...or are hiding on the back sides of hills or in the urban canyons. For those, you grab the High Angle sticks. If your maximum ordinate is high enough, you have to call Dusty and make sure it's okay with him. Bill, not so much.
Other targets are closer - and you snag the Low Angle sticks from the fire direction kit. Or, worse yet, you, as the Gunner, can *see* them (we prefer to leave that kind of simple gunnery to the DATs* and DAGs*) and you have to resort to the (shudder) gunner's elbow telescope (this being the M114) and go all direct fire on 'em.
And that concludes today's Moment of Gunner Zen.
*DAT= Dumb-A$$ Tanker.
*DAG=Dumb-A$$ Grunt.
Terms of endearment, I assure you.
Somewhere, somewhen in the sandbox, some Redlegs engage in some High Angle fires...
Oh, who am I kidding - today they use the computers the Auld Soldier and I (and many many others) helped develop for them over the years. Unless they can see the target. And if they can, well, the DATs and DAGs have flunked their MTEP tasks!Maj. Gen. Tod Carmony, the commander of the 38th Infantry Division, and former commanders yank the lanyard together firing the last round for the M198 howitzer during a retirement ceremony for the M198 at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Ind., on September 18, 2010. The M198 howitzer is being replaced by the M777 howitzer, which is smaller and approximately 40 percent lighter.
And that concludes today's Moment of Gunner Zen.
*DAT= Dumb-A$$ Tanker.
*DAG=Dumb-A$$ Grunt.
Terms of endearment, I assure you.
Gunner's elbow telescope?
*pffft*
Orient in their cardinal direction and unload Beehive on 'em...
Bill - only the 105's had beehive. Us Big Boys hadda use HE in Killer Junior.
But, I like it!
My favorite (DAG) Platoon Sergeant was fond of saying, "Privates see what's on this side of the hill; Sergeants have to see what's on the other side."
Back during my all-expense-paid tour of sunny Southeast Asia, one of the really interesting parts of the workday was when we were setting up for the night and called in our first Delta Tango (determined target) so that the jungle-averse EarenSchplittenLoudenBoomer boys could find us in the dark. It did tend to remind one (DAG) of the importance of accurate map reading.
ok, maybe not..unfortunately they don't seem to do that anymore...but it would be cool if they did......
the newest thing I've seen in front of a VFW/legion post has been an M76 otter
Especially the map-reading part. Y'all were really prone to whining when we put the round right where you asked us to, but were unclear as to where you were in relation to it...
The DATs were especially prone to being satisfied knowing roughly where they were to, oh, 4 digits.
When they surplused out the M110A1 howitzers (the self-propelled 8inchers) in the 90's, if you were close enough to places like Fort Sill and Fort Riley you could score one of those, because we were phasing out the whole shebang. There are several VFW/Legion halls in Oklahoma and Kansas who have M110A1s in front of them.
So, maybe someday...
*snicker*
TINS!
A few years ago there was a British arty detachment at Pendleton conducting joint training on their big, shiny new gun. "Unbreakable!" claimed the Brits, as they detailed the numerous attempts - both deliberate and accidental -- to crack, break or otherwise make unusable assorted parts and pieces fo their big shiny. And their claims *were* true....until BIL got his hands on it. Within minutes, and completely unintentionally, said gun was returned to mainside for repairs.
We've told him several times that he should seek a job in Quality Control after retirement from the Corps. If it lasts a day with him using it, it'll never need repairs.
0>;~}
The role of the Royal Artilleryman is, as it has ever been, to fight his gun, forgetful of self, to the last round in support of other arms.
Ahem.
On a related note, once upon a time, when I was stationed up at Fort Crumble with the Puking Buzzards, a bunch of folks from that very same pony art'y (a battery? buttery? nunnery?) came over to swill cheap beer and Show The Yanks How It Is Done. Although they were all well-outfitted in that weird Brit DP camo, and had properly subdued paint jobs on trucks and carriages, for some reason, all of their tubes (105's, I believe) were shiny bare metal. What was that all about? I think I have a picture somewhere about of them at the base car wash, shining up their guns.
The newest thing I've seen in front of a VFW/legion post has been an M76 otter
One of the VFW's in our area has a UH-1H on a stick out front, while another has an M-50 Ontos, next to the umbiqitis M-48.
And would *never* diss a combat medic. There is no such thing as a DAM.
As for the shiny parts of the tubes - those are bearing surfaces relating to the recoil system and gun mount.
The two Legion Posts in Spring Lake don't have anything fun.
So, John - what would the fuze setting on an HE round be to go *boom* at the closest allowable distance? And what would that distance be?
I dunno about the DAM thing, I sure was called one on a number of occasions, mostly on that "special" sick call Wednesday mornings, when it was all hands in to the dispensary. 1.2 mil units of Penicillin in each hip must hurt a bit, I've been told.
*puts down 40' pole, goes to get a beer*
0>;~}
"Ubique": All over the place ...
Cheers