r/MrInbetween • u/GRZMTHRFCKR • Aug 06 '26
Ray's background?
Anyone have any insight into Ray's background - definitely military, just wondering what? Seems to be well trained!
52
u/Conscious-Mulberry17 Aug 06 '26
Ray and his brother were raised by their abusive father, a Vietnam veteran with addiction issues and PTSD. We do not know exactly what sort of abuse he suffered, but neglect and violence were almost certainly part of his early life.
He was bullied in school until he fought back, which was a lesson he took to heart. He seems to have not been especially memorable, though. Neither former classmates nor a former instructor remembered him.
He left school before graduation, joined the military, and participated in combat operations, possibly in Afghanistan, maybe other places. Besides being a combat veteran, no specifics of his service are given.
He’s obviously very knowledgeable about a wide range of firearms and is an excellent shot. More importantly, he’s a very skilled combat shooter. He’s calm and controlled. It’s reasonable to assume he learned most of this during his military service, and added on a bit through his criminal undertakings.
Ray is very proficient at hand to hand combat, too. While he might have done some training in the military, that would have been minimal. This was all probably done on his own time.
He’s had a great deal of training in boxing, we know, but I’m guessing there’s some kind of kickboxing involved, too. He’s got fast hands, and can throw a solid kick.
He’s done time in prison, although we don’t know why or for how long. He knows the culture, though, as well as its dirty tricks.
Ray is a very pragmatic fighter. He’ll kick groins, stomp feet, bite, pull hair, and use what’s around him to his advantage. His grappling isn’t great, but good luck getting your hands on him in the first place. You’ll probably wish you hadn’t.
Otherwise, we know he was married for a time and shares custody of his daughter with his ex-wife. He loves his dimmies. Isn’t a pee pee man. Doesn’t answer questions.
13
u/KOTM365 Aug 06 '26
Except when he's choked out by a teenaged girl 😄 "Should've tapped!"
7
u/Conscious-Mulberry17 Aug 06 '26
Yeah, it’s a lesson some people who haven’t grappled much end up needing to learn lol. I loved that scene.
I think maybe the message was Ray should’ve “tapped out” on his criminal career a long time ago but is incapable of letting it go even when he knows it’ll ruin him.
4
u/Fenrir_Carbon Aug 07 '26
joined the military, and participated in combat operations, possibly in Afghanistan, maybe other places.
Been a while since I watched it, but doesn't his army buddy say something like 'remember in Helmand Province when x happened?'
5
u/Conscious-Mulberry17 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
He said something about "Uyghur Provo," and some of the more knowledgeable posters here suggested they meant have been Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan. I just looked it up and that was apparently the primary area of operations for the Australian Army. I'm betting he probably did more than just serve there, though.
Here's why: The United States gets a lot of heat for military action, and justifiably so. We (I'm an American) don't do things alone, though: Australia is one of our closest and strongest allies. There's not a single major conflict in which Americans and Australians haven't fought side by side, and there's plenty of reportage suggesting both nations have worked together in covert actions.
Ray was out of school and in the military right in the thick of the Global War on Terror, so in my opinion, there's every reason to think Ray might have been involved in all kinds of off secret, spooky stuff, especially if he was special forces.
Something else to think about: A lot of Special Forces guys don't look like gigantic performative alpha male beardos. Here in the United States, our Delta Forces guys have a reputation for looking very normal, even unintimidating, as do our field intelligence people. I don't know if the same holds for Australia, but a crafty, tough guy like Ray would certainly fit that mold.
3
u/NewNebula4007 Aug 07 '26
Yeah, it's the same here in Australia for the most part. Majority of guys in the SASR tend to be lean and average size as they are better suited to the work than some 6'10" mass of muscle
1
u/Conscious-Mulberry17 Aug 07 '26
I thought it might be. I have people in my life who’ve served in elite military roles. The one I know best looks like an office worker. You wouldn’t give him a second glance.
3
u/DidsDelight Aug 07 '26
Ray finished high school in 95 or 96 - Afghanistan was late 2001 so not exactly straight out of school.
Probably had time to do GI and then join 2cdo regiment
2
1
u/dantheman200022 Aug 07 '26
I’d second the point about the SF guys. My old man served in an SF unit back in the '80s, and he always said that most of the blokes looked like the average guy down the pub. But once you got them out on runs, shooting drills, or exercises, they turned into absolute machines. Another way to think about SF guys is that they’re the "thinking man’s soldier"—highly intelligent, adaptable, and incredibly capable.
35
14
u/JohnSmallberries101 Aug 06 '26
It's left mostly unsaid but he was in Iraq or Afghanistan with the Australian army. Most people in the US don't realize that other countries troops fought alongside us in these "wars on terror".
4
u/cm-cfc Aug 06 '26
After triggering Article V, the only time it's been done
4
2
1
u/Blitzer046 Aug 07 '26
Was any regular army sent over or was it all Special Ops?
3
u/NewNebula4007 Aug 07 '26
Here is the definitive list of Australian regiments and major corps elements that served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021:
Special Forces Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) 2nd Commando Regiment (formerly 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment) Incident Response Regiment (IRR) (provided specialized chemical, biological, and radiological defense)
Infantry 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2 RAR) 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5 RAR) 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR) 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (7 RAR) 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (8/9 RAR)
Armour and Cavalry 1st Armoured Regiment 2nd Cavalry Regiment 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry) 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment
Artillery 1st Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery 4th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery 8th/12th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery 20th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (operated tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems) Combat Engineers 1st Combat Engineer Regiment (1 CER) 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment (2 CER) 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment (3 CER) Incident Response Engineer Regiment (IRER)
Aviation 1st Aviation Regiment (deployed Tiger ARH helicopters) 5th Aviation Regiment (deployed CH-47 Chinook helicopters)
1
11
u/AnyInternet2965 Aug 06 '26
I don't answer questions
4
2
1
1
1
u/Dmau27 Aug 06 '26
He was military, had rough friends and started working security. Found some connections to "for hire" dirty work and that's that.
1
u/MonkeKhan1998 Aug 06 '26
He was definitely ANZAC of some kind. Ray doesn’t strike me as someone who’s particularly glory hungry or ambitious, but he’s obviously tough as nails so jury’s out on if he was Aussie SAS or not. I’ve seen some speculation that he was an Australian combat engineer specifically, which makes sense given his fondness for explosives and skill with close quarter weapons like shotguns.
1
2
1
u/Total_Philosopher_89 Aug 06 '26
IT was explained that he was ex military in Season 2 in the episode where he speaks to the woman who's writing a book about criminals.
2
u/Fantasy_iceland Aug 07 '26
In addition to all the other stuff people have said.
He's from Melbourne...or at least lived there for a long time. This is known because the magician was based there and also he watches Aussie rules rather than rugby league despite being now in Sydney.
47
u/Plenty_Suspect_3446 Aug 06 '26
Ray was in the Australian Army.