Military Veterans Talk about Bigfoot Encounters

[Ninurta]

I've been a civilian all my life, so I know jack-sh*t about any of the nuances mentioned in this video.

Can anyone with any type of military background give some advice on whether this guy is telling the
truth?

I have more of a paramilitary background than a military one, but I'll give it a shot...

Brian Ritchie story:

The following is more or less a running commentary as I listen to the podcast. I'm just jotting down notes as I listen. Bear in mind that I am drinking for the entire time of what looks like it will be nearly two hours, getting progressively drunker, so what I say may not be objective, but it is from the heart:

Guantanamo Bay for discussing Rakes and Dogmen? Not a chance. That's not the way this world works, and he should have known that if he's been around it any amount of time at all. He would be discredited and left in the wind, not disappeared.

The police would have cuffed them because of the gun-play involved, nothing to do with covering up stories of cryptids. If you've lived in that world, sometimes the local agencies are made aware of your background, sometimes not - it depends on several "need-to-know" criteria. In any case, if they have been informed, they rarely cuff you, because they are aware of the dangers involved in that activity. Sometimes those damned cuffs will fall right off at the most inopportune times!

"They" knew who he was, where he lived, and who his family was, and STILL threatened all of the above with "consequences"? My ass! State Boys and locals, if they have been informed, will in NO WAY do any such thing! That would be a guaranteed one-way trip to darkness for them! If you survive that world long enough to be turned out to pasture, you are checked up on occasionally, but not bothered much, and certainly not "dealt with rough" - because "consequences" run in both directions, and you've survived long enough to know a thing or two about dealing them out. If locals are made aware of "who you are", they are also made aware of that fact - what you can do. There is no reason to warn them otherwise.

Even the FBI does not screw with such men - they are referred to other, more compatible, agencies if they become problems.

I know of exactly ONE case where the FBI/BATFE were used as contact organs to entrap a former operator, but they didn't come up with the plan, they merely delivered the "warning" under direction of others. For the record, that operative heeded the warning, and was turned loose. It was just a not-so-gentle "reminder" from higher ups. So the gentleman's assertion of involvement by local LE, "Fish and Game", and even the FBI rings hollow.

That his kids are "well trained" human beings because he has "live the life he has" rings true. One does what he can to insure the survival of his progeny, and, having seen the underside of what people can do, one tends to pass a few things along to assist them in getting by, and prepare them for it if it becomes necessary. For example, I taught my son such things as how to make a knife disappear from an attacker's hand, and how to disarm a person holding a gun to your head. He didn't think it could be done until I showed him how it IS done. I had him hold an Airsoft gun to my head, told him to pull the trigger whenever he felt froggy enough to do it, and the rest is history. He's a believer now, and better yet, HE can do the same.

The incident is alleged to have occurred just across the state border from me, it seems, but at a time when I was out thrashing around the world, away from here.

I believe the man may be a combat vet of some stripe, but have doubts about some of the particulars he mentions. Either way, I'm not convinced of the veracity of the tale. Sometimes, due to a variety of factors, someone of such a background WILL do dangerous, stupid things like (but not limited to) actively hunting "creatures" of the sort mentioned. Some will do it for the thrill, the adrenaline high that they miss from combat, some will do it hoping the "creature" will kill them and put an end to their misery, some will do it just to prove to themselves that such things don't exist. For example, I occasionally tell Grace that I'm willing to fight a bear with a spear or sharp stick if one shows up in the yard. I'm not kidding - I'd really do it... just to see if I could still win. Stupid shit like that... or hunting Rakes.

He mentions "4 men with Barrett .50 caliber rifles", so the "hunters" are not using "machine guns", but they ARE "loaded for bear". However, as I'm sure Guohua will attest, 47 rounds of .50 caliber would likely not even leave a stain from most organic critters, and if it wasn't an organic critter, would 47 rounds of .50 caliber even bother it? That many rounds of .50 cal would make even an elephant look like just a pile of hamburger.

The critter "just wouldn't go down" from a .50 CALIBER shot, with just 6" FROM THE MUZZLE TO THE CRANIUM? Hell, even elephants are hunted with "just" a .458 Weatherby Magnum or an 8 gauge shotgun (both much less than a .50 BMG) from a distance! A .50 cal will drop any organic critter in it's own tracks, and spread parts of it around!

.50 Cals can take out a tank.

6 months in a military lockup over killing a critter that isn't even supposed to exist? My ass! See my comment above about Gitmo and being discredited and left flapping in the wind.

He keeps talking about "the security team oustide my house right now", allegedly consisting of two "Marine Raiders" (no longer exist - they are "Marine Recon" now, and have been for years, more years than my old ass has been in the business) and a former SEAL. Generally speaking, I won't trust my security to others if my life is under threat from nebulous "theys". That is MY job, and "former" employees of the same "theys" are not trustworthy unless I've been in the field with them, and some times not even then.  Random folk, for enough money, will turn on you in a heartbeat. We'd have had to have done more together than just break bread or speak to each other at a Company mixer before THAT much trust is given.

I've seen helicopters like he mentions. They are charcoal gray and entirely unmarked - not even tail numbers - not "black helicopters" - charcoal gray ones. Those are not operated by either the FBI or local "Fish and Game". I saw 3 fly NOE over my house when I lived in the woods in North Carolina one day, and waved at them and pointed "west". Never saw them there again.

Explanatory note: "NOE" means "Nap of the Earth". It denoted flying a constant level above the surface being flown over. Those choppers were about 100 feet AGL (above ground level). I could damned near smell their breath. They had some sort of sensor pods underneath them, probably FLIR and some kind of RADAR, and I would guess they were looking for lurkers and weapons caches, neither of which they found. We made NOE flight for the Mi-24 choppers in Afghanistan a very dangerous thing with Stinger missiles, first near Jalalabad, and eventually the Russians had to fly at 1500 feet and above, SOP all across the country. No more NOE. Charcoal gray helicopters without tail numbers should occasionally keep that in mind. Stingers ain't the only way to bring one down, they're just the easiest.

How could the narrarator be threatened with Court Martial by the military if he was never military to begin with, as he claims in the opening? I know of no civilians ever threatened with a UCMJ Court Martial, as he asserts. Civilians either go through a Civil (or civilian criminal) Court, a Star Chamber, or in extreme cases a Military Tribunal, but not under UCMJ, as civilians are not bound by the UCMJ. Military Tribunals in the US are generally reserved for Geneva Convention violations by non-military persons, but this guy did not violate any Geneva Conventions.

"If they ever disclosed any information in an official capacity whatsoever, the US Government would prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law." 1) They were not official in any capacity, and therefore could not have "disclosed any information in any official capacity". 2) "The fullest extent of the law" does not include prosecuting civilians in Courts Martial - it involves violation of Federal Law, prosecuted in a Federal Court, which does not apply here unless they signed NDAs regarding this alleged event. There is NO Federal Law against claiming that "I shot a monster in the woods".

Local PDs can NOT "shut down your finances" if you have lived the life he claims - you have already learned not to rely on banks and the like by then, and you will have a nest egg of cash/metal/jewels/etc. which they can not do anything with, because it's stashed and they can't find it to run it through Civil Forfeiture. They may lock down your bank account, but if they do, all they've locked down is about 50 bucks and a slua of promises, while you go on your merry way with hard valuables.

Ever gotten promises of "payment in diamonds so it can't be traced" by a foreign government, only to have them try to pay in cubic zirconia instead? That will cause you to learn the specific gravity of diamonds, and how to measure it... and there will be very apologetic government operatives when you do.

How did this "Rake" have a mouth, but no lips? Aren't lips what the edges of a mouth are called?

The rake hunt was "About 2003". I was contracted to the U.S. Marshals Service then, and not anywhere around here.

He said he was using a 5.56 AR to shoot the Dogman, but then says he was using "bonded soft point bullets for deep penetration and maximum damage". Soft point bullets are designed for max damage, but NOT deep penetration. The soft point causes them to mushroom, creating a larger permanent wound cavity because of the larger forward-moving surface area presented, but minimizing penetration because of that same surface area, which dumps more energy in the tissue and slows the bullet, because it saps the forward momentum, instead dumping that energy into tissue damage. Contrary to what he says, ballistics is not his strong suite.

5.56 ammunition of any kind is illegal to hunt even deer with in Virginia, as the state feels it's not strong enough to bring one down. The state of Virginia is full of shit in that regard. I can drop one with a mere .22, which is legal in the neighboring state of North Carolina to the south. In West Virginia to the north, 5.56 is legal to deer hunt with, but not .22. I don't know the law in Kentucky to the west, where this tale unfolds.

Wait - WHAT? The "dogman" he calls "Gray" SPOKE to him? In English?

In speaking of Dogmen, he says "imagine a cross between a timber wolf and a German Shepherd" I used to raise those cross breeds. and don't have to imagine them - they are truly impressive creatures. I draw inordinate pride in the fact that i was their "Alpha". My God, how I miss them!

Anyhow, this fella has gone on and on about the Dogman speaking, and I've yet to hear what it SAID...

Now he is sniveling because he killed an adolescent male Dogman. From a personal perspective, if someone is badass enough to attack me, they are badass enough to take what they have coming to them. Still, I do understand some folks have trouble with that concept. I have a friend who was an operator in El Salvador who still, to this day, has not come to grips with having to shoot a mere boy guerrilla that was only trying to kill him. That was over 30 years ago, and he still beats himself up over it, never having been able to internalize that anyone trying to kill you is fair game, and no harm done. He blames the US govt for the incident, and has been expat from the US for years now because of it.

It does ring true, however, that the Dogmen watched the narrator to see if he was a "threat", and determined that he was not unless he was attacked. People still watch me like that. It's unnerving, to think folks are scared of you for no real reason, but it has it's moments. About a week ago, a little old lady, a stranger, looked at me a few moments, made her decision, and asked me to get something off the top shelf at the grocery store for her as if she decided finally that I was harmless. I got it for her with a smile, but damn near cried.

Sometimes, life is a paradox.

He says the Dogman "Gray" asked him to "confess his sin". Now, aside from the curiosity that a dogman would have a religious concept of sin, Sin is a funny thing. I would not have "confessed", since I see no "sin" in self defense. That the narrator did is closer to what Animal feels in his encounter with the juvenile guerrilla, and I suppose that a Dogman would as well, if one of his own were killed - unless he was mature enough to understand that teenagers do dumb shit that occasionally gets them killed permanently dead. Nature does not care, not even about your age, and will kill you permanently dead in a heartbeat for being stupid and/or hormonal. It seems to me that an intelligent Dogman, being close to nature, would comprehend that and not assign blame.

OK, end of show. They thank him for his service. Now, this fella claims a background similar to mine - no national service, but has worked with hard-core national service folk. Now, if someone thanks me for my "service", I rarely ever respond. I didn't DO the kind of service they are thanking me for - I was not a "soldier" in the terms they think of. I was not a "national service soldier", and neither was this guy, according to his own story. Still, I guess it takes all kinds. Where I am squeamish accepting accolades that I feel I am not due, this fella may feel otherwise. I have a problem accepting what I feel is "stolen honor", but this fella may feel otherwise - he may think it's honor due him, whereas I don't feel it's due me. I have actual veteran friends who have insisted on dragging me out to Veteran's Day celebrations because they know me and my history, and I've felt uneasy through the whole ordeal, since  I don't think it's due me. I was mercenary, pure and simple. I did what I did mostly for money, and to protect me and mine in the small view - no lofty ideals of defending a nation. I just fought for me and mine, whether they were of my nation or not, and the money helped the decision. I'm no hero, and the Veteran's Administration won't even give me a pat on the back for it, because they feel I'm not due it, same as I do.

Still yet, to each his own, and this fellow may feel like he did it for all the right reasons, and so is due the honors. I am not, although we did, according to him, about the same things.

There really ARE "things" in these hills. Whether he ran into them or not I cannot say. What I Do believe is that he BELIEVES he did. I cannot say that his experiences are or are not real, all I can say is that I think he believes they are real. Now, I also believe that he is probably a combat vet of some kind - and there are lots of different kinds. His experiences MAY have broken his mind to the extent that he sees things that are not there, things which seek to assuage his feelings of guilt, and are thereby made larger, more esoteric, in order to soothe that guilt.

In short, I don't believe his "experience" of Dogmen and Rakes are real, but I do think HE believes those experiences ARE real. It may be a subtle difference, but an important one, from my perspective.

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