Germany's GSG9 Counterterrorism Unit

[JC5188]

Gun owners and procurement guys in Germany aren’t much different than in the USA.

They look at what the “cool kids” are using, and mimic accordingly. Whatever is different and unique seems to appeal to gun folks, and S&B is not “unique” to Germans.

Aren’t the GSG 9 already the “cool guys”?

But I get what you meant. My ACOG is very cool and I’m only a glorified welder, lol.

[Arik]

Federal Police special unit. Their purchasing guy probably buys the kit, and we all know the lowest bidder usually wins..

It doesn't quite work that way. The lowest bid has more to do with everything but the actual product

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[Firefly]

These are like the FBI HRT.

EOtechs are good RDS.

Actually I saw quite a few S&Bs on their 417s, Bolt guns, and what looked like a G36.

I'm not terribly concerned with what Germany uses anymore than I am what Latvia uses. I guess it is neat to see guys in foreign camo jumping out of planes with foreign guns in recruiting videos, but I don't live there and don't want to.

[Pilot1]

The GSG9 has a certain panache. I don't know where it started. Maybe in response to Munich 1972. I know very little about them except that they used to use HK P7's, and there is a Sinn GSG9 EZM 2 watch. LOL!

[Slater]

Heck, if you have your own boot (designed by Adidas) you've got to be special.

[dwhitehorne]

I don't no where it started. Maybe in response to Munich 1972. !

This is exactly it. From what I've been taught you have to think back to the time frame of the early 70's. Video of that raid and the entry was shown on the evening news. Everyone in America saw it at the dinner table. Guys in black rappelling down to a balcony and making explosive entry. Most US Law Enforcement did not have SWAT and those few that did were using borrowed APC's and snipers had hunting rifles. Even the US Special Forces at the tail end of Vietnam where fighting for justification of their existence. So GSG9 and their tactics set the standard for over 20 years. Hell I was issued some adidas GSG9 boots in the mid 90's and I was instantly a made man. They fell apart by the way, but I was a cool guy. David

[Slater]

Are you sure you're not thinking about the British SAS action in the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980?

[Firefly]

Are you sure you're not thinking about the British SAS action in the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980?

Munich 1972 had West German police prowling about in Adidas track suits.

Adidas boots at least look cool. None in my size, but guys with 70s hair and Walther smgs trying to thwart a hostage scenario was quite a spectacle.

[dwhitehorne]

Are you sure you're not thinking about the British SAS action in the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980?

Probably. I mix them up with the taking of the airplane all the time all the time. David

[sundance435]

This is exactly it. From what I've been taught you have to think back to the time frame of the early 70's. Video of that raid and the entry was shown on the evening news.

Munich '72 was a goat rodeo that led to the formation of GSG9, but there definitely wasn't any positive press coming out of that event. Lufthansa 181 is the event that propelled GSG9 into stardom.

German law is confusing, but there's no real American contemporary for GSG9 - HRT checks a few of the boxes, but GSG9 is made up of actual police officers. As far as gear, European special operations, whether police or military, aren't using anything groundbreaking or on the cutting edge of development (at least as far as hardware) - definitely not just mimicking the cool kids.