Plague2Delta

Sublime, Thanks for the tips and information. Next time I fly and I have questions on the Huey, you are the man I will find lol. Btw, sorry to hear about your grandfather. I know how that goes.

Sublime, Oh yea, its fun as hell to fly. I remember when I first got it, I finally got off the ground and had a blast rolling low and fast along the rivers in the Georgia map. Then the problem of low fuel and landing kinda cut into my fun. I have to say from what I have flown in the Huey, prolly around 5 hours total that I have owned it, it takes just the slightest touch, which can be extremely hard to get used to, or at least for me. Watching for overcompensation is probably the key, just wrote that advice down for the next time I fly it. As for the campaign, the missions sound great, making me want to go fly it again just so I can check it out. I have to put this out there, I have the deepest respect for Dustoff, whether its Vietnam era Hueys or Blackhawks today. But, I also have to be honest, “It just feels real bud” made me cringe just a tad, bringing the sounds of rotors and reminding me what that sound meant for us on the ground after making those medevac calls. But, I will leave that there. I was afraid of that for the F-5. The armament was my turn off for it, besides in my opinion I have the M-2000C, which was my go to between the two modules. I have to disagree, the F-86 is a blast to me. I never do multiplayer, so creating missions is my bag. Always an exciting challenge up against Mig-15’s, even SU-25’s lol. Plus you have to admit, the Sabre is one badass looking plane. That beautiful combination of sci-fi fantasy, 50’s design, and almost a thoroughbred flair makes an interesting appeal, plus my grandfather was a wrench monkey for the USAF in Korea.

Sublime, Well flying it was never an issue, just the hover and landing. I will have to try again someone, the Vietnam dust off campaign sounded interesting. I do have a decent set up with hotas, track ir, pedals, so I will have to try to readjust everything when I attempt it again. Yea, practice is always the key, especially with DCS lol. I heard the gazelle was twitchy, shied away from it til I bet better at rotor wing. Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it.

Is that a bad thing? I have learned a ton from lurking and reading veterans posts and knowledge, including yours lol.

No, I haven't tried out many of the campaigns. I have the new A-10 and F-15 ones I need to try, got them both free. I usually end up creating my own scenarios to fly. I do have Black Shark but sadly haven't flown it much. The Huey: I was able to cold start, take off, and fly but damn if I can't hover or land. I don't do multi-player anymore, my Internet is terrible, which sucks even more since I backed War of Rights. I would love to see harriers or AH1, UH1Y, and Mi24. I would have to learn helos well then. The A-10C is fun for me. Almost a meditative work going thru the complexity of a 2 hour mission. I have 2 giant binders full of info on the C, that I use for missions lol.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I will have to look into that at some point. I have only had CMFI, CMBN, and CMBS for a few months now. So, still learning how it all works in regards to armor (I am a simple grunt with very limited experience with armor). I can say though, I love the infantry side of the games, and one of my favorite things is the 60mm mortar from the handheld, just awesome that it capable of being used like that in game. Often find myself playing PLT-Co. level infantry vs. infantry battle across the titles that I own. I love it. Usually after a few hours of play, I realize how much I get into the game. Once I feel comfortable enough, I will definitely get into PBEM. DCS rocks. I have a lot of the modules: F-86 is one of my favorites, Mig-15 is nice but not a huge fan, Mig-21 is fun but frustrating for me, I like the A-10C alot, Huey is awesome but I am terrible with rotor wing lol. I have the Kurfurst and it is pretty awesome. At some point I want to get the Dora, when money permits and of course, being a Devil Dog the Corsair will be a first day buy as well. I just picked up the M-2000C and absolutely fell in love with it, it is incredible. Just wish I was better with the weaponry armament since I often find it is hard as hell to utilize (losing lock etc.) and I get the role of the M-2000C but I wish the French would have added 2 more pylons or at least doubled up a missile rack. Oh yes, F-14 and F/A-18, first day buys, they can take my cash as soon as I can give it for them! I have to be honest, with the M-2000C, I didn't see the need for an F-5 in my hangar. Just like I have the Hawk (which is a lot of fun to fly) and the L-39, I don't see the need for the C-101. I second your thoughts on F-4's and F-111's. Also, I would take a A-1 Skyraider as well, just an incredible machine.

Makes sense, why go through everything to later not be able to actually do your job. Probably just at the time you are the most experienced and in your prime. Pretty awesome you are a naval aviator, green with envy, and thank you for your service as well. I hold aviation in high regard, seen first hand what you can do to help out us nasty grunts on the ground. I had wanted to be a pilot, but closest I got was F/A-18 support in the Ghan and now my imagination on DCS lol. (Can't wait for DCS: F/A-18). I have heard that about military aviation before. I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, the Marine aviation program is all jacked up as well. That and the cannibalism for spare parts that I keep hearing about.

Yea, it makes sense on paper, but I don't see the merit in practice. Just my humble opinion, I feel the same about the Corps "every Marine is a rifleman" credo. First hand experience about how untrue that can be, but I digress. I am sure you did, I have a good friend who is an Apache pilot, he's fighting tooth and nail as well to stay flying. Also, hear the same thing from Marine officers that I know who are progressing in their careers. I have to totally agree. From my perspective, specialization is prized more than diversity in this scenario. As an NCO, I preferred someone who knew there role in and out, over a jack of all trades, in combat at least. Although in garrison its always nice to have whiz kids from other fields. I can say the same about the officer world lol. When I was in I would totally agree with the mysticism of promotions that happen, or the locking out of promotions the Marines are notorious about. We had LCpl's (E-4's, including myself) as squad leaders. Unbelievable at times how hard it was to get promoted then. But, the billet caveat always works in favor of the Corps. Now the backroom dealing is something of a fine art lol. Thanks, I appreciate it.

Oh, I see what you mean now. That makes sense, truly a mess it sounds like. I suppose I will never understand the line of thinking, bringing one specialty to another like that, luckily we didn't have much of an issue on the lower levels. If you are infantry, LAR, recon, etc. you pretty much stay there til E-7 or E-8. Not much cross over really unless you go B-Billet (ie. recruiting, then you come back anyways), or lat move and switch MOS. Definitely different worlds then between the Army and the Corps. I am sure you are probably cognizant of some of the differences from what you pointed out, so I won't go through them all. Thank you for your service and I appreciate you taking the time to explain...The enlisted stuff being mysterious and horrible comment cracked me up lol.

I have heard rumblings about the Army. We had the same kind of issues with staff NCO's and MOS competency, far too many actually. Once they served their B-Billets and came back to victor units, they typically have no idea what has changed in 3 years, or forgot what they should know. Although, I am not too sure how the Army does it, Senior Staff NCO's (E-8 and up, sometimes E-7) typically come from outside the MOS. So we had career Motor T or Admin E8's and up, makes things extremely complicated since they have no idea what their units really do or understand roles or capabilities. If I may ask, what is the 11B mess? Not too privy on Army issues.

It is well past time that they do. Things might have changed recently for the Corps though. One can hope...

I honestly don't remember what the reason was for it sinking. Been asking around to find out if anyone remembers why. However, a quick answer for now, given by a former tracker and maintenance Gunny, said it was more than likely a new crew who didn't put in the hull plugs. Could be something more than that for this situation, but he seems to think it was a crew error, especially since the track unit there was primarily 'provisional infantry' instead of operating tracks in that time period. So possibility of training issues that led to it.

Thank you, I appreciate that and if I read correctly, you served as well so thank you. Your idea of Jet Ski amphibious ops sounds far better than the grinding hot hours inside of a track lol. Which reminds me, a few years ago, one of our sister battalions in our regiment was training for amphib ops when one of the tracks literally sank in the river. Fun times lol.

Being new and wishing to contribute insight from experience, I would have to say this is not so much of a problem these days. I would say that the squad can be broken as long as fire team integrity is maintained. That is now the most basic maneuver element, especially concerning satellite patrols etc. When we did work ups with tracks in 29 Palms, I don't ever recall any issues with split squads/platoons due to seating in the tracks. It was never an issue as long as fire teams maintained cohesion. Now knowing the Corps and the differences in SOP's across infantry battalions and even companies, some might have differences when concerning this. However, for my unit, this was not much of an issue at all.

Slow and deliberate recon and movement to the line of departure. Then speed and violence of action along multiple supporting axes, utilizing support by fire and maneuver elements to achieve and push through the objective. Basically what has been said prior in this post. Works in real life combat, and works remarkably well in CMBS and the WWII titles. I am a grunt in experience and at heart, so most of my battles are infantry vs. infantry fights.