Warthog lives to fight another day.

[Rougarou]

If its an anchor dear general, get another bird designed that will do the same thing.  bbbrrrrrraaaaaaappppp!!!!!!

 

When CAS is needed, reliability is the answer.

 

If the Air Force doesn't want it, I'd think the Army and USMC should grab them up!!!

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-passes-bill-approving-770b-in-national-defense-with-focus-on-russia-china

 

 

 

 

[TEWKS]

It’s the GS of military aircraft! 

[DaveCinNO]

Congress got it right.  The AF isn’t thinking about it’s ground support responsibilities.  there’s nothing close to the A-10 for that.  Very cool aircraft.

[John Ranalletta]

 

 

[realshelby]

I was hoping the next video would show the B1 in CLOSE air support.....so I could  make an informed decision on how to protect my ground troops. 

 

What a shame McCain was treated the way he was. We NEED that kind of support for our military. Common sense laced with experience is hard to find.....

[Rougarou]

22 minutes ago, realshelby said:

I was hoping the next video would show the B1 in CLOSE air support.....so I could  make an informed decision on how to protect my ground troops. 

 

What a shame McCain was treated the way he was. We NEED that kind of support for our military. Common sense laced with experience is hard to find.....

 

I thought that odd that they'd try to pimp a B1 for CAS, but, given the "smart" weapons, it's quite possible to be used as such as well as the lawn darts, but in reality, a low and slow bird is the way to go, it's why we have Harriers, Apaches, Cobras and the Warthog.  

 

The AC-130 Gunship is a phenomenal CAS bird.  From my tour of one in Panama in '89, the 105mm can have a round on the ground, couple in the air and one in the pipe.  Additionally, the 20mms can fill every square yard of a football field.  In '04, our Recon guys used an AC-130 to destroy their equipment after they were overrun, it was a "danger close" fire mission.

 

Outta all the fixed wings, the C-130's are my favorite.  They've been around forever and are the go-to for a multiple of operations.

 

As far as the fast flyers and high flyers,.......it's kinda nice when you can actually look up, see that helmeted head give you a nod as they pass by, only the low and slow can do that.

[Hank in WV]

Don't leave the OV 10 Bronco off the list.

[Rougarou]

5 minutes ago, Hank in WV said:

Don't leave the OV 10 Bronco off the list.

 

I saw one of those once,....bird went straight up and shat itself,.....three or four jumpers pooped out.  I thought that was the neatest thing.

[realshelby]

On 12/9/2021 at 7:22 AM, Rougarou said:

 

Outta all the fixed wings, the C-130's are my favorite.  They've been around forever and are the go-to for a multiple of operations.

 

As far as the fast flyers and high flyers,.......it's kinda nice when you can actually look up, see that helmeted head give you a nod as they pass by, only the low and slow can do that.

My Uncle done 3 tours in Vietnam. I believe the C-130 is what he talked about...being the aircraft that literally saved his life over there. Like the B-52, some things just work well and what they do isn't so easy to duplicate. One thing I always think about is how complex a machine is, how hard and expensive it is to maintain. Because if/when we ARE at war you don't always get what you need to keep things running. Simple things can save the day. 

While the attack helicopters sure are amazing, the A-10 seems like it would be significantly more immune to ground fire and missile attacks?

[ESokoloff]

On 12/9/2021 at 4:39 PM, Hank in WV said:

Don't leave the OV 10 Bronco off the list.

The OV-10 has inspired Icarus to develop This 

[TEWKS]

Little off topic but big guns are big guns. Richard, did you ever have to inform your underlings of this? 

 

[Rougarou]

2 minutes ago, TEWKS said:

Little off topic but big guns are big guns. Richard, did you ever have to inform your underlings of this? 

 

 

Ma-duece,....ya, some are timid the first time they fire her.

 

That machine gun has changed very little since it's inventing,.....it just goes to show, if something works extremely well, don't fawk with the design!!!

[MikeB60]

I'll see your Ma Deuce and raise you a Bushmaster!  That said, the M2 is iconic. Ive burned a shit ton of tax dollars from both.  

 

 

[Rougarou]

29 minutes ago, MikeB60 said:

I'll see your Ma Deuce and raise you a Bushmaster!  That said, the M2 is iconic. Ive burned a shit ton of tax dollars from both.  

 

 

 

You can hump a M2, it's miserable, but you can hump it anywhere your feet can take you.  That Bushmaster,.....well, a vehicle has limitations on locations

 

USMC has the Bushmaster as well,....on the LAV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPq1zkDGqJM

 

[MikeB60]

20 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

 

You can hump a M2, it's miserable, but you can hump it anywhere your feet can take you.  That Bushmaster,.....well, a vehicle has limitations on locations

 

USMC has the Bushmaster as well,....on the LAV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPq1zkDGqJM

 

If you are moving into an area where you can't get a vehicle then it wouldn't make much tactical sense to hump in a M2. You are going to load down a entire squad with the receiver, two barrels, tripod and ammo.  Moving across very shitty terrain.  Army infantry platoons have a weapon squad with 2 M240s and each rifle squad has atleast 1 M249. If we really need a M2 that bad, Ill have a helicopter bring one in.  Id rather have those guys hump extra 7.62 and 60mm mortar rounds.  We also have a FO with a couple of radios to bring in the big stuff.  The juice ain't worth the squeeze in that scenario. 24 years in the infantry and we never humped a M2 outside of moving it from a truck or track into a defensive position. 

 

The MA Deuce is a great gun.  The A1 has fixed headspace and timing to facilitate a rapid barrel change. No one wants to be on the receiving end of a .50 cal round.  But give me a choice and and I'll take a Bushmaster.  

 

I spent a year on LAV 2s when I was an advisor to the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Good vehicles, but they aren't as capable as a Bradley.  Not that that's bad, just a different mission set.  The Army should have just bought LAVs instead of spending a gazillion dollars on the Stryker which has very similar capabilities. 

[Rougarou]

31 minutes ago, MikeB60 said:

If you are moving into an area where you can't get a vehicle then it wouldn't make much tactical sense to hump in a M2. You are going to load down a entire squad with the receiver, two barrels, tripod and ammo.  Moving across very shitty terrain.  Army infantry platoons have a weapon squad with 2 M240s and each rifle squad has atleast 1 M249. If we really need a M2 that bad, Ill have a helicopter bring one in.  Id rather have those guys hump extra 7.62 and 60mm mortar rounds.  We also have a FO with a couple of radios to bring in the big stuff.  The juice ain't worth the squeeze in that scenario. 24 years in the infantry and we never humped a M2 outside of moving it from a truck or track into a defensive position. 

 

The MA Deuce is a great gun.  The A1 has fixed headspace and timing to facilitate a rapid barrel change. No one wants to be on the receiving end of a .50 cal round.  But give me a choice and and I'll take a Bushmaster.  

 

I spent a year on LAV 2s when I was an advisor to the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Good vehicles, but they aren't as capable as a Bradley.  Not that that's bad, just a different mission set.  The Army should have just bought LAVs instead of spending a gazillion dollars on the Stryker which has very similar capabilities. 

 

Our .50 cal team is a four man team.....and we do stoopid stuff sometimes and have humped the .50 and the damn Mk19.   For a training evolution in 29 Palms, the .50 was man packed up and down those high desert mountains, yea us.  The team humps the gun/accessories, the 0311's carry the ammo, so that get's spread amongst plenty, the 11's also carry extra mortar rounds and 7.62 for the organic to infantry company 240s.  The .50 is organic to the battalion, thus assigned to a company on an as needed/rare basis.  FACs are assigned to the company (three line companies per Bn as well as a wpns co and H&S co).

 

A regular infantry squad is made up of 13.  Three teams of four + sqd ldr.  Each team has M16/M203 (team leader), M249 (automatic rifleman), M16 (assistant automatic rifleman), M16(rifleman).  Which brings the firepower up for an infantry squad to three 203/s, 10 M-16, three 249's.  The M240's are with the weapons platoon, of which, we have three squads, with three team members each, six guns total, two teams per squad.  The preference is the to keep the 240s in general support of the company, but sometimes, they get deployed with the individual rifle platoons, then they hate it 'cause they gotta hump those pigs around.  Of course, all that T/O T/E is when I was in the grunts, I know they've changed a bit from that time.

 

If the go goes and the no go don't go, you're good to go, but if the go don't go and the no go goes, you're not good to go,......you know,.......the A1 took care of that.

 

Definitely different missions for the armor.

 

 

A short story:

We had a new Sgt that came to our platoon and griped that he had a secondary MOS of 0331 and wanted to be with "heavy guns" 'cause they ride everywhere.  I replied "no you don't, they walk too", he said, they don't hump the big guns, i's like "ya, they do".  So the next conditioning hike, 12 miler, I run up to him and say, "hey, look up front, what do you see",......the .50s and mk19's leading the hump,......I got the generic grunt response of "fwk you"......When on a battalion hump, weapons company always leads 'cause they got the heavy stuff to carry. 

 

When I became a weapons plt sgt, I had to establish that I could carry their load, so I did a full 240G (gun, spare barrels, tripod (something like 60 extra lbs)) for a few legs on a hump, "fwk that",.....but,.....never let them see you hurt