sigop22

Thanks Steve! Yea those badges became really popular and then they really started cracking down on them. As much as I loved mine, I could see why it would be bad PR if they had a big picture of a guy on patrol with a big "Haji Hunters Unlimited" badge pasted to his arm.

Yeah but you also did give the tank the open up command so you're kinda forcing him to.

I've never really ventured a look but what if the crew commander was wounded or killed in the game would the gunner then stick his head up?

I have the Arid shirt in my basement now with my badges from 2008. The left side of the uniform had the flag at the shoulder, a black and white IFF IR patch underneath on the flag of the pocket, and right underneath on the pocket itself was a round ISAF patch. On the right side we had a black and green canadian flag IR patch. I'm not sure what you mean by a 'garrison' patch. Guys liked switching out the patchs in Afghanistan with ones they could get tailor made or done at the shops in KAF. Most of the time it was unit ones, or personel ones. Even 'funny' patchs that couldn't be worn around the RSM but were slapped on once outside the gate. If it's changed since then I apologize, but I'm just going off of what i remember when I was overseas. The uniforms could have changed since then. For my ROTO we had to turn in our uniforms coming in for ones altered by a tailor.

Oops, musth ave accidently skimped over that one

I was looking through the CM Nato pictures of the Canadians and it looks like there's something peeking out from under the right shoulder pad of the armor. Is that the flag(if it is the colours are wrong) or some sort of IFF? And it does'nt look like there's a flag on the left shoulder. As well, what vehicles are we going to see for the Canadians? Just the LAV's, Gwagon, and Leopards? How about Bisons? Any LAV RWS? Are the LAV's going to be the uparmored ones or just basic? The screen shot looks like a un-upgraded LAV as the ones overseas have a shield that goes all the way around the back. My Bison had the same thing when I was overseas in 2008

The LAV-RWS is mostly to free up LAV's from PRT and convoy protection as well as replace some of the older Bisons from what I understand. Once the rotations are over, the fleet of LAV-III's are going into refurbishment to what they are calling the LAV-H. One thing I doubt will ever happen is the replacement of the 25mm as it's a major part of the infantry's firepower.

You also have to realise that in Afghanistan, all they do to counter bigger vehicles is just make bigger bombs. The Leopards brought over have been great help, both the new and old ones, but it's pretty much just forced the enemy into making bigger and stronger IED's.

With the inclusion of Canadians in the NATO module, are the new LAV-RWS and LAV-H vehicles going to be represented? As they are being put into service just now, seeing as this game is suppose to be set in the future, I was just wondering if there's going to be any. Also, are CASW grenade launchers being represented as well? The CF are aquiring CASW's in replacement of the 60mm mortar pretty soon.

I don't think there was any real dissapointment with the LAV's as much as there was a need for vehicles. The LAV is the primary vehicle of the infantry, and they need as many as they can get considering the damage a lot of them have taken. The not-as-pointy trades needed armoured means to get around so they were the ones that recieved the TLAV's and Bisons. And I'm not sure what problem the off roading is. I'm not sure about the Stryker, but the LAV is able to take off roading pretty well. I'm not an expert as I've only been in them but never driven them extensively. But I have driven the Bison overseas and it took the offroading we did really well, considering it was older and not as powerful. We managed to travel half the province from Helmand without using roads up until a certain point. And from what I've seen, the LAVs can take some really nasty hits and still keep rolling.

Oh, I know true recon would be a boring game. I'm just thinking that my schimitar on the hill overlooking the battlespace should be able to provide more than wasted points. If it could give me an idea of whats going on in different spots it would be helpful. While its cannon is good for spot shots and driving off, I just thought that something with sophisticated obs equipment could do more than idle.

That sucks. I was really hoping they'd play a more diverse or important role. From what I remember overseas even during an op or when guys make first contact the recce is usually still around and observing for possible enemy movement. They just seem to take up battlespae and points now. For missions like Cain and Able with such a big distance, or even the second campaign mission I love to have them move ahead of the main element while they regroup and rebomb to check things out.

Sorry for double post

It seems that every time I try and do the sneaky Reconnaissance thing all I end up doing is frying my Schimitars and still not seeing nothing. Even if my units are not spotted they sit and stare at the arcs I have given them and they seem to gather absolutely zero information. For instance, in Cain and Able, there is a in the left side warehouses in a building where I believe an enemy is in. I don't know for sure, so I place my snipers, spotters, and a schimitar to watch the district in small but overlapping archs. Five minutes go by and I see nothing. Fifteen minutes later and my infantry and sappers come in and move up to the hill on the other side. In a dashing and well coordinated effort I have an APC and Warrior dash to the other side of the hill and down to the wall. Blowing it down with some det charges under smoke my teams move in and sit in the two small building on the other side. Then, without warning after the smoke clear, a whole squad of Syrians are putting every avaliable AK round into the building. My squads fight back in response, and do an okay job at recovery. But during the entire fire fight, not a single syrian was spotted by my Schimitar, snipers, or spotting all of which have an excellent view of the building. I have to force my Schimitar to start pumping 30's into the windows but even after firing half his load all he's doing is just firing where I told him to with no enemy sighted. This isn't the first time this happened either. The Full Monty, and a few other missions escape my name where I have my recce AFV's hiding behind a hill hull down only to be spotted and blasted. Another Schimitar a few hundred metres away, looking in the direction from which the round came, still see's nothing. I could have recoiless or ATGM's or dozens of RPG's fired with no idea from which direction they came. Usually I'm spotting the direction and point of origin before my recce guys are even aware of whats going on. I love the missions designed for the British module. They're all well thought out and I love the inclusion of the reconnaissance element into a lot of the scenerios. But it seems all I end up doing is watching a schimitar behind a berm get zapped or destroyed without a single enemy seen, hull down or not. So is there something I'm specifically not seeing? I know reconnaissance in real life is a very difficult job, but it seems that no matter what way I approach a target or how sneaky I get with my group in boots or on tracks, they're dead with no information gathered. Also, is it better to have these Schimitars or warriors opened up or closed? The gunners IR and LSR should be good for spotting while the crew commander has his binos, but especially long distance ranges would it be better for him to be closed? I know back in the BB or CMAK days the opened crew had a better chance of spotting (with a higher chance of losing their hats from sniper fire), but with all the modern technology it doesn't seem to matter whose up or down but whose in the defensive.