The reason for my extended leave.

[Rex]

Hello NightOps!
I am Rex. I can be found here before 2010 (and some &TOTSE nighops threads) by other names, but I come back this time simply as Rex.

Rex may not be a cool name, but it's a name that at least gives me the most recent credibility of who I am. So here I am as Rex.

Due to a threat in OP-SEC I have been away from the site since late 2011 (about 3 1/2 years). Here's why:

I made the mistake trying to train a total fucking idiot.

I could / here, but I need to get this off my chest.

So I should have known it was coming...
I take the guy on a few simple recon missions.
Nothing outstanding, just basic recon training.

Everything goes OK, but not great because of the scuff, crunch, kick, scuff walking...
But he started to pay attention to how he walked after I pointed out all the noise he was making.

I even took him on one Dare OP for training, and he did OK following instructions:
"Point flashlight and take pic. Do it in one second when I say `now`."
That went pretty good, I thought...

The next day is a different story, and should have been a RED FLAG to me.
This fucker evidently doesn't understand the concept of stealth.
He starts making little comments like "I'm going to have to start carrying a ball bat if you keep taking me through peoples back yards."

Yet I was patient, and being the patient person that I am, I didn't bring him a ball bat and beat him to a pulp with it.
No, and although I thought "What A Fucking Dickhead!", I was patient with the Dickhead and tried to explain the concept of stealth to him.

So I went on and explained why he didn't need the ball bat, and why it would only get in the way...
I explained that those people wouldn't see him if he followed the basic rules of stealth...
And then he nodded his head as if he seemed to understand.

I had went into great detail explaining stealth and remaining invisible in the shadows.
I went into detail explanation with him about the importance of being very quiet.
And I thought he understood... I thought he understood.

Over the next couple of nights he seemed to demonstrate to me that understood the concept of stealth.
It appeared that he understood the importance of moving quietly in the shadows, crossing well lit places swiftly and quietly.
He seemed to understand that it was better to take the long way around, and maybe spend an hour to make a 5 minute walk.

It was starting to look as if he had some potential.
I was WRONG about him showing potential, but I didn't quite realize it though.

I took a break for a few nights.
During that time I would browse about at nightops.net (or was it night-ops.net, or no.surgen.?)
but I would browse around here while thinking about the progress Dickhead seemed to be making.

Nearly a week goes by, and Dickhead shows up saying something along the lines of:
"Hey, Why don't we jump some fences tonight?" and I'm like "Sure! What do you have in mind?"
"Nothing really..." replies Dickhead "...let's just go out and take some pictures or something, I like doing that."

So out we go. I was up for doing another Dare OP anyway and could use the extra hand for pics.

Things start going bad right from the start.

scuff, kcik, crunch, scuff right from the get go!
I politely reminded him about the importance of paying attention to where he steps and walking quietly.

What the hell happened over 3 days? How did he forget this most basic thing???

As we continue I notice that he's not putting effort into staying in the shadows.
I would be in the shadows, and he would be out where streetlamps cast his shadow upon the ground.
"Do you see your shadow?" I ask.
He says "yep"
"That means others can see you."
He says"oh yeah.." and moves over into the shadows.

Now that you get the picture of what I'm dealing with
I'll make this otherwise long story very short:

Headlights approach rounding a curve and coming in our direction.
I take cover, but Dickhead doesn't take cover, he just stands right there in plain sight!

I say, "cover"
And as I roll over a bank and start crawling to better cover I hear him say "Fuck That! I'm not going to crawl around just because a cars coming..."

That is why I op alone now.
That is why I stayed away from the site for so long.
and most importantly
that is why Dickhead will never be introduced to nightops.net

Now I've already said all of these things to his face with the exception that i never named nightops to him,
and if he finds nightops.net on his own, then more power to him. May he join with the nickname I give him!

Ever since that night his new nickname has been Dickhead.
I call him Dickhead every time he sees me, but not every time I see him (which is more often than he realizes).

So here I am telling the story of what is probably my worst Fuck Up.
And although telling this story could be a security breech by itself...
I never posted that pic he took during the Dare OP.

Comments / Criticisms are welcome.

[Xanatos]

Well at least he didn't get you both caught in a more dangerous area. Good to have you back though.

[Sa'Kage]

Rex,

These kinds of things happen to the best of us, it's tough to consistently go solo, sometimes we want to experience things with others, other times we want to pass the experiences along giving our wisdom, training and skills to others. It sucks when it blows up in our faces, my Brotherhood has had its fair share of fuck ups in the past, never a security breach but more than enough to learn a lesson from. I'm thankful to have finally found a progeny with as much passion for this art as myself and in time I hope you find the same. Keep your chin up man, everybody fucks up, welcome home man.