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Curious about SF status and a myriad other things


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I was goin to ask if there were any forum guys who were familiar with the Bradley. Thinking along the lines of the Brit AFV432 I was thinking that there seems to be alot of fuss about lack of space, and guessing operationally they probably just cram a few extra guys in the back.

Then I saw some photos of the Bradley's interior.

But still I wonder if operationally does an extra guy or two squeeze in?

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We (Brit unit) used to do it all the time with many vehicle types;
If you mean equipment, food, ammo, etc... yeah, that is SOP all the time, every time from what I can tell. I was specifically talking about craming extra soldiers. Were you as well? Obviously peacetime conditions and short distances is a bit different than wartme and day in, day out stuff. Still, interesting to hear. If you were talking personnel, what was the reason for needing to cram more guys in? Too many LRs in the shop? ;)

Steve

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I was specifically talking about craming extra soldiers. Were you as well? Obviously peacetime conditions and short distances is a bit different than wartme and day in, day out stuff. Still, interesting to hear. If you were talking personnel, what was the reason for needing to cram more guys in? Too many LRs in the shop?
Yeah, I was talking guys. I was actually recalling a live fire exercise in Canada where I spent a lot of time riding around with the grunts.

It seems that memory played a trick on me: I just checked my facts an the FV432 has a paper rating of carrying 10 plus 2 crew. I now recall that 8 plus crew was cramped; but I remember extra guys crammed on the floor for some final advances.

I also recall times when LRs were like a cramming competition; 8 with kit, beer crates and a fresh Christmas tree smile.gif . And Lynx often carrying more than spec.

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Usually an AAV will just have a squad (13 Marines if full T/O) and one or two crew served weapons teams such as a SMAW team and a machinegun team (6 more Marines). A corpsman might be in there as well. So the 20 or so combat loaded Marines usually in an AAV are less than doctrine. What doctrine does not take into account is the room taken up by extra cases of ammo, water cans, cases of MREs, expendables (such as batteries), etc...Plus the AAV itself has a crew of three Marines, and their gear and weapons are inside the vehicle as well.

So that works okay until one track breaks down or gets taken out. Then you have to crossdeck the troops and then the "just one more" rule comes into full effect.

The new EFV has a smaller troop compartment as compared to an AAV. So when that thing comes online, I think the Company Gunny's will invent the "just four more" rule.

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Bigduke6,

Some years ago, I got to visit the motor pool at Ft. Benning with my then platoon sergeant brother. No M1s running that day, but I found the M88 to be quite the roaring, snorting monster--until they fired up a Bradley! Couldn't believe the racket that thing made. No wonder the Scouts were envious of the Luchs crews they met! From the limited footage I've seen, the Stryker's practically silent by comparison.

Regards,

John Kettler

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