jthomas

Interestingly enough the same can be done with a 155mm Howitzer!

It's kind of depressing, actually. I suddenly realized I've been OUT longer than I was IN! Growing old sucks, but it beats the alternative. [old man rant ON] I have to admit I have lost track of the Army's organization structure. The 23rd mech is now the 3rdID, and so on, so I have trouble keeping up with who is who. I used to know which division was headquartered where, and all the new infantry weaponry that I see being used in Iraq and I didn't even know they were in development! And since when do soldiers require KNEEPADS?... I've wandered off the topic a little, maybe that's a good topic for another thread. But oh, well......the boys today sure know how to kick butt!

HHB 1/178thFA, 218th Mech Inf Bde (back then it was a round-out Bde for the 1st ID), before that HHC 1/118InfBN, 73 Inf Bde (Sep) I usually got to fire a few rounds now and then . Usually our company commanders insisted on the medic continually making the rounds of the gun crews making sure everyone had enough water, aspirin, bandanas, and the like. It wasn't glamorous, but it's what I did. Inexchange for the "customer service" the gun crews would generally let you send a few rounds downrange.

I was a medic in an infantry batallion many moons ago... let me assure you that the "plop" or "thunk" you hear in the movies is BS. My experience was with 81mm and 4.2in mortars, and believe me- they can be LOUD. Nothing like a howitzer (I spent about 6 years in a FA Bn with M109A1's), they sound a lot like a really, really huge door slamming-hard. It also depends on the number of charges being used (think range- more charges, shoot farther given equal elevation). I have found that many of the "sound effect" eplosions, muzzle reports, etc. are not really all that great. I don't really know why. Maybe because after the first salvo or two your eardrums are hosed.

While using minefields to cover lightly defended approaches may have been used, it has always been my understanding that minefields are most effectively used in conjunction with covering fire- an unattended minefield is "inconvenient" to the attacker, but there are work-arounds. Place a few MGs to cover the mine field, and you have a serious obstacle. In essence, the minefield IS the trap.

I recently got upgraded to Win 2000 Pro. I have an IBM Thinkpad T23. Video adapter is "S3 Graphics SuperSavage/IXC", Chip is "S3SuperSavage/IX", DAC is "S3SDAC", with 16mb memory. Resolution is 1024x768, 16 bit color, 60Hz refresh rate. When I reinstalled CMBO, the game video is poor. Intro screens, status panel (bottom of screen) is OK, just the game windo is goofy. lots of ghosting, corrupted areas, etc. Also, the textures are very rough, like large pixels, and buidlings are translucent (can see units inside, even with building transparency=Off). I LOVE this game, but it is nearly unplayable like this! Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Jeff