Improvised airfield with RE8s and pilots

[JimAttrill 24]

If you add an aspfualt strip, turn the mud into dirt ( reddish color) and add trees with bunkers and Tents under them U have my old place. I was with a helicopter company in the RVN which was scout (OH6As) and Comand and control (UHIC and H models Hueys) We used c-4 (off mines) to warm the C rations and then add taco or hot suace to make them eatable. The Arty boys took to long to fire support whenever we got hit so the men of 1st of the corba gunships used to run out and crank the snakes under fire Brave Men ( foolish?) they called themselves the Blue Max ( ARA 20th flying Arty 2nd Bde, 1st Air Cav Div.) I always opped for the deepest hole, but I remember them.

 

 

You must have read 'Chickenhawk' by Robert Mason I suppose? Best book about choppers in Nam I have come across. He also dug some holes

[DukeIronHand 8]

Bah! What a bunch of whiny REMF's!

 

Any real men here?

 

Any 0311's?

[JimAttrill 24]

There was a WWI recruiting poster around somewhere which said something like 'join the RFC and you won't get called up for the Army'.

 

Of course being an aircraft technician is a pretty safe job. I buried a few pilots in my time.

[Olham 164]

For marching, I can contribute a little. In our army duty time we first have the Grundausbildung

(general training or so), which I had at the pioneers. We did two long distance marches of 25 kilometers

each time. On the first, we still had simply boots, and our heels where down to the raw meat.

At the second, we had laced boots, and I put plasters on the heels crosswise before - then it was okay.

 

They tried to train us marching plus singing, but I sabotaged that, cause I didn't like the songs.

So, when we where just fine in the same marching step, and the sergeant shouted "Ein Lied!" (A song!),

I changed my step. The whole middle row behind me now did the same - brattapram, brattapram!!

When they where almost through, i changed quickly back to the right step - brattapram, brattapram!!

 

The sergeant freaked out, screaming his head off, our marching sounded as if a goat was s**tting on

a snare drum, but after several attempts they gave up about the singing, and we where now named

the most unmusical battery, with a Camel walk. But we didn't have to sing those songs!

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

It's quite rough but as Bullethead points out..It's no worse than camping!...and at least they aren't up to their extremities in Mud, Urine and Rats, like the Trenchies had!

[Bullethead 12]

But I prefer cold weather to terrible heat - I almost can't understand how people are able to live in places like Iraq!

 

If you prefer cold to heat, you are either still relatively young, or somehow managed to reach >= middle-age without wearing out your knees and various other joints. Every cold snap makes me remember all the sins of my misspent youth .

 

By the way, what kind of guns did your unit have? I had the pleasure of operating a Soviet 152mm howitzer, model 1955. It was an excellent weapon, reliable in the worst of conditions, and good for rapid concentration of fire. The Russians have always known how to build powerful guns!

 

Well, that's hard to say. In may day, an arty regiment of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children had 5 battalions, 3 tasked as direct support to grunt regiments and 2 as general support for the whole division. DS and GS battalions had different types of guns and what they had changed during my time with the colors. I worked with and pulled the lanyards on all.

 

When I started, we had 2 battalions of WW2-vintage 105mm howitzers complete with splinter shields, 1 battalion of towed M198 155mm gun-howitzers, 1 battalion of M109 155mm SP guns, and 1 battalion of M110 SP 203mm howitzers. After I'd been in a couple years, all the 105s were replaced by M198s, but we didn't get rid of the 105s. We still had them in reserve and used them for helicopter-borne arty raids behind enemy lines. Just before Desert Storm, the M110s were retired and replaced by more M109s, but when we got over there, all the MPPS ships were loaded with M110s and their ammo, so we used them in that war, their last hurrah (also the last hurrah of the F-4, A-7, and other Viet Nam-vintage things).

 

I happened to capture a Soviet D-30 122mm gun-howitzer over there. I was even allowed to take it home with me. Today it resides in front of HQ 14Mar in Fort Worth, Texas. I was NOT impressed by this weapon, mostly because it took about 20 minutes to emplace or CSMO, although it shot very well--I'm still picking out itty bits of shrapnel from its shells to this day, and one my cold-sensitive joints is courtesy of a large 122mm frament that bounced off the shoulder of my flak jacket. And as regards all Soviet arty, while the guns themselves are reliable as the Sun and sturdy as anvils, they're not accurate by US/NATO standards. The USSR used a circle of only 3000 mils which, while making the math easier to do in your head, sacrificed significant accuracy at arty ranges.

 

Bah! What a bunch of whiny REMF's!

 

Any real men here?

 

Any 0311's?

 

Semper fi, Devildog! Always a pleasure to meet another Jarhead :drinks_drunk:

 

I'll have you know that I was an FO, so I had the worst of both worlds.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

 

I happened to capture a Soviet D-30 122mm gun-howitzer over there. I was even allowed to take it home with me. Today it resides in front of HQ 14Mar in Fort Worth, Texas. I was NOT impressed by this weapon, mostly because it took about 20 minutes to emplace or CSMO, although it shot very well--I'm still picking out itty bits of shrapnel from its shells to this day, and one my cold-sensitive joints is courtesy of a large 122mm frament that bounced off the shoulder of my flak jacket. And as regards all Soviet arty, while the guns themselves are reliable as the Sun and sturdy as anvils, they're not accurate by US/NATO standards. The USSR used a circle of only 3000 mils which, while making the math easier to do in your head, sacrificed significant accuracy at arty ranges.

 

 

 

Semper fi, Devildog! Always a pleasure to meet another Jarhead :drinks_drunk:

 

I'll have you know that I was an FO, so I had the worst of both worlds.

 

 

Clucking Bell!!!!!!!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

OK, sounds to me like Bullethead has the best war stories to swap in this little group, at least from what I've read so far. The best I've got is the time we were on a SIGINT flight near a certain country's border that preferred we not be there, so just for fun they had one of their MIG's paint us from their side of the imaginary line in the sky. One of those moments in life when an extra set of undies would have come in handy.

 

A sincere soldier's salute to all you military folk, past, present, and future.

 

Lou

[JimAttrill 24]

If any of you come to this country for the Football World Cup next year, you must visit the War Museum in Joburg. They have what looks like a complete set of Russian tanks and artillery - all captured in Angola from the Cubans. There is definitely a T55 and a T72.

 

And also 'red 8' the only surviving Me262 radar-equipped 2 seater night fighter, a nice FW190 A-4, a couple of Me109s (one crashed), a Mosquito, a Spitfire, a Hurricane, a lovely original SE5a and a Hawker Hartebees. And (I think) a DH9 (not a 9A).

 

And for the jet fans there is a Buccaneer a Mirage and an Impala.

[DukeIronHand 8]

 

Semper fi, Devildog! Always a pleasure to meet another Jarhead :drinks_drunk:

 

 

[Bullethead 12]

OK, sounds to me like Bullethead has the best war stories to swap in this little group, at least from what I've read so far.

 

Well, I call it "capturing a gun" because it has an heroic ring to it. What actually happened was, after the official end of hostilities, me and my troops were touring the battlefield looking for souvenirs instead of clearing out a by-passed bunker complex like we'd been told to do. We were especially interested in visiting the targets we'd fired on, most of which were artillery batteries. So we came to this D-30 battery and it was all gratifyingly laid waste, except this 1 gun which had somehow survived unscathed and been abandoned in its emplacement. After checking it over for booby traps, we spent the better part of an hour figuring out how to fold it up for transport, and then we hooked it to our Hummer and laboriously towed it back to our position. The Hummer's front wheels were nearly off the ground .

 

By this time, our camp was a real military museum. Other guys had brought in similarly acquired tanks, SP guns, BMPs, MLTBs, BTRs, other types of towed arty, trucks, and land rovers. One guy had even tried to bring in a friggin' FROG launcher complete with big-ass rocket, but had been refused entry due to fears that it had a chemical warhead. So as you can see, there was nothing special about me acquiring an enemy artillery piece.

 

A sincere soldier's salute to all you military folk, past, present, and future.

 

Back at ya

[Hasse Wind 46]

 

The USSR used a circle of only 3000 mils which, while making the math easier to do in your head, sacrificed significant accuracy at arty ranges.

 

 

It's not such a major issue when you have about ten times more guns than your opponents. Artillery conquers, infantry occupies.

 

Thanks for telling about your experiences to us. Ever since I left the army, I've been fascinated by big guns and their role in military history. Too bad many wargames almost leave artillery completely out of the equation, or simulate its effects indirectly with some additional combat value to infantry and tank units.

[Bullethead 12]

It's not such a major issue when you have about ten times more guns than your opponents. Artillery conquers, infantry occupies.

 

Amen to that. Since at least the Russo-Japanese War, if not before, arty has caused about 75% of all battlefield casualties. Maybe that's not the case in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least on our side, but those wars have a long way to go to catch up with the 20th Century. This always used to be my retort to all the grunts and special forces guys who said they could put a bullet between my eyes at 1000m or kill me 10 different ways up close.

 

Too bad many wargames almost leave artillery completely out of the equation, or simulate its effects indirectly with some additional combat value to infantry and tank units.

 

Hehehe, I've noticed MadMatt here. He can tell you how I advocated a bigger role for arty in Combat Mission: Barbarosa to Berlin

[hood 2]

Amen to that. Since at least the Russo-Japanese War, if not before, arty has caused about 75% of all battlefield casualties. Maybe that's not the case in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least on our side, but those wars have a long way to go to catch up with the 20th Century. This always used to be my retort to all the grunts and special forces guys who said they could put a bullet between my eyes at 1000m or kill me 10 different ways up close.

 

 

 

Hehehe, I've noticed MadMatt here. He can tell you how I advocated a bigger role for arty in Combat Mission: Barbarosa to Berlin

True Bullethead, true.Many a time we were very grateful for arty support,but there were the odd occasions when we wished they would shove their bloody guns where the sun doesn't shine.But on the whole we were generally civil to the gunners.And despite all that the arty could do, in the end it was some some poor loony with a rifle and bayonet who had to plod in and occupy the position.