[How does a mortar work?]

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

[How does a mortar work?]

Originally posted by cmfan:

jthomas -- 1/67ar 2AD (before it became the 4th ID).

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!

[How does a mortar work?]

Originally posted by cmfan:

jthomas -- what unit did you server in? when I saw your post I got flash backs to my platoon's own medic. Our platoon sergeant usually made him hang out over by the FDCs when we are at ranges, but once in a while we snuck him over to a gun and let him drop a round or two

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.

[How does a mortar work?]

Originally posted by Krautman:

Well, you drop the grenade into the tube, it goes 'plop' and the grenade comes out again... that's about all i know...

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.

[Minefield clearing, the Russian WWII way...]

Originally posted by Cessna:

One thing about minefields - they're meant to channel enemies into traps. If you're defending, you put mines where you don't want the enemy to go. If you've found a minefield, you know you've found a potential weak point in the enemy's defenses. It might be less costly in the long run to try to drive through that minefield rather than blundering into a trap...

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.

[Another video adapter with Win2000]

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