Last time I saw footage of an 106mm Recoiless Rifle being employed by our forces, was in Beirut 1983. As I understand, the M40A2/A4 was taken out of service shortly thereafter, and tucked into to bed in places like Anniston Army Depot. Well, after a Rip Van Winkle like slumber of 25-years, our old trusted friend has been tapped for a wakey-wakey in our efforts in Afghanistan.
The clip below is purportedly from FOB Naray, and it shows Spec. Ops. Operators having some trigger-time with the beastie.
NOTE: Mildly Salty language is employed in this clip, and not appropriate to play in button-down environments.
The old trusty 106mm, will certainly be an asset in providing direct fire perimeter protection to the FOB. Besides, I am certain that Crane, holds in its vast climate-controlled system of bunkers, plenty of HEAT-T and APERS-T rounds to go around for many years to come.
Could any readers out there, provide input on how we are using the "Reckless" now a days?
Boq
The clip below is purportedly from FOB Naray, and it shows Spec. Ops. Operators having some trigger-time with the beastie.
NOTE: Mildly Salty language is employed in this clip, and not appropriate to play in button-down environments.
The old trusty 106mm, will certainly be an asset in providing direct fire perimeter protection to the FOB. Besides, I am certain that Crane, holds in its vast climate-controlled system of bunkers, plenty of HEAT-T and APERS-T rounds to go around for many years to come.
Could any readers out there, provide input on how we are using the "Reckless" now a days?
Boq
Also, now folk can see why those cans of backblast were so important and why the supply guys also liked to hoard those without ever sharing.
Based on personal conversation with a few nameless Army SF types, I basically have no comment.
However it might be a way for them to adjust for the fact that the ROE are so restrictive, they are evaluating ways to acquire an immediate asset to defend themselves without waiting for a note from the top of the food chain for Air Support / Fire Support.
Is it really getting that bad?
I have never served as a SF type. I have however been a company commander (much larger group of friends). I developed a real affection for the company commander's "hip pocket" artillery (60MM mortar).
Operations they typically execute involve missions where you take 11 of your best friends and do (fill in the blank). You are your own immediate response team.
The 106 reckless rifle may work in an outpost type thing, I doubt it is even a consideration for fast moving actions. Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle is a more portable option, and there are others.
What I am simply saying is that when danger is only seconds away, you don't want help to be minutes away .... or more.
'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war:' US generals given baffling PowerPoint presentation to try to explain Afghanistan mess
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 5:38 PM on 28th April 2010
Its coloured charts, graphs and bullet-points are supposed to make the most incomprehensible data crystal clear.
But even the sharpest military minds in American were left baffled by this PowerPoint slide, a mind-boggling attempt to explain the situation in Afghanistan.
'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war,' General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO force commander, remarked wryly when confronted by the sprawling spaghetti diagram in a briefing."
Once again "Death by Powerpoint" Where is that young soldier who did this?
1) We had a 90mm reckless for a while. Those flechette rounds, in spite of their sissyfied name, were a thing of infantry beauty. Paraphrasing, "Say hello to all my little friends.
2) My favorite Platoon Sergeant used to say, "First we get the capability, then we work on the redundancy." One is good, two is better, and three is "oh my".
From the Canonical Murphy's Laws of Combat:
"Just because the bastid fell down when you shot at him doesn't mean you killed him. In fact, he may have just tripped, and you missed completely."
"When in doubt, empty the mag."
I thought it went:
If at first, your fire dont hit, fire, fire again.
LT Sam Nuxoll, who made the comment, has been promoted and is still in the military.
Cpt Crispin Burke, who wrote an essay about PowerPoint on the Web site Small Wars Journal that cited Lieutenant Nuxoll’s comment, is also still on active duty .
I actually commented on that article yesterday on my blog.
My understanding was that they only got the 105 Hows after most of the still serviceable Recoilless ammo has been used up/scrapped.
One of our local avalanche folks apparently did not realize he was supposed to pull some of the charge increments from one of the 105 H rounds before loading it. He ended up putting it over the mountain top and into someone's back yard, fortunately without any casualties or serious damage.