Retired Green Beret Gets Court Martial After Shooting Intruder

[ryoder 1,397]

http://bluestarchronicles.com/greenberet.html

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[lawrocket 3]

Link's not working, bro.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[BIGUN 1,069]

PC Free Zone is reporting that an 80-year-old retired Green Beret has been tried by his peers after shooting an intruder in his Knoxville, Tennessee home. He is the oldest member of Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association.

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BREVARD, Jan. 19, 2008 Retired Army Green Beret Smokey Taylor got his court martial this weekend and came away feeling good about it.

Taylor, at age 80 the oldest member of Chapter XXXIII of the Special Forces Association, was on trial by his peers under the charge of failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber in the shooting of an intruder at his home in Knoxville, TN, in December.

The entire affair, of course, was very much tongue in cheek. Taylor had been awakened in the early morning hours of Dec. 17, 2007, when an intruder broke into his home. He investigated the noises with one of his many weapons in hand.

When the intruder threatened him with a knife, Taylor warned him, then brought his .22 caliber pistol to bear and shot him right between the eyes.

That boy had the hardest head Ive ever seen, Taylor said after his trial. The bullet bounced right off. The impact knocked the would-be thief down momentarily. He crawled out of the room then got up and ran out the door and down the street. Knoxville police apprehended him a few blocks away and he now awaits trial in the Knox County jail.

The charges against Taylor were considered to be serious. He is a retired Special Forces Weapons Sergeant with extensive combat experience during the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

Charges were brought against him under the premise that he should have saved the county and taxpayers the expense of a trial, said Chapter XXXIII President Bill Long of Asheville. He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22 just wasnt big enough to get the job done.

Taylors defense attorney, another retired Weapons Sergeant, disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing in choosing to arm himself with a .22.

If hed used a .45 or something like that the round would have gone right through the perp, the wall, the neighbors wall and possibly injured some innocent child asleep in its bed, he said. I believe the evidence shows that Smokey Taylor exercised excellent judgment in his choice of weapons. He did nothing wrong, and clearly remains to this day an excellent weapons man.

Counsel for the defense then floated a theory as to why the bullet bounced off the perps forehead.

He was victimized by old ammunition, he said, just as he was in Korea and again in Vietnam, when his units were issued ammo left over from World War II.

Taylor said nothing in his own defense, choosing instead to allow his peers to debate the matter. After the trial he said the ammunition was indeed old and added the new information that the perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out of the house.

I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if it had gone through his forehead, Taylor said. It was good for both of us that it didnt.

Following testimony from both sides, Taylor was acquitted of the charges and was given a round of applause.

Meanwhile, back in Knox County, the word is out: Dont go messing with Smokey Taylor. He just bought a whole bunch of fresh ammo.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[ryoder 1,397]

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Taylors defense attorney, another retired Weapons Sergeant, disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing in choosing to arm himself with a .22.

If hed used a .45 or something like that the round would have gone right through the perp, the wall, the neighbors wall and possibly injured some innocent child asleep in its bed, he said. I believe the evidence shows that Smokey Taylor exercised excellent judgment in his choice of weapons.

Hard to believe a "retired Weapons Sergeant" could have it so backward on the penetration abilities of a .45 vs a .22.
A shooting buddy once brought along a cardboard box filled with a stack of magazines to do penetration testing, and I was surprised how much further the .22 went.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[jakee 1,257]

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Hard to believe a "retired Weapons Sergeant" could have it so backward on the penetration abilities of a .45 vs a .22.
A shooting buddy once brought along a cardboard box filled with a stack of magazines to do penetration testing, and I was surprised how much further the .22 went.

Is that penetration through gel/ soft tissue type material, or through a hard layer like bone?

I'd have thought that the higher energy of a large calibre round would help it punch through the skull itself easier than a small round.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[GQ_jumper 4]

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Hard to believe a "retired Weapons Sergeant" could have it so backward on the penetration abilities of a .45 vs a .22.
A shooting buddy once brought along a cardboard box filled with a stack of magazines to do penetration testing, and I was surprised how much further the .22 went.

Is that penetration through gel/ soft tissue type material, or through a hard layer like bone?

I'd have thought that the higher energy of a large calibre round would help it punch through the skull itself easier than a small round.

You got it, the .22 does have good penetration through softer materials, the .45 if shot in the abdomen may not even go all the way through, but it will make a hell of a mess on the inside because of how slow and heavy it is. and at a skul the .45 would knock his brain out the back of his head.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[ryoder 1,397]

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Is that penetration through gel/ soft tissue type material, or through a hard layer like bone?

I'd have thought that the higher energy of a large calibre round would help it punch through the skull itself easier than a small round.

It was through a stack of magazines lying on its side inside a cardboard box. We compared .22, .38. 9mm, .357, and .45. The .45 was the poorest. It is straight-forward to compare penetration ability. Just look at the energy of the bullet vs the cross-section area when looking at it head-on.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[SpeedRacer 1]

from My Blue Heaven:

Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: Richie loved to use 22s because the bullets are small and they don't come out the other end like a 45, see, a 45 will blow a barn door out the back of your head and there's a lot of dry cleaning involved, but a 22 will just rattle around like Pac-Man until you're dead.

Speed Racer
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[SpeedRacer 1]

great story! thanks for posting it.

Speed Racer
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[KelliJ 0]

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Hard to believe a "retired Weapons Sergeant" could have it so backward on the penetration abilities of a .45 vs a .22.
A shooting buddy once brought along a cardboard box filled with a stack of magazines to do penetration testing, and I was surprised how much further the .22 went.

Is that penetration through gel/ soft tissue type material, or through a hard layer like bone?

I'd have thought that the higher energy of a large calibre round would help it punch through the skull itself easier than a small round.

Since the perp was shot "between the eyes" a penetration comparison using only soft tissue replication such as magazines would not be accurate. A more accurate, yet still crude, simulation would be to place a shoulder blade from a cow in front of the magazine stack. In that case the .45 would penetrate far deeper than the .22. If the shot is at an angle the difference is much greater, with the .45 still breaking through and penetrating magazines when the .22 is just glancing off. So you are right in your assumption. The larger, heavier bullet (say...37 grains v. 230 grains) would impart much, much more energy to the skull before deflecting.
How do I know? Because I watched my brothers and their coon hunting buddies do just that after a 'coon came back from the land of the dead inside my brothers hunting coat. The .22 had knocked it out but had failed to penetrate due to the angle of the shot. They set up a target behind the barn and kept changing the angle until it no longer penetrated the bone. Sounds like the same thing happened to this guy.
Bet he had one monster-size headache!

[D22369 0]

How do I know? Because I watched my brothers and their coon hunting buddies do just that after a 'coon came back from the land of the dead inside my brothers hunting coat.***

Oh man.... I would pay to view that video !!


Roy

They say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it.

[BIGUN 1,069]

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Hard to believe a "retired Weapons Sergeant" could have it so backward on the penetration abilities of a .45 vs a .22.
A shooting buddy once brought along a cardboard box filled with a stack of magazines to do penetration testing, and I was surprised how much further the .22 went.

I'm assuming you and your friend were shooting into [dry?] paper. Whereas, the more accurate test for penetration would be wet paper and bone.

http://www.handloads.com/misc/linebaugh.penetration.tests.asp

Regardless of round; it was a helluva shot. Mr. Intruder should be greatful of his choice in caliber so he can live to poop his drawers another day.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[Gene03 0]

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http://bluestarchronicles.com/greenberet.html

Sorry folks, I've got to do this.

[bleeding_heart_liberal_icon]Based on the old adage, "Never bring a knife to a gun fight", Doesn't the poor, uneducated perp qualify for Federally Funded Vocational Rehabilitation Assistance so he can better pursue his chosen occupation?[/bleading_heart_liberal_icon]

“The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quotes (Polish writer, poet and satirist 1906-1966)

[KelliJ 0]

I don't know that he would ever be a good crook, but he seems to have a future as a bullet deflector.