And we’re already through Episode two of the so-far hottest MMA reality TV show of the Pan-Arab region; Desert Force Al-Academiya-season 2. The previous episode certainly took us by surprise; No cage, no villa, no martial arts’ trainers, not a single punch thrown so far but instead… they all got their heads shaved, forced to compete for their lunch whilst the loser starved, were given bunks for sleeping quarters and were drown in matching uniforms; SPECIAL FORCES military uniforms, no less! An image of [tooltip text=”G.I. Jane” gravity=”n”]G.I. Jane is a 1997 American dramatic action film directed by Ridley Scott, produced by Largo Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Caravan Pictures, distributed by Hollywood Pictures and starring Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen and Anne Bancroft. The film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training in U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group.[/tooltip] crosses my mind 😉
Episode 2 was no less a shocker. It started out with Guns & Bullets and ended with our fighters deep in the trenches, bruised, wet, humiliated and covered in mud. We haven’t known Mirza to be sadistic, but he certainly is bordering that with a flare! But first, we have a pending issue from the previous episode, that of Rami Bin Dreidi arriving late in the day and his refusal to have his hair cut.
The fighters discussed it among themselves and voted 22 to 6, against him joining their ranks if he’s allowed to cut the rules that were enforced upon them first. When asked by Mohammad Mirza of his choice, in or out…He responded, after a long moment of hesitation, with a resounding spinning-wheel kick to the gong… “Sorry, I’m out!”.
In an interview with mbc.net, he commented that he came to Desert Force to fight; he’s got the drive, passion, commitment, fight record and skills. He displayed those to Al Academiya’s committee and was invited to join accordingly. When he first started out fighting, he explains, he’d always get into arguments with his mom about his braids and long hair and stubbornly wouldn’t shave’em off. To do what the guys asked him, he considered, would be an insult to his mom and all the times he argued against her that it represents his seriousness and commitment to being a fighter…I wonder if she’s ever thought of putting hair removal cream in Rami’s shampoo bottle!
Five bullets each, a 9mm standard issue hand gun, one target sheet and we’re off with our first injured fighter, Ramadan Neaman from Egypt. Luckily, He only got a slight burn and minimal skinning in his right palm while tightly gripping the gun…being the stubborn fighter he is, continued firing while till his hand had to be treated, gauzed and retired from continuing with the exercise. But that was just the warm-up for the guys, next was Gun Range 300.
A lightweight, gas operated, air cooled, 30-rounds magazine fed, laser sighted with 7x optical magnification, sustained to full automatic selective rate, shoulder fired weapon with a collapsible stock. The US Army’s standard [tooltip text=”M4A1 5.56mm Carbine” gravity=”n”]The M4 carbine is a family of firearms that was derived from earlier carbine versions of the M16 rifle, which was in turn derived from the original AR-15 rifle that Eugene Stoner designed and ArmaLite manufactured. The M4 is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. It is a gas-operated, magazine-fed, selective fire, shoulder-fired weapon with a telescoping stock and 14.5 in (370 mm) barrel to ease close quarters combat. Like the rest of the M16 family, it fires the .223 caliber, or 5.56 mm NATO round.[/tooltip] is a shortened variant of the well known M16 rifle. It provides the soldier, operating in close quarters (~200m), the capability to engage targets with accurate, lethal fire power at 15 rounds per minute (sustained firing rate) to 90 rounds per minute (full burst firing rate)…it is a BAD ASS gun and our fighters have 30 targets to shoot down at this gun range.
They’ve had their fun, now back to the HELL Course of the Day…The teams start off with tires on their shoulders and running the rugged course to a watch tower, a couple kilometers ahead. They climb up the stairs, rappelling down 8 stories, run up the sloped trail, pass through the tunnel, jump into the swamp with neck-deep water, climb up the cliff by a rope tied atop and finally drop the tier off their shoulders…and instead carry two, 20 Litre gallons of water and run through the mountain trail to the goal line. The guys have survived yet another day, BARELY. We can only imagine Mohammad Mirza, sitting around in his room of operations and “..damn, none of them quit today!”..I’m definitely stepping it up next episode.
And the results are in, one top team is the winner with 21 minutes total lap time whilst second place got 26 minutes and the rest…well, there are three losing team and that calls for punitive action. The three losing teams got lined belly down on the dirt, defenselessly flashed with a pressured water hose like that used against mobs. The guys drowning in water and mud then ordered to roll over still under the lash of water. An experience, the audience could feel the pain off it right across the TV screen. This show is no where near the fuzzy, warm, Disney-land genre of last seasons. Will the fighters survive till the finale?
Stay tuned this Monday [September 29, 2014] on MBC Action for Episode 3!
