Col. Arnaud Beltrame saving the world

| March 24, 2018

We talked a bit about the Terrorist who took hostages in a supermarket in Trebes, France yesterday. Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, one of the first officers to respond to the attack, was able to arrange a swap for one of the hostages and he took her place, according to Military.com;

[Beltrame] went inside the supermarket on Friday, he had given up his own weapon and volunteered himself in exchange for a female hostage.

Unbeknownst to the Morocco-born captor, he left his cellphone on so police outside could hear what was happening in the store. They stormed the building when they heard gunshots, officials said. Beltrame was fatally wounded.

His death raises the toll to four. The gunman was also killed, and 15 people were injured in the attack.

“Arnaud Beltrame died in the service of the nation to which he had already given so much,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement. “In giving his life to end the deadly plan of a jihadi terrorist, he fell as a hero.”

According to the statement, Beltrame joined the elite police special forces in 2003 and deployed to Iraq in 2005. He served as a member of the presidential guard and in 2012 earned one of France’s highest honors, the Order of Merit. He was married with no children.

Category: Terror War

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BlueCord Dad

The exception to the stereotype. Rest easy Colonel, we’ve got the watch now.

The Stranger

True that. A sterling example of courage and self sacrifice.

Hondo

Hardly an exception. The French military has a long tradition of excellence when led by generals worthy of their soldiers.

Unfortunately, it looks like they just lost one of their best.

Rest in peace, Colonel Beltrame. I’d have been proud to serve with you.

cc senor

I’m glad you mentioned that. My brothers and I often talked about how badly served soldiers of the French, British, Spanish, and Mexican armies have been served by their generals. Dunkirk was possible in part because of the sacrifice of French soldiers. Yeah, American soldiers have been poorly served, too, on occasion but not to the point of stupidity like English Gen Haig or a couple of French ones whose names escape me right now.

Combat Historian

General Nivelle comes to mind…

desert

And DeGaulle, a general without an army, but didn’t bother him to badmouth the US that saved his worthless ass imho

AW1Ed

“The French military has a long tradition of excellence when led by generals worthy of their soldiers.”

I understand a fellow named Charles Martel, call sign “The Hammer” did some pretty good things IVO Tours in October of 732, and elsewhere.

Chesty

Really?

Who bombed the Bekka valley after the Beirut bombings?

Hint: It wasn’t Reagan.
Hint: It was the French.

Ran into plenty of French hard chargers in Afghanistan. How many times were you there?

LAU-10

“Bekka” valley?

Your knowledge of Lebanon sucks.

If you are going to lecture on historical events, at least get the spelling of place names correct.

Chesty

Ok…spelling doesn’t change the fact that the French were a whole lot tougher than St Ronnie was.

Nice attempt at deflection though.

Now, call me Hitler, Obama, hippie or other such nonsense as is SOP here when one loses an arguement.

LAU-10

I wasn’t arguing with you, so there is no “arguement” to lose. (“Arguement”? You might want to enroll in a remedial spelling course, or buy a dictionary.)

And there’s no attempt at deflection, either, because I couldn’t care less one way or another about what you may have to say about Reagan.

I was simply pointing out that your knowledge of Lebanon sucks.

Just like all of your comments here suck.

You are a troll. Hopefully Jonn will drop the Ban Hammer on you soon, because you have yet to add anything beneficial or informative to any of the discussions that you have stuck your nose into so far here at TAH.

desert

What does that mean? I have been moderated the whole time I have been here, does that mean my posts are banned too? Did I fail to say good morning or something 😉

11B-Mailclerk

Under “moderation”, posts only appear after an admin approves them.

The apparent rule at TAH is that all new commentors are moderated until they establish “not a dickhead” to Jonn’s satisfaction.

Changing or obscuring one’s email address will re-trigger moderation, which auto-squashes noob trolls

Jonn has used moderation to encourage some hard-headed trolls to moderate their behavior to something approaching acceptable. He is rather restrained in this use compared to others running fora that permit comments and discussion.

TAH is entirely his, for his purposes. All others are his guests. Most generally act like it.

The one who do not? Well, they get moderated. Some get moderated and ignored.

Chesty

English isn’t my first language, so apologies for that.

And as Jonn mentioned, he’s got to protect you snowflakes from fact.

timactual

I don’t think the you need any help protecting us from fact.

Ex-PH2

Who is “chesty” calling a snowflake?

Facts? Can’t you get YOUR facts straight, scheisswogel?

HMCS(FMF) ret

Looks like “Chesty” has a huge case of sandinhismanginitis… and no amount of Vagacil or Midol is gonna fix it for him.

11B-Mailclerk

Like a fart, you do add a certain ambiance to a place.

And like a Hemorrhoid, you do demand attention.

There! Feel better now? Whatsamatter, Tits, did your Domm cut you off?

HMCS(FMF) ret

He’s missing his weekly “pegging” from “Strap-On Sally”…

jonp

Bekka Valley. Maybe he is from Michigan

chooee lee

Chottomatte Nay. I’m from Michigan and I don’t know anything about any Bekka Valley. Now I do live at
“Rainy Corners”.

A Proud Infidel®™

HEY CHESTY, it’s WAY past time for you to find a new drug dealer, your current one is selling you some really bad shit!!!

jonp

Stud. A Legionnaire at heart.
Legio Patrio Nostra

mr. sharkman

The stereotype is pure idiocy, usually spouted by gutless idiots whom lack the balls to ever repeat it face-to-face to any French Soldat.

Anyone with a remote grasp of history knows that the ‘stereotype’ completely fails to address the reality; that the rapid surrender of French forces in various historical instance had nothing to do with the fighting spirit and professionalism of the French Soldaten involved in each instance. There are numerous accounts of French 2 LTs committing suicide when ordered to order their men to surrender.

France has a long and oustanding military history/heritage, that was earned on the battlefield through bravery, skill, and blood.

I’ll admit I am biased; I owe my life to French shooters on at least 2 occasions, with 1 occasion where one of my French Brother-in-Arms clearly gave his life to save mine. I say ‘at least 2 occasions’ because were all of the engagements to be broken down tactically and analyzed in detail, I believe that the # of instances where a rifle-packing Frenchman saved my ass would be far greater than 2.

“Vive la France!”

AW1Ed

Fair winds and following seas, Colonel Beltrame.

UpNorth

BZ, Colonel.

Club Manageru, USA ret.

We don’t hear about men of this caliber often enough. I’m particularly thinking of the Parkland High School deputy sheriff.

1610desig

Ex-Deputy Scot Peterson should reflect on this…

The Other Whitey

The Cowards of Broward ain’t worthy to piss in the same urinal as this man.

The Stranger

They’re not worthy to stand under the outflow pipe from that latrine.

A Proud Infidel®™

ALL of them put together PLUS their shitty excuse of a Sheriff aren’t worth even a single squirt of his piss.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Rest in Peace, Colonel Arnaud Bertrame…

Old Trooper

RIP, Sir, you’ve gone above and beyond.

IS2 (SW)

Repose en paix, monsieur le colonel Arnaud Beltrame. Nous avons la montre.

mr. sharkman

Well spoken.

Ex-PH2

Dammit!

What will it take to stop these murdering slime?

The Stranger

A few nukes…

Ex-PH2

Allons y!

The Stranger

Essayons!

IDC SARC

RIP

mr. sharkman

You, being a dirty, nasty combat diver, have a knowledge and understanding of Commando Hubert that most TAH readers probably do not.

For the uninitiated, a brief write-up on the French combat swimmers ‘parent’ unit, Commando Hubert;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_commando_frogmen

A far more detailed explanation for those who speak French or want to spend time with translation;
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando_Hubert

And finally, a far too short wiki page on the Badass that Commando Hubert was named after. French speakers – track down all the links and read them for an example of ‘How to be a badass MFer’. For those willing to spend time on translation – when you’re done reading I assure you you won’t feel like you won’t feel as if you wasted any time;
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin_Hubert

How can TAH not love the Frenchmen who sunk the Greenpeace ship with a limpet attack? 😉

Sparks

Rest in peace Col. Beltrame.

rgr769

Rest eternally, Colonel. You are now among other heroes who wore the Pour le Merit.

Combat Historian

The country this man gave his life for is almost unworthy of his bravery and sacrifice. It pains me to say this, but deep down you know it’s the truth. Will Frenchmen and women ever have the Gallic courage to take their country back from the forces that are on the verge of destroying it? The world is watching…

David

They may be saying the same of us.

NHSparky

Rest easy, sir.

MCPO NYC USN Ret.

I often critique French resolve. His country should take note of his actions.

RIP LEO. BZ.

Out.

RGR 4-78

Rest in Peace.

Carolyn Bowman

‘French ‘hero’ gendarme who swapped himself for hostage dies’ http://www.france24.com/en/20180324/france-attack-hero-gendarme-swapped-hostage-dies

LIRight

Colonel Arnaud Bertrame – balls of steel! Rest in peace.

Jeffro

They are doing hard work all across Africa. Good fellas. We face a common enemy.

mr. sharkman

They had our backs in Lebanon, and in the Gulf in ’87 and ’91, as well as in Somalia ’92-’93.

And while the entire world stood and watched like a bunch of pussies (USA included, I am ashamed to admit), during the Rwanda genocide in ’94 France – alone among all the major nations (FW&FS to those Belgian paratroopers) actually did something and had an impact, saving many hundreds of thousands of potential victims.

They also had our backs in Yugoslavia in ’99, and within hours of the 11SEP attacks, and have been widely involved in OEF

Okay guys and gals, I’ll STFU now, thanks for putting up with my 100 hour pulpit session about France. I appreciate your patience and lack of thrown objects (grenades included…near misses are no joke considering the audience involved) but I will close with a cheer I can never hear enough of;

“Vive la France!”

😉

Doc Savage

Aucun plus grand amour a un homme, puis allongez sa vie pour un autre….

Rest in peace Hero.