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Cannoneer Zen

By The Armorer on March 22, 2006 | | Comments (34)

Especially since it makes Infantry duck and tankers go into at least "open protective". And that's the ones on your side.

A Marine 75mm Pack Howitzer artillery emplacement on Bougainville-Dec1943

Some Redleg Marines having a moment of gunner zen on Bougainville, December 1943.

I will leave it open for the snarks sure to emanate from the CANZSTAAC* Denizens.

Canada And New Zealand Snark The Artillery/Armorer Corps...

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34 Comments

By Fred on March 22, 2006 7:56 AM
I thought Gunner zen came from when they have elevation set zero/negative, shot is loaded, and all the gun crew have decided that twiddly little infantry small arms would be welcome addition to their usual repertoire. In fact, isn't satori achieved when the gunner's are happy to see the infantry sharing positions with them?
 
By Fred on March 22, 2006 7:56 AM
I thought Gunner zen came from when they have elevation set zero/negative, shot is loaded, and all the gun crew have decided that twiddly little infantry small arms would be welcome addition to their usual repertoire. In fact, isn't satori achieved when the gunner's are happy to see the infantry sharing positions with them?
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 8:13 AM
The sound of one Fred posting Echoes in the Great Hall. Small 'trons die Unmourned.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 8:15 AM
Q. How can you can tell that's a Marine howitzer? A. By the bayonet stud...
 
By Fuzzybear Lioness on March 22, 2006 8:16 AM
I see our Sugarbuttons is in fine form today... :D
 
By MajMike on March 22, 2006 8:17 AM
what a cute little pop gun... looks just like something that could get mildly annoying (might go to chin strap defilade, but the hatches are staying open).
 
By Were-Kitten on March 22, 2006 9:07 AM
Gotta luv half-nekkid boys firing off big guns first thing in the morning! WOOT!
 
By Were-Kitten on March 22, 2006 9:09 AM
btw, John... "Especially since it makes Infantry duck" What I want to know is... What makes Infantrymen goose? I'm MUCH more interested in being goosed by an Infantryman than being ducked by one. *shakes tail feathers at boys*
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 9:14 AM
The pack howitzer's light enough to drag around the dance floor but big enough to give the target a nosebleed. And I *do* b'lieve that the M4 Sherman (aka, "The Ronson") used the 75mm popgun, too...
 
By jim b on March 22, 2006 9:15 AM
There are no Marine "Red Legs".
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 9:21 AM
No Marine Red Legs? Ever see a Tiger Team after they went for a stroll in the paddies? Lotta red legs--especially after they started Leech Removal Ops...
 
By jim b on March 22, 2006 9:28 AM
God loves leeches he made so many of them.
 
By Cricket on March 22, 2006 10:04 AM
Oh goody. Cannon haiku. Lessee: He gives direction Gun ready Blasts others to h***
 
By Bad Cat Robot on March 22, 2006 11:05 AM
Concur yr analysis, Were-Kitten. Hooah! Is the technical term for this BUU -- Battle Undress Uniform?
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 11:20 AM
I *knew* that pic would get her nose out of the N2O beaker... There's no technical term for it, but it's commonly known as going into "we're so far from the real shooting that we can work on our tans" mode. They're still wearing helmets because there's just *no* place in a gun pit to put the darn things where they won't be constantly underfoot. Ever turn your ankle on an inverted helmet? I know a guy who did and said it was really, really painful. But he was in a VIP-flight outfit and considered eating cold C-rats really, really painful...
 
By Were-Kitten on March 22, 2006 1:20 PM
Bill, I've never turned *anything* in a helmet- inverted, or not. Of course, I've turned *other* things while inverted.....but that's another story.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 1:33 PM
Reminds me--I've been meaning to ask you how the padding is holding up in the chandelier...
 
By Were-Kitten on March 22, 2006 1:52 PM
Come on up and inspect it yourself, Chief. I'll give you the personalized tour....
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 2:04 PM
Awwwww, thanks--but you *know* how acrophobic I am...
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 22, 2006 3:54 PM
Heh. Go to bed... and wake up to find a mess! MAJMike - ya might find the HEAT round for that thing somewhat disconcerting... And, like Bill said, comparing your recent mounts to older stuff is... so declasse. And I seemed to recall that all those gallant COTLB tankers who cavalierly disregarded and dismissed artillery at the NTC were a buncha cautious whiners during Desert Storm, alla time asking if we'd killed the Iraqi artillery yet, had we, huh? Huh? Huh? Had we yet? Had we? Apropos of nothing, of course. lanyard gripped loosely gun ready eyes gleaming brightly
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 22, 2006 3:57 PM
There are no Marine "Red Legs". That will come as a great shock to the Marine Det at Fort Sill.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 22, 2006 3:58 PM
eyes gleaming brightly That's the reflection off yer glasses...
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 22, 2006 5:03 PM
Heh. And the CANZSTAACs haven't made an appearance...
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on March 22, 2006 9:59 PM
"I think it went that-a-way ..." "Aim, before firing? Wow, I'd never thought of that!" "Heh, if you look through here, you can see they're a lot bigger." "When Joe turn that crank there, when we fire the gun, we get what we call a zone of dispersion. Like all over there." "It's easy! As soon as they stop, like over there where we're aiming, BAMM, they're dead!" "Well, we can shoot "All over the place". Cheers JMH
 
By cw4billt on March 22, 2006 10:31 PM
Well, the upstairs neighbor showed, finally. "Okay, lads, the Major said if we keep looking this good in practice, tomorrow he's gonna give us a *live* round..." Since Murray hasn't checked in yet, I figured I'd comment for him.
 
By TmjUtah on March 22, 2006 10:56 PM
December 1943? Bouganville? High Summer down under, and in a particularly nasty,hot, humid, muddy jungle. I think those helmets are on because they, unlike shirts, might deflect an infiltrator's bullet or a mortar fragment. Or possibly because helmets are part of sarge's "by the numbers" for live fire. No flak jackets for ground troops until Korea, if I remember correctly. The 75 pack howitzer was often deployed where an FO could adjust fires by shout. Or pointing a finger. Or they just aimed at the moonlight reflecting off of swords and bayonets.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 23, 2006 8:33 AM
The helmets are probably on as much for psychological value as physical protection. There are times and places you just don't feel right without one. I used to work with a WWII vet who made the trip from Sicily up the boot to the Mannerheim Line with a pack howitzer battery. He was the muleskinner--nobody else in the outfit could get the beasties to hold still when it came time to CSMO.
 
By jim b on March 23, 2006 10:00 AM
As we all know the tag "Red Leg" has to do with a center stripe on the Army Dress Blues. There are also blue legs, orange etc (not pink or so I hear) Marines do not feel compelled to put colored markers on their artillerymen, so they can develop branch pride. To my knowledge the only people who wear 'red tabs' in the Corps are Shore Party people so that they can be readily identified on the beach as they direct traffic.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 23, 2006 11:46 AM
Jim - Alas, the Army Dress Blues have a plain gold stripe on the pants. But at least nobody's hit on the term "Yellowlegs" yet. The red stripe originated in the Civil War, probably as an aid to help nearsighted Confederate scouts differentiate between a Union artillery outfit and a cavalry one, since both were found in close proximity to horses...
 
By jim b on March 23, 2006 12:13 PM
My bad, I seem to have remembered a thin red stripe down the center of the yellow stripe, during our 'orientation to Army uniforms' while at Fort Swill, some time back. I also seem to remember a red neck scarf thingie they wore. Infantry wore blue, Engineers orange and so forth. There is the fog of war, and the fog of memories of long past events.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 23, 2006 12:41 PM
Ah, yes--the really cool-looking (but totally useless) Branch-Colored Bib. Since I used to was a Field Artillery (red) branched Aviator (golden orange) commanding an Infantry (blue) company, guess what color scarf I was told I had to wear for parades? Teal. I never even knew there *was* such a color. I'd always thought of teal as something to hang on the wall and I called that particular color "turquoise". Silly me...
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 23, 2006 3:37 PM
Bill - Cavalry were called Yellowlegs when in disfavor... Jim - you are partially correct - on the Army Dress Blue uniform, there *is* a branch color stripe in the center of the gold *sleeve* braid. And on the Mess Dress, it's the facing color of the lapels. On *my* Mess Dress (the old, and far superior style with soutache on the sleeve denoting rank, you also had branch insignia nested inside the trefoils of the soutache. (how many people's brains just shut down over that sentence, I wonder). But people whined about they couldn't tell what people's rank was, so we ditched the branch insignia and put rank insignia there instead. Which means that I could (horror!) be taken for an Duckhunter or an Earthpig, as we shate the same basic branch color. Sigh.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on March 23, 2006 4:32 PM
Yeah, and the trefoils comprising the soutache cost an arm and a leg, too. But it used to be a chuckle watching the gavotte that ensued as the Ladies peered at various wrists trying to figure out their pecking order while the wrists' owners were utilizing them in conjunction with 8-ounce elbow-curls. *sound of additional brains shutting down*
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 24, 2006 1:40 AM
Just in case there are any functional brains left... since the change in soutache came with a promotion, you just needed to budget your promo party better... I've kept my old Mess Dress. I'll be damned if I'm giving up my cannon for the lazy bastages. I can still fit the jacket. I shudder to think about the trousers, what with that high waist and all.
 
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