User blog:Wassboss/Children in the Crossfire: LRA vs Khmer Rouge



In the famous words of William Tecumseh Sherman; War is Hell. The atrocities witnessed by those involved is enough to ruin the minds of grown men and women but imagine the toll on the children who also witness the horrors of war. Today’s battle pits two Guerrilla fighters up against each other, both of whom are famous for using teenagers and children to do their dirty work for them. Kidnapped, forced or coerced into committing terrible acts these young men and women would’ve grown up surrounded by violence and with no choice but to participate or end up on the receiving end themselves. Which of these brutal groups will come out on top as;

The LRA: Joseph Kony's brutal terrorist organisation who kidnap children to use as soldiers.

takes on the Khmer Rouge: Pol Pot's communist rebels who committed genocide against their own people.

Who is Deadliest

The LRA


"Our guns were still strapped onto our backs, because a gun meant life. Without it there was no life in the LRA."

- Grace Akallo, former child soldier in the LRA.

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement, is a rebel group and cult which has operated in eastern central Africa, most notably Uganda and the Congo. Allegedly created in order to spread christian values through Uganda it largely functions as a personality cult around their leader Joseph Kony who came to infamy in the wider world after the documentary released by Invisible Children in 2012. The LRA has since lost most of it's strength and is down to a few hundred members but still continue to terrorise locals and kidnap children to train as soldiers.

Bowie Knife
 * -|Melee =

Length: 16 inches

Weight: 2 lb

Single Edged Colt M1911
 * -|Handgun =

Muzzle Velocity: 251 m/s

Ammo: 7 rounds

Range: 50 Metres

Round: .45 ACP Uzi
 * -|SMG =

Muzzle Velocity: 400 m/s

Rate of Fire: 600 RPM

Range: 200 metres

Ammo: 32 rounds

Weight: 7.7 lbs

Round: 9×19mm Parabellum AK-47
 * -|Assault Rifle =

Weight: 9.5 lbs

Rate of Fire: 600 RPM

Range: 400 metres

Ammo: 30 rounds

Muzzle Velocity: 715 m/s

Round: 7.62x39mm

Khmer Rouge


"To destroy you is no loss, to spare you is no gain"

- Khmer Rouge Motto

The Khmer Rouge were a group of rebels active in Cambodia during the 1970's. Lead by the infamous Pol Pot their aim was to depose the western backed government of Cambodia and replace it with a communist one and after five years of civil they achieved this, placing Pol Pot in charge. The Khmer Rouge soon began purging people including minorities, religious groups and intellectuals, essentially anyone who Pol Pot believe could challenge his reign. The Khmer Rouge were eventually ousted from power by the Vietnamese in 1979 but remained as a fractured terrorist group up until the death of Pol Pot in 1997.

Cane Knife
 * -|Melee =

Length: 1 foot

Weight: 1.5 lbs

Single Edged Tokarev TT-33
 * -|Handgun =

Muzzle Velocity: 420 m/s

Ammo: 8 rounds

Range: 50 Metres

Round: 7.62×25mm PPS-43
 * -|SMG =

Muzzle Velocity: 500 m/s

Rate of Fire: 600-900 RPM

Range: 200 metres

Ammo: 35 rounds

Weight: 6.7 lbs

Round: 7.62x25mm M16-A
 * -|Assault Rifle =

Weight: 8.7 lbs

Rate of Fire: 700-950 RPM

Range: 500 metres

Ammo: 30 rounds

Muzzle Velocity: 948 m/s

Round: 5.56x45mm

X Factors
Training: LRA=50/Khmer Rouge=60

The LRA originally formed from rebels from the Ugandan military and so it's original members would have had some military training. However it doesn't seem like the LRA actually focused all that much on training their men in any way and the little training they did provide was to the children they abducted from villages who obviously won't be involved here. The Khmer Rouge meanwhile were an actual ruling regime with a proper military and so could divert resources and time to train their soldiers even if the quality of training wasn't all that high.

Experience: LRA=58/Khmer Rouge=55

Both the LRA and the Khmer Rouge were far more involved in massacring innocent civilians than they were in fighting in battles and so neither scores highly in this category. However the LRA get a slight advantage owing to their longer time being active as well as having some success in fighting against the military forces of various African countries as opposed to the Khmer Rouge who were defeated rather easily once the Vietnamese invaded.

Mental Health: LRA=25/Khmer Rouge=25

Both the LRA and Khmer Rouge have committed unspeakable atrocities in pursuit of their goals and this naturally means that many of it's members are mentally scarred or unhinged because they take part in said atrocities. Even more disturbingly is the young age in which new members are recruited, with the Khmer Rouge being mostly made up of teenage boys and the LRA having children kidnapped from villages to train as soldiers.

Brutality: LRA=95/Khmer Rouge=90

Clearly we're talking about two extremely violent groups here with neither having any qualms about killing people, whether they be rival militarises or innocent civilians. However the LRA narrowly snatches an edge here because of several much more brutal acts to their name; including sending their trained child killers to murder their families as a sick initiation test and there are even reports of cannibalism by members of the group.

Voting System/Notes
The battle will take place in a jungle environment.

This battle will be a five on five.

All members of the battle will be at least 18 years old (so no child soldiers for either the LRA or the Khmer Rouge)

In order to be counted in full, votes must be at least 5 lines long or have been done in an edge format.

Anything less than 5 lines but which is competently argued and thought out will be counted as a half vote. I will inform anybody if their vote is considered a half vote and allow them to amend it to bring it up to a full point.

Irrelevant votes will not be counted at all.

I reserve the right to award a vote as half or discount it entirely for reason not mentioned here if I feel it is applicable.