneously, different things. It took a lot of effort to learn (just kidding. secret government hypnosis) and is incredibly useful for multitasking.

- His hair genetics are really screwed up. First he started showing male pattern baldness in his 20s, though it didn’t really get notably bad until later (we know how that turned out). He’s really attached to his hair and refuses to shave what’s left of it. He’d never admit it but he is self conscious about it.

- In addition he started graying severely at a relatively early age, 30s, due to stress. He dyed it back to its platinum blond color almost religiously but eventually gave up, too much work for no payoff.

- Occasionally when his work is super backed up, he doesn’t get to shave and his stubble grows out. Hair doesn’t grow where his burn scar is so there’s a big spot there that has nothing.

- The side of his mouth with the scar has reduced mobility due to nerve damage. It doesn’t impact his speech but his muscles do not work properly there. When he smiles or frowns that side of his face just doesn’t move.

BONUS

CECIL’S SCHEDULE (just for fun)

Literally at any given time he can go on call because incidents can happen whenever. But on a typical day…

5 am - Work day officially starts. Paperwork time, get ready for the day. Check meeting schedule and any missed news.

6 am - Breakfast. He’s still working while eating.

6:30 am - Meeting window opens.

- Check on department heads, make sure there’s no problems.

7 am - Check on Guardians and other GDA teams.

12 pm - Lunch. See breakfast.

12:30 pm - Check on department heads, make sure there’s no problems.

3 pm - Meeting window closes. Exercise hour because gotta stay in shape.

6 pm - Dinner. He’s still working, what did you expect.

6:30 pm - Check on department heads. Make sure there’s no problems.

7:00 pm - Check on Guardians and other GDA teams.

9 pm - Cecil hits the range because you gotta stay sharp and strapped. Training hour.

10 pm - More office stuff.

12 am - Brinner. That’s right. He has four meals a day, because he doesn’t sleep. Plus, even with the reinvigoration he gets from the chemical treatment, he needs more energy to account for him being awake longer and burning more energy.

3 am - The infamous hot tub. Reinvigorates his body as a whole, not just the skin.

4 am - Make sure night shift stuff went well. Otherwise, paperwork.

[biohazard-4ever]

What specific type of training did Leon have to go through in the military. Just to let you know, I don’t have lots of knowledge about the military. I obviously assume Leon had to wake up at the crack of dawn and do all sorts of intense workouts, but I’m just curious because the difference from re2r Leon’s build to re4r Leon’s build is huge. They must’ve had my boy working hard💪🏾

Let us see here:

What kind of training does an agent go through? All special agents begin their career at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for 20 weeks of intensive training at one of the world’s finest law enforcement training facilities. During their time there, trainees live on campus and participate in a variety of training activities. Classroom hours are spent studying a wide variety of academic and investigative subjects, including the fundamentals of law, behavioral science, report writing, forensic science, and basic and advanced investigative, interviewing, and intelligence techniques. Students also learn the intricacies of counterterrorism, counterintelligence, weapons of mass destruction, cyber, and criminal investigations to prepare them for their chosen career paths. The curriculum also includes intensive training in physical fitness, defensive tactics, practical application exercises, and the use of firearms. For more information, see our New Agent Training webpage. Over the course of their career, agents are also updated on the latest developments in the intelligence and law enforcement communities through additional training opportunities.

Leon didn't get his hair cut in the flashback because Leon was never a soldier boy. He didn't went to the military.

He was TAUGHT BY THE BEST IN THE MILITARY

More here

Our special agents receive world-class training from seasoned professionals dedicated to mission success and personal development. U.S. Secret Service training utilizes cutting-edge curricula designed to enhance recruits’ existing skills and develop new ones critical to the Agency’s “Zero-Fail Mission”. Special agent trainees train alongside individuals that are equally committed and driven. During the first year of employment, special agent trainees receive several months of formal classroom, fitness, firearms and simulation training. [...]

Secret Service agents  receive continuous advanced training throughout their careers. In part, this training consists of regular firearms requalification and emergency medicine refresher courses. Agents assigned to protective assignments also participate in unique crisis training simulations that present agents with a variety of "real world" emergency situations. Agents assigned to offices in the field have the opportunity to acquire advanced training in the area of criminal investigations and are also encouraged to attend training sessions sponsored by other law enforcement agencies. All Secret Service employees participate in a wide variety of management and individual development courses. Ethics, Diversity, Interpersonal Awareness, Practical Leadership and Introduction to Supervision are among the topics currently offered to all personnel at the Secret Service.

Link

You can base it out of here.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

SAS: Red Notice now on the STARZ App known as SAS: Rise of the Black Swan is a 2021 British action thriller film directed by Magnus Martens and based on the novel SAS: Red Notice by former British soldier Andy McNab. SAS (Special Air Service, essentially the British Army's counterterrorism). SAS: Red Notice is a version of Die Hard in a train tunnel. It follows the basic premise of a man with certain skills being in the middle of a terrorist attack. Some critics in the UK 🇬🇧 were not delighted with the SAS: Red Notice film.

Tom Buckingham: The fictional character (SH), a high-functioning psychopath, making him a highly skilled soldier (in the book), but Sam's performance in the film as an ex-SAS officer is unlikely, He just isn't handled well enough and SH is quite dull in his performance at the film and doesn't do a good job of making you care about him. With inept action scenes, the film does Heughan no favours. He should continue with Outlander.

SAS: Red Notice was the kind of film that failed as an action experience, which was the least it could do. If you've already read the book, do yourself a favour and read it again. SAS: Red Notice is a very forgettable and pretty poor film.

#SASRedNotice #STARZ

@alpsandalpsandalps The film SAS: Red Notice, received some of the worst reviews in the UK 🇬🇧 that it’s important because the film is British and they agree he is not perfect for the role of Mr Bond.

@pinkblizzardgladiator SAS: Red Notice was intended to be Heughan's audition tape for James Bond. Buckingham is a well-spoken military man who is focused during a mission. Heughan considered the role because he felt handsome and fit, but his character was played as an emotionless robot. However, Bond has emotions and a sense of fun, but Buckingham lacks that. Heughan's supporting role in The Spy Who Dumped Me was a better potential Bond skills 😂

@alpsandalpsandalps The film SAS: Red Notice, received some of the worst reviews in the UK 🇬🇧 that it’s important because the film is British and they agree he is not perfect for the role of Mr Bond.

@alpsandalpsandalps Sam is bland as the action hero, making his character seem sort of fun, even if he isn’t remotely interesting. He has no skill for this type of film. The film is overlong and messy.

[someone-will-remember-us]

LONDON -- Violence against women and girls has reached epidemic levels and police are treating it as a threat on the same scale as terrorism, Britain's police chiefs said Tuesday.

More than 1 million violent crimes against women and girls were recorded by U.K. police in 2022 to 2023, accounting for one-fifth of all recorded crime, a new report commissioned by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing said.

One in every six murders was related to domestic abuse in the same period. At least one in every 12 women each year will be a victim of crimes including sexual offenses, rape, stalking, harassment or online sexual abuse, the report estimated, with the exact number thought to be much higher because of crimes that go unreported.

“Violence against women and girls is a national emergency," Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said in a statement. "We need to move forward as a society to make change and no longer accept violence against women and girls as inevitable.”

Blyth said the data was “staggering” and growing in scale and complexity every year, with such crimes increasing by 37% from 2018 to 2022.

She said one growing concern is the way some online influencers “radicalize” young men and boys into extreme misogyny. Senior officers focusing on violence against women are in discussions with counterterrorism police on how to tackle the issue, Blyth said.

Teachers in the U.K. have expressed worries about the spread of “toxic masculinity” among boys influenced by the misogynistic views of some social media personalities.

Britain's government last year classified violence against women and girls as a national threat to public safety, and police forces were told to prioritize their response to the issue in the same way as they do terrorism and serious organized crime.

The report said thousands of police officers were newly trained to investigate rape and serious sexual offenses in the past year.

But Blyth said this wasn't enough and called for more government support to tackle a criminal justice system that's “overwhelmed and under-performing for victims.”