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Troops in Iraq...

By The Armorer on February 20, 2006 | | Comments (15)

...but we auld soldiers see echoes, too.

Strategy Page has a good series of pics on troops in Iraq. I cherry-picked a few that resonated.

1. The real kicker for me here is the Air Force ETAC just off the ramp, on the left. This is the first war in a long while where it's the enlisted side of the Air Force taking most of the risks.

Bradley in Iraq - note the AF guy just off the ramp on the left.

2. Great shot of the add-on protection for Bradley commanders. Remind anyone of the old ACAV shields? I used to have one of those on my FISTV (Dave, that was *before* the Hammerhead version) - just a standard M113A1.

Bradley commander's position with armor glass.

3. Air Assault! Anyone who's served since the 1960's will have some resonance with this one. Bill might have some *bad* resonances.

Air Assault!

4. Iraq war gun pr0n. The M24 Sniper. I've always liked this rifle, from life as an M14 to it's 30 year plus career as a sniper. Here's an easy test. How can you be reasonably sure that's an M14/24 and *not* an M1A/M-14S (the latter is the Chinese Norinco copy)? Besides the fact that it appears to be in the hands of a troop?

OIF Gun Pr0n - the M24 Sniper Rifle.

5. All soldiers, all eras, will recognize this. Sleep when you can. Period.

It's *always* nap time if the situation allows for it.

If you'd like hi-res versions of these pictures - go visit Strategy Page.

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15 Comments

By cw4(ret)billt on February 20, 2006 8:16 AM
#3. No treelines with camouflaged bunkers or 12.7mm positions, no rice paddy dikes with camouflaged firing pits, no bamboo poles strung with fishing line to trigger mechanical ambushes, no spider holes camouflaged with vegetation mats dug into various spots in the Zee, no smoke from the prep fires and the troops aren't prone and oriented on their rear. I'm jealous as all get-out...
   
By Jon The Mechanic on February 20, 2006 9:34 AM
I concur. ESPECIALLY since the rotorhead is trying to aim at my kneecaps.
 
By Pogue on February 20, 2006 9:42 AM
Nope, that's an M-14 as opposed to an M1A. You can clearly see the connector and the cap over the selector. (Almost all issued M14s have the selector locked out, as I'm sure the Armorer knows.) I don't think Norinco made any selective fire versions, did they? Although Taiwan did have the Type 57. Interestingly enough, all of the M14 Designated Marksman rifles I saw coming through Kuwait with the troops were actually M14s as oppossed to M21's. While most of the differences are internal the M21 had the hooded rear match sight instead of the standard peep. The optics we're putting on them now are much better than the ART scopes/mounts that were used through Viet Nam. Mostly Leupold M3's with a scattering of other models. (Pre post checklist ... correct article?... check! spelling?... how am I supposed to know? I can't spell!!!)
 
By Cowboy Blob on February 20, 2006 10:11 AM
Federal Ordnance, a defunct California company, marketed an M1A clone as the M-14S. Got rid of mine last year and got an M1A SOCOM-16. Much happier now.
 
By Krafty on February 20, 2006 11:54 AM
Pogue - nice recap on the M14/21. I used one for 3 yrs in the mid-80's. The main difference between the 2 internally was that the insides of the M21 were set in fiberglass. The only maint we could do on them was run a rod through the barrel and clean the chamber. I'm not sure of the frequency, but we had to send them to Frankfurt to have them broken down and cleaned(I was in Berlin). They also had heavy barrels on them. We had a 14-man Sniper section and most of us had ART-II scopes, though a few were still using ART-I's. Interestingly, while looking thru an Army Times there was an article on Marksmanship Training Teams Training Salvadoran snipers on ART-VI series! What a kick in the ass that was!
 
By Blake Kirk on February 20, 2006 1:10 PM
Yeah, picture #3 is some of the boys from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Abn. The four infantry brigades in the 101st have resumed wearing brigade/regimaental ID patches on the sides of their helmets. Clubs for 1st Brigade/327th Inf, Hearts for 2nd Brigade/502nd Inf, Spades for 4th Brigade/506th Inf, and a Japanese torii (temple gate,) for the 3rd Brigade/187th Inf, (whereat I hang my hat when I'm at work.) The first three go back to painted helmet markings used during the Normandy Invasion, and the guys in 3rd Herd went along 'cause the CG thought it was a neat idea. The question I have now is whether the 506th guys, (since we've got that regimental flag back into the fight,) are going to ask U. S. Playing Card Co. to make them some more decks of cards with nothing in them but the Bicycle deck Ace of Spades?
 
By MaryAnn on February 20, 2006 3:07 PM
So I'm sitting watching TV recently with a guy from the 506th Infantry who was here for medical treatment when they show a bunch of those lunatics burning Danish embassies and his eyes get all squinty and glinty and stuff and he mutters something about wishing he had his M24. I tell him to chill cause he's in Germany now. Quickly realizing the stupidity of that statement - us being smack in the middle of Eurabia and all - I turn to him and say, "On the other hand, Babe, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
 
By cw4(ret)billt on February 20, 2006 3:14 PM
Hmmmmmmm--the ol' Ace of Spades trick. Dropping one in the vicinity of recently-deceased NLF or PAVN was a psyop ploy--the little Statue of Liberty in the Ace looked like Buddhist depictions of a particularly truculent demoness. Dunno if it'll have more impact than any other form of calling-card in SWA, but, after all is said and done, it *is* a calling-card...
 
By ry on February 20, 2006 5:07 PM
Greaaaaat. Now I've got Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades' going thru my noggin on repeat. Ain't Death Cards considered illegal or something)treating the dead in a less than honorable or derogatory manner)? Wouldn't HRW or other ngo go ballistic if such things showed up? Nice psyop, but the bedwetters proll'y won't let you do it
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 20, 2006 5:21 PM
While you are probably correct in most of the particulars, Ry, when I see HRW slamming the jihadis for hanging burned bodies off a bridge... *then* I might give a listen.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on February 20, 2006 10:51 PM
A *Death* Card? Perish the thought. Merely GI shorthand for "We were here. You were, too, but now we're someplace else, looking for your buddies and you're still here..." Soooooo unlike a true Death Card, most of which read, "Congratulations! You have just been killed courtesy of _______________."
 
By cw4(ret)billt on February 20, 2006 10:58 PM
And, lest somebody jump in with a quick, "You people are just *awful*!",you are gently reminded that the opposition used Death Cards, too. But they were usually short of paper, so they substituted body parts for cardstock...
 
By OD on February 21, 2006 9:29 PM
Can it be a gun mistake by John the Armourer? Your photo caption says that gun is an M24. Surely the M24 is a bolt-action rifle? I know it's just a typo but can't resist mocking.
 
By John of Argghhh! on February 21, 2006 9:37 PM
No, Owen, it's a mistake. I said M24, I meant M21, but it's well, a mistake. Everybody else was polite to the old fart. Sigh. Whatta I expect from some hopeless leftylib expat Brit living in Canada? 8^)
 
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