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#121
11-08-2010, 04:29 AM
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God forbid you do hit though -- we had some guys kill an endangered crane or stork or some other water bird at Camp Blanding in Florida while on a crew served range. The kicked off an investigation with state and federal fish &wildlife charges pending. They were cleared after several months but if evidence was found of intent there were huge fines and potential prison time looming.
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#122
11-08-2010, 08:29 AM
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For those who remember Graf...
One evening, a guard at a motor pool called into the sergeant and reported an explosion within the motor pool. Sergeant grabbed me (young buck private) to drive the jeep and we headed to to the motor pool to investigate. Inside the pool were three burning 5-ton trucks and a rather large crater as well as fragments later determined to be from a 155mm round. The firing ranges that were in use that night all pointed away from main post, soooooooo... The investigation came up with three possibilities... 1) A defective 155mm round was left on one of the trucks and detonated. Considering that this type of round is never transported with the fuse in place. Doubtful. 2) A freak gust of wind knocked a round off its trajectory. 180 degrees off its trajectory? Doubtful. 3) That a gun crew misread coordinates and that Range Safety had failed to notice that a gun was pointing in the wrong direction, and also ignored the muzzle flash going in the wrong direction...oh come on!?!
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#123
11-08-2010, 08:58 PM
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While stationed at Fort Knox as an instructor, I got to see, well, some of the stranger ideas that the various defense contractors were trying to sell the military. One of the things that was fun about being on post was when several of the my fellow instructors (and myself) got to evaluate some of this new gear.
This thread should be called....Why Engineers Should Never be Allowed to Design Combat Gear Without a Soldier Standing Behind Them, Holding a Blunt Metal Object. Among some of the odd designs that General Dynamics proposed for the M-1 were: To help the tankers munch their MREs...it was proposed to mount a microwave oven in the turret, failing that, there was a proposal to mount a hot plate next to the driver, along with a coffee pot. Had to stop and consider the coffee pot, but I had to vote no (and to think that people say your vote doesn't matter?)! There was a large debate about the secondary armament, there were these choices: 7.62 is so passe! GD wanted to be cutting edge so they had a demo that mounted a co-axial .50, a .50 on the TC hatch and a Mark 19 on the loaders hatch. It was fun to watch on the firing range, but ammo storage was a bit of a problem. The original tanks had Royal Navy designers, this is why so many naval terms are used on tanks to describe the various fittings...to carry on this historical legacy, it was proposed to mount a periscope on the TC coupla...one that rose to a height of 10 meters, had a laser-rangefinder and a turret override that allowed the TC to scope his target, range to it, and then snap the turret online with the target. On the demo, the periscope jammed. It was proposed to mount a Cummings V-12 multi-fuel in place of the turbine. The new power plant failed to give any improvement over the turbine. The proposal to mount an auxiliary power pack to save fuel. Just picture a sheet metal extension hanging off the right rear hull, and mounting a Honda generator, you get the idea. The mockup of an M-1, with a TC coupla about 1 meter higher than the normal one, mounting a .50 on one side and 2 Stingers on the other. Yup! Your defense dollars, hard at work!
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#124
11-09-2010, 10:50 AM
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You might have room for all that in the turret, considering a friend of mine was able to have sex in one during REFORGER 85...
__________________
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com
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#125
11-09-2010, 12:26 PM
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Quote:
The all time record happened to a tank crew from the 1st Armored back in 1979...their tank blew a oil line during a REFORGER, and they spent five days broken down, right next to a women's college. Wouldn't have believed it, but the lucky SOBs had the pictures to prove it! 
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#126
11-09-2010, 12:39 PM
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Webstral
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#127
11-09-2010, 02:05 PM
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Me, waiting for cable guy to show up, who's supposed to be here between 1 and 3, and it's past 2:00...at least I get a $25 credit if they're late.
__________________
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com
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#128
11-09-2010, 02:45 PM
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Quote:
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#129
11-09-2010, 02:51 PM
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Last time I broke down was on a farm in Germany. The farmer turned out have been a tank gunner with the 1st SS Panzer Division. Had served 2 years on the Ost Front, survived Normandy and was taken prisoner around Stoumount during the Battle of the Bulge. Take about some wild stories!!! And fifty years later, STILL a Nazi!
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#130
11-09-2010, 04:07 PM
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Quote:
__________________
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com
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#131
11-09-2010, 05:20 PM
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Quote:
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#132
11-09-2010, 05:54 PM
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Yeah, that's because of one MAJOR reason--
The British Army marches on its spent tea-bags, not its stomach. Seriously, I got addicted to tea because of my father, I can easily use up 80 teabags (2 bags in a 2 litre (4 pint) teapot) in about 2-3 weeks, depending how much free time I have, which is a lot now I am out of a job. Other funny story that I have from my father, also happened in Northern Ireland. One day while my father was helping the REME rewire one of the "police stations" (more like armoured citadel), my father went to give a cup of tea to the guy in the raised turret that gives the commanding view of the area (like on old castles), my dad left his cup of tea on a window sill and climbed up, just as he reached the top, an explosion pushed him up a bit, spilling a hot cup of tea, well.... The explosion was attributed to a SAM launched by some pissed off Irishmen, and had hit the window my father left his cup of tea in, the downside, was that it took 6 months to get a replacement cup from the QM Sgt, as no one would believe "Cup destroyed acting as decoy to shoulder launched SAM missile"
__________________
Newbie DM/PM/GM Semi-experienced player Mostly a sci-fi nut, who plays a few PC games. I do some technical and vehicle drawings in my native M20 scale. - http://braden1986.deviantart.com/
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#133
11-09-2010, 07:08 PM
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Yeah, the BV in our Panther when I was in Afghanistan was being worked constantly to provide tea. Hence the most junior person in the vehicle was appointed as the BV commander, a post that generally filled them with pride until they discovered what the job entailed.
I have here an image of a BV commander discharging his duties in serving the evening meal to his distinguised colleagues: 
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#134
11-10-2010, 08:24 AM
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Junior Officers and directions...
Hate to bring up that stereotype of the lost lieutenant again but I'd always considered it a joke till I experienced it myself a couple of months back.
We were on the battalion/brigade infantry assessment, not sure which one, it was quite possibly the most confusing exercise I've ever been on (Not that I've been on too manY!). Supposedly three medical companies were represented but there was severe scarcity and so most of our guys got pinched for the aid post and ambulance crew. Naturally still being an FNG, I got assigned to an infantry platoon of around two dozen individuals, almost full strength, with a depressingly optimistic lieutenant. Everything was grand till the night exercise.... Since this is the Irish countryside, we found ourselves hopping over cattle fences repeatedly and blundering through generally boggy terrain. Somehow we bumped into another platoon at one fence and the two officers sat down to puzzle out where they thought they were. Then invited others to join. Now please imagine around forty tooled up soldiers, kneeling and sitting in a big clump in the grass and arguing over the maps. After much discussion, we headed off again. Ten minutes later we found out that two of the recruits from the other platoon were with us accidentally. Cue me being dispatched to go looking for a camoflagued platoon in the dark with the two newbs to bring them back. The platoon gave vague assurances that "they'd wait a while". Then trying to find my way back to the platoon.....people wearing DPM, lying in the grass at night, are hard to see! I eventually made my way onto a road and found the platoon around twenty minutes later, an assistant machine gunner being sent into a hostel to ask directions. We'd managed to blunder through at least six miles of some farmers land and arrived back suspiciously early at the camp. Thankfully no one consulted the MP's pulling security to find out that we'd cut our losses and marched back along the road!
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#135
11-10-2010, 11:27 AM
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We call them compass exercises, because the new lieutenants always seem to be marching off in all directions!
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#136
11-10-2010, 04:26 PM
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I think I found the problem there mate.
Sober Irishmen CANNOT do anything properly, like a drunk Englishman I should know, I am Irish, just thanks to naval law, English by birth...
__________________
Newbie DM/PM/GM Semi-experienced player Mostly a sci-fi nut, who plays a few PC games. I do some technical and vehicle drawings in my native M20 scale. - http://braden1986.deviantart.com/
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#137
11-10-2010, 04:54 PM
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Here's one... a certain Major set up his tent just outside of the wire in Korea. He goes to sleep. During his sleep, he rolls over -- and finds his face in excrement. The warmth inside the tent had melted what was a solid mass when he set it up. No end to ribbing on that one...
__________________
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com
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#138
11-10-2010, 06:31 PM
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one FTX, in the Black Forest, a newbie thinks that sleeping on a tank is just too, well hard. He decides to spread his sleeping bag on the ground and passes out. About 230, we are awakened by screaming and the sounds of bodies running through the underbrush.
It seems that the newbie felt something tugging on the straps on the end of his bag, so he sat up, thinking that some of the old timers were playing "fuck with the new guy" again. NOPE! He was face to face with a German Wild Boar!!!! The amazing thing is that he escaped from the bag, without unzipping it, i.e. he squeezed his body though a hole less than 9 inches in diameter!
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#139
11-10-2010, 07:05 PM
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Quote:
I represent that remark about sober Irishmen. Mike O'Donnell 
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#140
11-10-2010, 09:34 PM
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One time up at Ft. Drum NY, we had a run-in with some super-aggressive raccoons. They'd come into the tracks at night, to rummage in the CVC bags, so we thought we'd be smart. We taped up the end of an M16 cleaning rod so it was tight in the barrel, and loaded it down the barrel of an M60, with a blank in the chamber. Raccoon came a little too close, and BLAM, we let him have it. I swear to god that the cleaning rod went straight through this thing. He just turned at us (about 15m away or so) and hissed, but didn't give ground. Needless to say, for the rest of the FTX, we slept in the tracks, but buttoned up 
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#141
11-11-2010, 05:53 AM
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#142
11-11-2010, 07:35 AM
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Quote:
Back on-topic - I was in a very unique position for my last year on active duty. Our Brigade Commander (Colonel, O-6) wanted to try a new thing out, so he cross-leveled an M2A2 Bradley to the Brigade HQ, and I got tapped for the crew. I was part Scout/dismount, part gunner. When we were on the move, if the Colonel was on board, he was BC, the BC slid to the gunners slot, and I went to the back. Most of the time he wasn't on board, so I gunned. We gutted the crew compartment, ripped out all of the seats, the TOW racks, etc. On the right side of the crew compartment we installed 2 radios and an msrt satellite phone. On the left side, we installed a giant folding map-board. During the counter-recon phase of the battle the Colonel would take the Bradley out to the front lines where we'd setup in a good vantage point and he'd direct the battle. When things got hot, he'd hop in his humvee and ske-daddle, while we provided overwatch. Then, we'd join in the counter-recon battle. Sometimes, we were tasked with rear-area security (such as the time a recon platoon of BMP's rolled into the medics area ). Other times we focused on counter-recon, hunting down BMPs that the Humvee scouts couldn't handle.Other times, we'd get special missions. We had one mission where we had to escort some Spanish Army emissaries (Generals, etc.) that were there for a dog and pony show to see how the US Army operated in the field. However, due to the rules of the box they were given full Miles gear, casualty cards, etc, and we played it as if they were really on the battlefield. Well, the S-3 (a Major who shall remain nameless) was assigned to escort them around, and we were assigned security. This Major was a real head-case. West Point grad, thought he was gods gift to the US Army. So he takes the emissaries in a bunch of humvees to show them the FEBA and to observe the beginning stages of the battle. If any of you remember Hohenfels, there is this terrain feature called 'the peanut' just south of Old Baldy. It's a small hill, that gives a great view of a valley, and the chokepoint that the opfor has to plow through to attack it. So what does the Major do? Drive right up onto the Peanut, skylining us all for anyone with a clue to spot us. We radioed up to him, to alert him to the situation, but he just got very annoyed and told us to clear the airwaves. Wonderful I thought, this is starting our GREAT. About 20 minutes later, he gets the Spanish setup right on top of the peanut, in plain view of pretty much the entire world. We setup in a bushline, trying to get as much cover as we can, but its useless. So we're scanning the battlefield, and what do we spot? About 1200m away or so, we see an Opfor BMP, with a guy standing on top. Binocs in one hand, a mic in the other, looking right at us. We tried to engage him, but he was too far away for the Miles lasers to register a hit. We radio this over to the Major, saying we need to grab the Spanish and go, as we're about to get bombarded. Of course, he wants NOTHING to do with that, and tells us (again) to get off the airwaves. Sure enough, about 3 minutes later a whole group of OC's comes up and starts chucking flash-bangs and smoke grenades everywhere. Apparently, there was a bounty on my Bradley with the OC soldiers - they knew the Colonel had a Bradley, and were gunning for it. With 5 antennas on it, it was obvious who we were. They dropped an entire battalion of arty on our heads, and no-one survived, Spanish emissaries and all. I guess they got to see how the graves registration process worked in the US Army though, bu t they didn't see the battle It was only one of two times in my career I was killed by OpFor forces (the other was the 'wrong place at the wrong time' - our OP was setup, and they happened to randomly drop a nerve gas bombardment right next to us).After the op, we got back to the Brigade TOC. The Colonel was PISSED! He came over to us, and we told him what happened. Never saw the old man so angry in my life. He LAID INTO the Major, up one side, down the other for what seemed like an eternity. We mostly hid inside the Bradley, but heard such choice quotes as 'how DARE you get my Bradley killed like that' and something about 'gross incompetence'. Apparenltly, the Colonel had a side-bet with the OpFor Colonel that 'his' Bradley wouldn't get killed, and he lost because of the Major Good times
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#143
11-11-2010, 07:02 PM
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This happened at Graf
A M-60A3 from 1st Armored was taking a short cut inbetween two ranges. The TC did not have his gun tube elevated and when the driver hit a soft patch of ground, they stuck the muzzle into the mud. The driver climbed out and scooped the mud out and ran a short section of ramrod with a brush on the end. Then looked in and proclaimed the tube "clear" Neither the driver, or the tank commander thought to open the breech block and look through the tube. When this tank got to the range, they loaded TPDS and opened fire. The mud wad that was stuck in the tube, blocked passage of the shell and peeled open the tube like a bananna. Force of the explosion shattered all three driver's periscopes as well as the gunner's periscope head...
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#144
11-11-2010, 08:06 PM
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I bet heads rolled for that!
__________________
If it moves, shoot it, if not push it, if it still doesn't move, use explosives. Nothing happens in isolation - it's called "the butterfly effect" Mors ante pudorem
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#145
11-12-2010, 05:31 AM
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Quote:
Needless to say, there was a lot of inspections of gun tubes before anyone fired on the next round of Table VIIIs!!!
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#146
11-12-2010, 04:10 PM
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It there any way to swab out a tank gun barrel from the breech?
__________________
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons...First We Take Manhattan, Jennifer Warnes Entirely too much T2K stuff here: www.pmulcahy.com
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#147
11-13-2010, 04:05 AM
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Your bore staff comes in 4-foot long sections, you don't have enough space in between the breech and the rear of the turret to feed the staff in. Normal practise is to feed the staff in from the muzzle, and have someone inside the turret ready to change the head, wrap cloth around the bell ramer, etc.
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#148
11-13-2010, 05:08 AM
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I can go one better on the Ft Drum raccoons. During my one brief trip to Drum my Bradley crew and I watched what had to be the dumbest guy in the New Jersey National Guard chase a skunk around a dumpster with a stick. It ended about like you'd guess . . .
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#149
11-13-2010, 10:18 AM
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During a FTX in Graf, the unit Chemical Officer decided to pull a fast one. The SOB poured a dozen bags of CS powder on the trank trail and then covered it with dust. Needless to say the first tank made it through okay, but the rest of us....
Nothing like a troops worth of vehicles scattered over a click of trail... And the Chemical Officer....failed to get permission from Range Control, and since the Lieutenant Colonel was riding the trail right after our convey, and he didn't have a protective mask... Ahhhhh, nothing like watching a Captain locked up in front of a light Colonel, getting a most impressive butt-chewing!
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#150
11-16-2010, 03:14 PM
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Here is an example of just how stupid the Green Machine can get.
While stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, we were notifed of an FTX that would take place over the Thanksgiving holiday. To make the FTX even more miserable, a Texas "Norther" blew through. For those of you lucky souls that have managed to avoid this form of weather, a "norther" is very cold, wet, windy and involves unseasonable snow. To make matters even more enjoyable, our brigade commander had a personnel mission to remove heaters from military vehicles "in order to reduce our infra red signature". Yup! nothing like central Texas in 27 degree weather and a foot of snow/ice/slush to make the holidays memorable! But that wasn't what PO'd the enlisted men. Nope! We took the weather in stride and proceeded to chase OPFER around the maneuver area. Thanksgiving Day dawned to a admin halt. Our officers were called to a high level staff meeting with the Brigade commander. Since it is somewhat unusual for all of the officers to attend a meeting, several scouts decided to perform a security patrol. Our intention was to ambush a "roach coach" and score some sodas and something other than C-rations. We were a little surprised to see a lot of activity ongoing in a nearby clearing so we snooped in to see what was going on. Our Brigade Commander had arranged for several large tents to be set up and was hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner for his officers and their families. It was quite a spread! Everything served piping hot, white tablecloths, china, even wine for the usual toasts... Did I mention that Thanksgiving Dinner for the troops was cold C-Rations, seems that the Brigade Commander pulled all of the unit cooks for the Officer's Dinner. The credit of my fellow scouts, we kept our grumbling to ourselves, but the news of what had happened got out fairly quickly. But what impressed me the most was the Turkey Revolt. It seems that the Brigade Commander's little operation pissed off a lot of officers. They took up a collection among themselves and later that night cooked, delivered and served to the troops a hot Thanksgiving dinner. Kudo's to them! And the Brigade Commander, well the Division Commander was less than pleased when the details came to his attention. Nothing offical ever happened, but our Brigade Commander was relieved of his command to attend a General Staff course, and was later assigned to a Public Information Officer's slot at the Pentagon. To the best of my knowledge, he was never appointed to command a unit again.
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