Quote:
Originally Posted by rcaf_777
France, UK, Canada and Belgium have infantry/light mortars that are used at the platoon level. They usually have a crew of two.
I was my platoon mortar man when I was infantry. Canada had the M19 Light Mortar which I carried and hated it there was nothing light about it. It’s a 60mm Mortar it only took a crew of one to operate, the number two was basically the ammo carrier. As my unit was light infantry (IE no wheels) additional ammo was spread out thought the platoon. Spotting was always difficult if you were lucky you or your number were mortar qualified and were able to spot rounds effectively. Since my reserve unit was not designated to have a Mortar Platoon, I was usually out of luck.
Mostly theses mortars were used for laying smoke to cover platoon movements. The only time I remember using HE was for defensive ops and I had the large base plate and the bipod.
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The 60's were dropped during my time in Viet Nam as the wonderful M-79 and LAW was to supplant them. I liked the law and loved the M-79 but the loss of the 60's as company support was felt big time.
I operated as an FO and we could get support in a hurry "most" times and it was on target "most" times just not as fast nor as on target as company level 60's.
when your getting fired on BY light mortars you want to counter battery [U][I]right now!![I][U] not after a bit of radio chatter.