Let us indulge in some good old fashioned religion with the proper creation myth.
Of course, as with any good, simple explanation of the foundations of reality there are heresies and schismatic views..Genesis of the Field Artillery
In the beginning, there was chaos, and the chaos was the Infantry, the Queen of Battle. However, the Queen was alone. And fear was with the Infantry, so she cried out unto the Lord saying, "Lord, save us for we are afraid!"
And the Lord heard her grunts and set some of the Infantry on beasts of burden, and these He called Cavalry, and the Cavalry became Armor. And when the Lord saw what He had done, He laughed saying, "Well, you can't win them all!"
As time passed, the Infantry and the Armor again cried out unto the Lord saying, "Lord, save us, for we are afraid." The Lord heard their cries and decided to end their weeping.
The Lord said unto them, "I shall send unto you a race of men noble in heart and spirit." And the Lord created the Field Artillery, and named them the King of Battle. And the Lord said unto the Infantry and the Armor, "When it is dark, the King shall light your way. And when you need smoke, there shall be smoke, and when you need it to rain down death and destruction upon the enemy, you shall have it."
And the Lord gave the King big guns and big bullets. And the Infantry and the Armorr were jealous, for they had none. And the Lord gave the Field Artillery rockets and missiles andnukes.[see God Memorandum 13-69 regarding the lack of utility of small nukes now that the Soviets struck tents] And when the Infantry and the Armor saw this, they fell to their knees in awesome wonder, saying surely the Lord is on the side of the Field Artillery, the King of Battle.
And the Lord said, "CHECK!"
And now abide Infantry, Armorand Artillery, but the greatest of these is the FIELD ARTILLERY!
or, to t he tune of "She wore a yellow ribbon" - we put a crimson ribbon round the doughboys neck - et.cetera. A reference to the Follow Me statue at the Benning school for boys.
We actually did that one dark night in 1958 when the post was temporarily commanded by the 2d Divison Artillery CG (yes, in them days the DIVARTY was commanded by a brigader).
And the Angel said unto them, "Even though thou art great in thy magnificence, and even though the Infantry, the Cavalry, and the Artillery have grown strong in their arms, and mighty in their voice, yet shall they all be laid low together by the meekest of the Warrior race, those of the Logistics."
For even though they stride forth in greatness and power, yet shall they behumbled the clerk who demands the correct forms before the mighty might draw ammo.
Thus was friction born, barter developed, and thus endeth the lesson.
Heh. As someone who did logistics in a big way... yeah, but.
We won't all stand idly by waiting in line for our bullets, like the Brits did at Isandlwhana. Well, at least like they did in Zulu Dawn.
10-4 roger bombs away.
Back in my Army days, my favorite Platoon Sergeant told me the following:
There's a statue of an infantryman with his back pack and bayoneted weapon in the infantry training center at Fort Dix, NJ. The name of the statue is "The Ultimate Weapon." In this business, you don't have nothin' till some 20 year old with a long rifle tells you you have it.
Re: Your response to Fishmugger
Date: 17 Apr 2009, 10:25AM
It is not "didn't miss 'em." It is more like, "I just hope they miss us!"
My view, I can just hear the LORD say, "Say What!?! Talk about creative or living history. What do you call this? Ahhh, [REDACTED]! Laugh, *yeah, laugh*, it's on MY tab. You have earned it, that's more than even I can say for some. There's some truth and some humor, above all, *enjoy*!"
Then the Lord thought, "It will be good to have someone poke around in dangerous territory well before the Infantry gets there shouting, 'Follow me!' and 'We lead the way!' and suchlike phrases," so He created Scout Helicopters. Then, as an afterthought, he took the leftovers and created Observation Helicopters.
Then the Lord thought, "It will be good to have someone do the dangerous work of carrying the Infantry into dangerous territory and then extracting them when their shouts annoy those already in residence there," so He created Utility Helicopters.
Then the Lord thought, "It will be good to have someone flying cover for the Scout and Utility helicopters, and providing aerial fire support for the Infantry when the zoomies are undergoing the rigors of Crew Rest at the Club and when the Artillery is undergoing its mandatory Self-Esteem Improvement Classes," so He created Helicopter Gunships. Then, as an afterthought, he provided them with ATGMs to get the Armor to STFU for a change.
Then the Lord looked around and saw some of the minor angels goofing off, drinking beer and chasing nurses. He said, "You will be the ones to aviate, navigate, communicate, and generally make yourselves useful by flying my Helicopters. You won't get the glory or the medals everybody else gets, but you'll have more fun and the nurses will chase *you*," so He created the rank of Warrant Officer.
Then He realized that His aviators would need continuous supplies of beer, so, as an afterthought, He created Cargo Helicopters. And, as an additional afterthought, he clouded the minds of the angels who would become Cargo Helicopter pilots, so they would imagine that they were having just as much fun as the others.
Then the Lord thought, "Just to keep My beloved ground-pounding RLOs from developing an unseemly and excessive pride in themselves, I'll make the Warrants completely without ego and absolutely no concept of taking themselves seriously, and they will therefore serve as a shining example for my RLOs to emulate."
Then the Devil appeared and nullified that last bit of the Lord's work by whispering into the ear of the highest-ranking among the RLOs, "Institute General Order Number One."
'Bout time you showed up. Good lord, how much of a straight line do I have to feed you these days?
Still trollin' for Dusty, but he probably won't soil his keyboard by acknowledging us lower beings...
[makes sure radar and sound gear are operational]
Plus I threw in the "zoomie" and "crew rest" bits just to help attract Dusty.
So there.
God would not create that which cannot exist.
Cheers
The Air Force analyzed the impact pattern of the rockets and stuck a CHU/trailer park at the biggest cluster of holes -- then moved us Mercenary-Contractor-Parasites into it, cuz they needed the MODs for all the transient Air Force folks coming in to spend their two days in-country to qualify for combat pay.
And right after we move into the trailer park, we start getting tornadoes. Go figure.
I was referring to *Aviation* Warrants.
Not my fault if the Walking Warrants think they have to emulate tankers.
He's been that way ever since the last goat roast, and he's *supposed* to be over *here*...
And seeing that they were perfect, the Lord rested.
Anchorage, Alaska.
I think I'll live in Wasilla. (Those who know, know.)
Oh, and what's the equivalent of an entire battery of 105s firing simultaneously in perfect unison and hitting the same target at the same time?
That would be 1 (not 2, Bill, uno) A-10 with a stick of 6 Mk-82s.
Highly mobile across Division and Corps boundaries?
Check.
Extreme explosive power delivered in seconds?
Check.
Scouting/armed recce abilities organic to the firing unit?
Check.
Capable of engaging mobile targets?
Check.
Capable of rapidly repositioning after firing (or repositioning WHILE firing)?
Check.
Able to routinely beat Viper queers at crud?
Check.
Baddest badasses covering the Soldier/Marine in a fight (assuming the ground commander has a clue about Joint ops and an ALO/ETAC with the ability to find his ass with at least one hand)?
Who loves ya, baby?
Attila
*heh*
F-16 pilots all scream like little girls when you take 'em for an orientation ride and duck into a hover-hole in the trees at forty knots and A-10 pilots all holler, "Yeah, Baby!"...
And seeing that they were perfect, the Lord rested.
In the reality-based community, that reads a little differently..
And, on the last day, after long reviews of lessons learned by his many previous makings, the Lord made Marines.
And seeing what he created, the Lord fired the design team and called it a week, realizing he needed a break.
Yeah, *trying* is the operative word.
Cedat Fortuna Ubique.
Cheers
I was wondering if you were gonna let that one slide by you without counter battery fire.