The British have showed yet again that their military is the world's best.

The Americans have been spending millions of dollars of trying to invent imaging devices that can help them get past invisible trip wires.

Meanwhile, Britain's SAS just used "silly string" - the stuff that children use at parties, and it costs just £1.69 per can from Woolworths stores.

String is SAS lifesaver
By JOHN KAY
Chief Reporter

SAS troops have discovered a new secret weapon against al-Qaeda booby traps — party aerosol cans of silly STRING.

They spray the joke substance to expose virtually invisible trip wires in caves or darkened buildings they must enter.

The brightly-coloured string hangs across the wires, but is too light to set off explosives.

America has spent millions trying in vain to develop battle-ready imaging devices that can spot the deadly menace in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the SAS — motto Who Dares Wins — have beaten them to a solution with the £1.69 cans of string they buy from WOOLWORTHS.

Their “Who Dares Strings” brainwave came from a senior NCO at a regimental Christmas bash at their HQ near Hereford.

One reveller let loose some string and it landed on fishing line holding up decorations. A source revealed: “Bingo, the idea was born.

“Now it works very successfully. There is no doubt that a considerable number of lives have been saved — and others have been spared from horrendous maiming.”

The Americans are said to be “totally gobsmacked” at the ingenuity. A senior security source said: “They have spent millions developing infra-red and ultra violet hi-tech imaging devices to show up tripwires.

“But these are both bulky and not robust enough for combat conditions.

“However the SAS men just popped into Woolies in Hereford and bought several cans of silly string each.”

“It’s cheap, it’s quick and it doesn’t need tech support or extensive training.”

Terrorism expert Chris Dobson said: “This is another example of the ingenuity of the British soldier.”

thesun.co.uk

   

Cool.

That reminds me of a story of the days of the space race - the USA spent a couple of years and one million dollars (a large sum at the time) to develop a pen that would write in weightlessness because the other pens of the time were useless in zero G conditions.

The Russians just used a pencil.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to come by.

   

It's like something out of Monty Python.

You can imagine this being a Monty Python sketch -


A group of American soldiers are in Baghdad. They are trying to walk down an alleyway but believe there may be invisible trip wires somewhere along it. So they decide to use their hi-tech "trip-wire detectors."

US army sergeant: "OK, Private! I want you to take out your TX2000 deluxe infra-red trip-wire searcher and point it down that goddam alleyway!"

Private: "Sir, yes, Sir!"

He pulls out a few bits and pieces from his rucksack - lots of buttons, levers and other unfathomable contraptions and spends half an hour putting them together.

Suddenly, some British soldiers come running round the corner and, without hesitation, the sergeant shouts: "Okay, chaps. Spray this area."

They then take some little aerosol cans from their pockets, spray them into the alleyway, and exposing the trip wires. They then wind and weave through the trip wires..

"Cheerio, Old Chaps!" the sergeant shouts to the American soldiers as he and his men continue with their journey as though they never even noticed the trip wires.

The American soldiers look at each other in desbelief, and one of them says: "Why the hell didn't we goddam think of that?"

   

I remember an occasion where my squad had to get across a pretty wide bay and the LT called in for a helicopter and it was going to be three hours before we got out of what was going to be a bad place to be.

Our SSgt says, "Eff it, let's take the bus."

A local bus comes down the road and the bunch of us get locked and loaded and the SSgt says, "WTF are you clowns doing? I didn't say we were going to assault the friggin' bus, I said we were going to take it!"

So here we are in a bad place and the ten of us queue up at the bus stop with our kits & etc.

The freaking bus stops, the SSgt gets out his wallet and drops a $20 (big money in that part of the world) on the driver to take us around to the other side of the bay.

We were there in about 30 minutes and the bus driver was America's newest friend.

   

Have you ever noticed that throughout history, Britain and the Commonwealth have usually been the ones who create ingenius contraptions and great ideas using what they already have and spending little money? Canada in WW1 with the creeping barrage, and now Britain and the silly string to reveal trip wires. And did I forget to mention that Canadian soldiers don't stop their vehicles and get out, they slow them down slightly and the troops jump off. Quite ingenius, I must say.

   

In World War I, the British came up with the idea of creating pretend U-boats to lure German sailors. They had vessels in the sea that looked exactly like U-boats, except there were British sailors hiding in secret compartments inside, and when a German warship came alongside it, obviously thinking it was friendly, suddenly the secret doors and compartments would open and out popped the British armed with rifles and other weapons who would then attack the surprised Germans.

   

Hmmm. As I recall, didn't the British get very upset with the Germans for pulling similar stunts with armed freighters?

And, technically, British sailors who masqueraded as German sailors by running about in a vessel meant to look German could've been shot as spies under the Geneva Convention.

I don't see this as a bragging point for Britain.

   

I've never heard about British U-boat decoys but they did have the Q-Ships:

Link

The Brits were pretty good about ensuring that no international laws were broken when their Q-Ships engaged the enemy - moments before opening fire the British ship would raise the White Ensign.

   

during the first world war I believe the german U boat fleet would surface inform the ship ( merchant) that it was about to be sunk no convoys or destroyer support at that time. Thus allowing the seamen to vacate the vessel. Then open fire with thier deck gun and finally sink the vessel using torpedos fired from the surface. Seems rather gallant and gentlemanly.. "excuse me we are about to sink your ship .. please evacuate"
The Q ships started the need for the ubaot to utilize it's greatest weapon.. surprize... so it went from being a surface raider to a U boat.. and the legend of the U boat was born.... into the wolfpacks of the second world war and the "happy times" for the uboats in 1941 and 1942.

   

Silly String? Interesting. What happens when you've run out? We (Sappers) usually use a twig. Too light to pull a tight wire, it can detect a slack wire on the ground (which Silly String would not) and doesn't empty. It's non-metallic so it won't allow a current to pass and except in extreme locations, it is pretty much universally available. There no metal to influence magnetic fuses, and takes nil room in the Ruck/Fighting order.

This technique has been around for decades.