SgtMuhammed

What unit you with Mike? I met my wife at Lewis when I was with 1/9 INF then we changed to 1-5.

So I can see how many cruise missiles it will take to turn a mountain into a molehill? Sweet.

Other than making the typical media assumption that combat is supposed to be safe for American troops, which others have commented on, the article also assumes that the enemy is stupid. It only took a couple weeks for the Germans to begin fielding AT weapons in WWI and that was for a brand new weapon system. I guess they need to start working on a way to beam guys into the combat zone.

I think the logo is just because the picture is for promotional purposes. The issue one will probably be blank or just have ARMY on it like the PT uniform. Or have they stuck ads on that too?

My experience fighting the M1 as OPFOR was that we could hear them quite well from a few hundred meters and when they were right in your face. Once they hit about 300 to about 100 meters out they just seemed ot dissappear. Strange.

They are firing the 16A1 so it would have been the older ammo. The new stuff is too hot.

Remember when they used to make you wear your earplug case from your breast pocket as a sign of how much the Army values your hearing? Or am I just showing my age? When I was a 60 gunner I would wear one in my right ear if I thought about it at all. But even that was just at the range. On patrol they just aren't an option. They always made me feel like I was in a coffee can or something because I was able to hear my breathing and such louder than anything else. This, of course, ruins your ability to hear ambient noise which hinders your ability to pick up sounds that are out of the ordinary, like weapons being charged, faster. Earplugs are one of those "good idea" things that have too many real world drawbacks to be effective.

Remember the vids that the Iraqis took of the first Apache they downed? You had the reporter and like two guys at first and then they began to round up more people and started them cheering. For several minutes it was the reporter cheering his lungs out with the crowd kind of waving their AK's and farm impliments about. It was only after they were either told to cheer louder or that they were on TV that they started to get into it.

Well you wouldn't expect Charles to do it. I don't see a speaker on his jar.

Stop crying (tear gas - crying, get it) Did you ever have to run the chamber for your entire battalion? My wife can still smell the stuff.

So are you saying that those of us who haven't played America's Army but were actually IN America's Army don't know how these things should sound?

Wow! Does this mean we can look forward to a CMSF version of "To the Volga?"

That was always one of my biggest dissappointments with the M16. When firing it you can hear the bolt moving more than the report of the round. Even the SAW is pretty dissappionting. The 60 or 240 on the other hand sound like real weapons. Then, of course, there is the Ma Duce. Just listening to it being charged sends a shiver down my spine.

If you are separating the Javelin then what do you think the "infantry AT team," is using? You can kill enemy armor with the AT4 (I have a buddy that got a Bronze Star with V device for doing just that in Panama) and there is always a need for something that will punch holes in things. Steiner14, I wouldn't go there, I don't know how many patrols I went on with Bundeswehr units that seemed to find their way to beer tents.

They used to tell us that in training. Maybe they quit.

Well I do know at least one M1 tanker, on this board as a matter of fact, who thinks that the Merk is the best tank in the world. Now back to MREs. One thing that switching from c-rats has done is now you don't have anything for quicky intruder alarms. The manuals still tell you to use ration cans to make noise makers. How the hell do you make a noise maker out of a plastic bag?

The meaning of happiness is warm. I used to think it was having your own toilet but I have refined it to just warm.

Well you don't want to risk the trigger finger by placing it in an exposed position so the display of the middle finger is a way of acknowledging the cammera without endangering that vital digit. I have a question for the guys who have deployed there. When we were deployed to Cuba in '95 AFN used to ask if they could interview us. The problem was that if you said yes they would hand you a card with your answers on them. When I saw that I refused any requests and so did my guys. I was wondering if they were doing the same thing now?

I actually like those. Nice change from the unsalted crackers you get with the MRE. Talk about supplimental armor.

Hell, they don't even need to bring them from Iraq, they have hundreds of old models (105s and various + and IPs) from deactivated units sitting around in storage. They do the same thing with aircraft and ships, it's not like you can just throw these things away like soda cans. Let us not forget, the media sells more papers if people think the story is tragic or shocking. Bringing a bunch of tanks in for overhauls isn't as sexy as implying that they had all been killed in action.

The M1 guys I used to hang out with implied that the MRE heater was a water heater. While you didn't want to drink it because it was exposed to dirt and such you could use it to heat your shaving water. German MREs are pretty nasty but the optional case of beer goes a long way towards making them edible. I haven't tried them but I have heard that the MREs out there now are loads better than when I was in in 2000. Even then they were adding new menu choices. I think the original menus were supposed to be genaric so everyone would have a uniform reaction to them, a bad one. By the way John, you were duped, the Ala King menu is one of the least desirable meals. When waiting in lagger before actually going into the box the armor brigade that I was attached to had big boxes (like refigerator boxes) that were full of MREs that the tankers didn't want. They would dump whole cases in them and you could fish through to find something you liked. We light guys were fishing around for extra chow to bring into "the box" just before we went out. The only thing left were Ala Kings. They even took the dreaded beef slices rather than the Ala King.

Was there ever any doubt?

I guess we have to define our criterion. The M1 has more kills than the Leo or Merk III so there it wins. Newest technology, M1 falls to third since it was the first of the real new generation of tanks. The new ones have lots of new bells and whistles but have not been fundimentally redesigned. I guess we could throw in fuel economy or number of cup holders as well. I will say this for durability, I never saw a Leo throw track and we always trained with them in winter mud. I have seen M1s throw, not a lot but I have seen it happen. Of course I have also seen M60s throw track backing up on a paved road and snap torsion bars while sitting at an op order. I have never been close to a Merk so I can't say anything about them. Also, in my opinion, the Leo II A6 is the coolest looking one of the bunch.

Does the US field the AT4 CS? </font>

Yes it does.