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CBC Sniper Documentary - Rob Furlong

Has anyone had a chance to review this report and notice anything they thought unusual with it?

FYI, I just did a quick skim but will be taking time to read it more thoroughly over the next week and list some points I find unusual, meaning that the way that some of the paragraphs are phrased dont tend to reflect reality, but will need to read the entire thing in depth to make sure my impressions are correct...


 

 
anglo-saxon said:
... As an aside, he has a very apt last name for a sniper, "furlong" being an ancient agricultural unit of measure still used in horse racing today; "fur" meaning furrow and "lang" (as it was then in Old English) meaning long. It describes the long plough furrows of the early middle ages which came to be used as standard units of measure, one furlong X 1 "chain" (one tenth of a furlong) wide then being one acre. A furlong being a hair over 220 metres, his famed shot would have been almost exactly 12 furlongs.

- A chain being 66 feet, a furlong 660 feet (220 yards).  I have a seventy year old topo map of the Dog Lake area of NWO and the old portages are marked with their length in chains.  As well, a lot of old city buiding lots were surveyed 33 feet wide - a half chain.
 
Haggis said:
If so, it's very loosly based.  "Braddock" is an ex JTF-2 sniper released after killing a fellow trooper in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan.  Other than being a sniper, the connection isn't there..
Thanks for the correction Haggis.  I wasn't too sure on my info when I wrote my statement.  Either or, a Canadian soldier IS mentioned in a Canadian show!   
:cdn:    :cdn:      :cdn:      :cdn:



sort of makes the chest swell a bit        :army:
 
Not sure if this has been posted before but could not find anything when I did a search.

Saw a commercial for an upcoming series on the History Channel's H2 channel called Sniper which looked interesting. But what really caught my eye was one episode "Through the Crosshairs" has an interview with Rob Furlong, and uses CGI to break down the record setting shot.

Not sure if this will be run in Canada, but something to keep an eye out for.
 
It appears that the series originally ran in March. The whole 2 part series is available on the History Channel Youtube channel. And I realized that I had already seen it. It was a very interesting program. I'd recommend it for those who know little of the sniping art, the deconstructions are well demonstrated and informative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsIUbRPLq1Y
 
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/19/canadas-best-sniper-protects-edmontons-streets

By Kris Sims ,Parliamentary Bureau
First posted: Monday, January 02, 2012 02:00 AM EST


Retired corporal Rob Furlong protected his American brothers by taking out a Taliban fighter from 2,430 metres away. Now the former sniper is protecting the streets of Alberta's capital as a night beat cop.
"I feel that on a much smaller scale, rather than being on the front lines in Afghanistan, I'm back at home, looking after the homefront, still dealing with bad people who bring ill will on innocents," said the soft spoken Furlong, originally from Fogo Island, N.L.

His dad, Cyril, is a marksman himself, and taught Rob how to shoot when he was a wee lad.
"I've wanted to do this since I was a child, and 14 years with the military and the police, I have always had a job where I look to help others."

Furlong is featured in a newly updated book, Ultimate Sniper, written by retired major John Plaster and published by Paladin Press, and appears in the documentary by the same name. Plaster is an icon in the sniper world, and among retired special forces in the U.S. military.
"I carried the original book with me to Afghanistan and got Plaster to sign it," Furlong said, looking at the book on his shelf.

Furlong was a member of the Canadian sharpshooting five-man Special Forces Sniper Cell with 3 P.P.C.L.I., based out CFB Edmonton. The cell was sent to watch the backs of U.S. allies in the mountains of Afghanistan. During one well-documented mission, they spotted Taliban fighters carrying a machine gun up a mountain trail, trying to get above the U.S. forces for an ambush. That's when Furlong took aim.
"That shot that we made that day, we didn't realize what we managed to do."

The bullets used in the .50-calibre McMillan Brothers Tac-50 Rifle were the size of a pop can, and took three seconds to travel the 2.4 km to reach their target.
Furlong was decorated for his efforts by the U.S., but did not receive any similar commendation in Canada.

"I'm not bitter against the army, I loved my career in there," he said back home, where he's settled into his life as an Edmonton cop.
"I still have my dress uniform in my closet. I will never forget it. It means a lot to me," said Furlong. "Policing gives me a little taste of that, but I can be home at night."


 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
The bullets used in the .50-calibre McMillan Brothers Tac-50 Rifle were the size of a pop can,

.50 Cal ammunition has obviously change quite a bit since i last fired some out of an M2...........
 
I did the initial "WTF" too, but I suspect the writer meant the round's length
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
Furlong was a member of the Canadian sharpshooting five-man Special Forces Sniper Cell with 3 P.P.C.L.I., based out CFB Edmonton.

Bold is my issue, I really wish Media would actually know what they are talking about. I wont ever take anything away from being a Sniper but Snipers aren't SOF.... A minute of research and clarification goes a long way.

As for Rob really good guy and one hell of a Sniper.
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
Furlong is featured in a newly updated book, Ultimate Sniper, written by retired major John Plaster

Thread drift.

Mr Plaster is a pretty awesome guy.
Years ago I read something that I had questions about so I emailed him not  really realizing who he was. He emailed me back and we exchanged emails a few times. He was really helpful, humble and interesting to chat with.  He then mailed me his book The Ultimate Sniper and a dozen other books (guides and novels) for free.
That's always stuck with me.
 
CDN Aviator said:
.50 Cal ammunition has obviously change quite a bit since i last fired some out of an M2...........

Sounds like a 40mm grenade sniper to me!
 
canadian_moose said:
Yup he's a cop in Edmonton now
Necrothread bumped with the latest on Furlong, shared under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) ....
An Edmonton cop who was fired and then reinstated and then fired again for drunkenly urinating on a fellow officer at a training exercise can appeal the latest decision.

In a ruling handed down Wednesday, Judge Ronald Berger granted Const. Rob Furlong leave to appeal the Law Enforcement Review Board's decision in August that upheld his original firing following a police disciplinary hearing.

In 2011, Furlong was among several police officers conducting annual off-site training exercises near Red Deer, Alta.

A few members went out one night to drink and socialize and when a drunk Furlong and other officers returned to their quarters at 2:30 a.m., they began pestering those who were sleeping, requesting they get up for a drink.

Furlong entered an officer's room and demanded he get up. The officer refused and turned his back and Furlong unzipped his fly and urinated on the man's sleeping bag at waist level. The officer leapt up and pushed Furlong backwards.

Furlong pushed the officer into a wall while walking past him and confined him to his assigned room.
 
F&#k 'em if they can't take a joke.  I guess it went a little far.
 
Jed said:
F&#k 'em if they can't take a joke.  I guess it went a little far.

LOL I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.  In any case, that article makes him sound like a little bit of a dink tbh.  What kind of grown man urinates on someone anyways? 
 
RoyalDrew said:
LOL I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.  In any case, that article makes him sound like a little bit of a dink tbh.  What kind of grown man urinates on someone anyways?

Not acceptable behavior but when you mix in some wobbly pops stupid sh!t happens. In my youthful exuberance I have been on both the receiving and the delivery of such stupidity.  ;)
 
Jed said:
Not acceptable behavior but when you mix in some wobbly pops stupid sh!t happens. In my youthful exuberance I have been on both the receiving and the delivery of such stupidity.  ;)

Yep, same here!  Problem is that Furlong isn't exactly "youthful" anymore.  Plus, I'd imagine police forces look pretty poorly on this sort of thing.  Far more so then the army would, but maybe I am wrong  :dunno:
 
Well the police forces and the military definitely does so now. Far more politically correct in today's world. In the days before video cameras in everybody's Iphone, people would play hard and work hard. Not much activity stays behind closed doors anymore unless it is really, really bad sh!t.
 
He does have a Marksmanship Academy.  I ran across the website some time ago and pondered it as I thought he was still an active member of the EPS.  He does have to have some money coming in from somewhere just like all of us.  Might as well try and parlay his skills and fame if he needs to make ends meet.
 
jollyjacktar said:
He does have a Marksmanship Academy.  I ran across the website some time ago and pondered it as I thought he was still an active member of the EPS.  He does have to have some money coming in from somewhere just like all of us.  Might as well try and parlay his skills and fame if he needs to make ends meet.

Yep I saw his website too, I know some of his story but not the man in particular. I personally would never condemn him or his capabilities for something like this stuff bandied about on the net.
 
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