British Module

[GSX]

Im easy, so my friends say........

BFC, what I want from my Brit Module is simple:

1. No stupid cockney accents. We dont all sound like that, get some regional accents.

2. Deliberate fire - yes. we Brits dont spray and pray. Deliberate fire means that, aimed shots at distance, auto possibly for the assault. Brit marksmanship tradition still continues and the L85 is a very accurate weapon.

3. Maybe insignificant, but paramount, Brit soldiers DO NOT tuck their trousers (pants if your US) into their boots. We like to have them round our ankles.

Ive seen the vehicles and they look good, so follow my advice and youve got a sale.

[SgtMuhammed]

What if they throw in a can of beans and crunchy mustard with each CD?

[Paper Tiger]

I heard a rumour somewhere that the BFC staff and Beta testing team have been hard at work watching 'Mary Poppins' to get Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent just right before they start recording the voices for the Brit mod.

[19Kyle72]

Don't forget the warm stewed tomatoes that are served with every breakfast.

When my father trained in northern Great Britain he said that he was more than surprised to see this dish served as often as he did, and at that early time of day, and how they were deemed to be fit to be used as a gravy over just about anything. He enjoyed it immensely.

To no one's surprise, he was also fond of the steins of whiskey that were available at the local pubs. One of which was jammed into his ribs after it was smuggled out for him as that pub had a policy of not selling the personalized items to anyone.

He was also taken aback at the sheer volume of lung burstingly loud endless streams of swearing that poured forth from the officer's mouths at the noncoms. This is understandable during the heat of actual combat, but during training?

To this day, one of the stories that he or one of his buddies love to tell is how during one training exercise the U.S. forces were to setup defenses and prepare for a British assault. During the day, Dad ended up making his way towards a ton of commotion, and worked his way up against a fallen log. Sure enough, coming down a ridge on the other side was a British officer screaming bloody murder at his men. Dad aimed his empty M16 at the screamer, yelled "Bang! Bang! You're dead." Looked at the stunned Brits, raised his arms and said with a huge smile, "I surrender!"

The noncoms did their best not to grin ear from ear. From that moment on, they LOVED him.

And that's why that stein was liberated for him.

[Inkompetent]

Also, we do definitely need 'Pink Panthers' and some SAS to go with them. Heck, it'd be worth implementing SAS just to get to have pink Land Rovers to start with!

[Smaragdadler]

New Armoured Vehicles for Afghanistan

(Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued Oct. 29, 2008)

Defence Secretary John Hutton has announced a package worth £700 million today, which will pay for some 700 new armoured vehicles to further improve the safety and protection of troops on operations in Afghanistan.

The three distinct categories of Tactical Support Vehicles (TSV) are:

Wolfhound: TSV (Heavy):

Heavy armoured support trucks - supporting and re-supplying Mastiffs in the highest threat areas. These vehicles will have the highest levels of mine blast protection;

Husky: TSV (Medium):

Medium armoured support trucks - carrying out the support roles in lower threat areas and where heavy vehicles, like Mastiff, cannot be used;

Coyote: TSV (Light):

Light armoured support vehicles - supporting Jackals across the harsh terrain of Afghanistan.

Other vehicles which will be paid for out of the £700 million include:

-- Over 100 brand new cross-country vehicles called Warthog which, with greater protection levels, will replace Vikings in Afghanistan, and

-- Over 100 more Jackals, the extremely agile all-terrain vehicles which include high-levels of off-road mobility and firepower.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.42459684.1225390217.ZKNHI38AAAEAAD8HIGcAAAAr&cat=3∏=99249&modele=release

.....................

[ChrisND]

2. Deliberate fire - yes. we Brits dont spray and pray. Deliberate fire means that, aimed shots at distance, auto possibly for the assault. Brit marksmanship tradition still continues and the L85 is a very accurate weapon.

The other two, I agree with... but this? Should Area Fire be disabled for the Brits?

[Cpl Steiner]

The other two, I agree with... but this? Should Area Fire be disabled for the Brits?

I distinctly remember a clip from the 2003 invasion of Iraq showing British soldiers attacking a building suspected of housing enemy troops in the dead of night. The commanding officer whispered to the accompanying journalist, "we are basically going to hammer the building". Seconds later the whole squad opened up with area fire against the building and then charged in. One guy was actually set alight by something burning inside the house. So, no, area fire shouldn't be disabled for the Brits.

However, the Brits receive much more basic training than the Americans and there has been a tradition of high standards of marksmanship in the army dating back to Napoleonic times. I would therefore tend to make Brit units very experienced by default (Veteran or Crack) and maybe reduce the range at which they use full auto fire compared to other nationalities. They shouldn't panic fire as much as other nationalities either. Perhaps this is a feature of high Experience, in which case it's already covered by what I said above.

[Meach]

We always used elasticated clips at the hems of our combat trousers and had them pinched just above the boot. All squaddies I ever encountered in safe area's had them this way but out in combat a few did have there combats loose over the boot.

During training we were bombarded from dawn till dusk with obscenities and foul language just seems an ingrained part of the British Army. Home on leave I said to my muvva "pass the ****in' spuds, dearie" Just so used to it.

At a job interview after I left the army one guy asked what I had done and I told him, he said "ooh I should be frightened of you" in a mocking tone with a silly smirk. My response was "you ****ing should be, pal" I still got the job cos his boss sitting next to him thought he deserved it.

Swearing and cursing seems to go hand in hand with it all. Marksmanship was essential. Even noncombat personell could shoot to a high degree. Not saying they could put in an assault on a held position but they could plink away if pushed to.

On an aside, for a volunteer army the British Army really treats it's soldiers poorly. Folks are literally giving up there lives to serve the crown and get very little thanks for it.

Cpl Steiner,

That was Royal Marines in that clip. They "mulleted" the house before going in.

[flamingknives]

SAS land rovers were never pink. Apparently the primer was pink and this caused some confusion when people stripped the paintwork down.

A faint pink hue does help in desert conditions, but primarily against aircraft.

[Pvt. Ryan]

Will tea and biscuits be individually tracked for each soldier, and will resupply be possible?

[purpheart23]

Yeah all this is well and good. When is Battlefront going to officially announce it.

[Inkompetent]

SAS land rovers were never pink. Apparently the primer was pink and this caused some confusion when people stripped the paintwork down.

A faint pink hue does help in desert conditions, but primarily against aircraft.

It's a faint pink indeed. Hard to say it's pink unless you get up close, and with fields of browns and beige all over it doesn't leave that much pink left, but from several photos I've seen from the Gulf War they did indeed have maybe 1/3rd of the visible paint job in that faint pink.

Good thing they ain't sissies and complain about pink when it actually helps them staying alive

[SgtMuhammed]

That's just because no one wants to be the guy who was afraid of the pink truck and had to shoot it.

[Imperial Grunt]

Im easy, so my friends say........

BFC, what I want from my Brit Module is simple:

1. No stupid cockney accents. We dont all sound like that, get some regional accents.

2. Deliberate fire - yes. we Brits dont spray and pray. Deliberate fire means that, aimed shots at distance, auto possibly for the assault. Brit marksmanship tradition still continues and the L85 is a very accurate weapon.

3. Maybe insignificant, but paramount, Brit soldiers DO NOT tuck their trousers (pants if your US) into their boots. We like to have them round our ankles.

Ive seen the vehicles and they look good, so follow my advice and youve got a sale.

Brits don't ever spray and pray and US forces always do? Get real. And everyone uses suppressive fire when necessary.

Plenty of spray and pray here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FcXWZ0XVuw&feature=related

I have also trained with British Royal Marine snipers and they were the same in marksmanship level with USMC snipers, but they do not regularly shoot out to 1000m, so at long range they were not as accurate.

[Lee]

I'm all in favor of laying down suppressive fire on the enemy. Forces our enemies to keep their heads down, which allows U.S. or Brit forces to more easily either advance on them or withdraw to a better position.

[Cpl Steiner]

Does anyone know exactly which British units were in the invasion force for OIF? Unless there have been any more amalgamations/disbandments of units I would imagine it would be the likely invasion force for a future war in Syria as well.

I'm pretty sure all of 1st Armoured Division and 16 Air Assault brigade were there. What about the Royal Marines? I know some were involved but which units and under which command? I've seen some really nice TO&E info in Wikipedia, but not a definitive list of the 2003 invasion force.

16 Air Assault Bde

1st Armoured Div

[flamingknives]

The Marines were there, under 3 Cdo Bde. It seems that only 40 Cdo was there in it's entirety, but there were significant elements of 45 Cdo as well as the usual brigade support.

[Stuart Galbraith]

one Brigade of 1st Armoured Division (7th Armoured Brigade) took part, but it was reinforced by a number of elements from the rest of the division, not least of which was another tank battalion. British armoured Brigades these days only have one Tank battalion usually.

Off the top of my head the 2 leading tank battalions were Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, but they were reinforced by elements of other Regiments, one of which I seem to recall was Queens Royal Lancers.

Basically 1st Armoured Division was anything but, 2 of its Brigades were light infantry.

[Cpl Steiner]

Basically 1st Armoured Division was anything but, 2 of its Brigades were light infantry.

Seems about par for the course these days with all the government cutbacks and false economies in the armed services. I am rightly proud of my country's military forces but I do wish the government would do a bit less praising of the armed forces and a bit more stumping up of cash for basics like decent armoured vehicles, body armour and the like. We as a country seem to have a high regard for our armed forces when we call on them to do some heroic deeds for us but the rest of the time we seem to turn a blind eye to their poor pay and conditions. I remember seeing a program by Peter and Dan Snow about the lowest and highest earners in Britain and front-line combat soldiers in Afghanistan were amongst the very bottom. Shame on you Britain.

[fireship4]

I'm waiting for the racism module.

Seriously there is plenty of racism over here (UK) - personally I've heard one person (a good friend at the time - a number of years ago) say they wanted to join just to "kill pakis", heard the same sort of sentiments again recently from someone I know at a college who may join (can't remember), and heard the same in a documentary about racism etc. in the army which was shown a month ago or so.

Another friend of mine joined a while ago and is probably still in training. Last time I talked to him it seemed he believed there was a job to do over there - something about the taliban. Another again is about to join in the coming months, having lost his way in life basically he sees it as his last option. I have tried talking him out of it and will try again when I see him soon.

I personally, being interested in the military and helping people in general, was always interested in some capacity in joining the army. Since learning that our governments do not work for us, but against us and about possible alternate reasons for the wars, not to mention learning about 9/11 and 7/7 over here I was less interested to say the least.

[SgtMuhammed]

"We as a country seem to have a high regard for our armed forces when we call on them to do some heroic deeds for us but the rest of the time we seem to turn a blind eye to their poor pay and conditions."

Kipling comes to mind here.

[JonS]

Does anyone know exactly which British units were in the invasion force for OIF?

From wikipedia (under "Op TELIC")

GOC 1st Armoured Division - Major General Robin Brims (succeeded by Major General Peter Wall)

* 1st Armoured Division Headquarters and Signal Regiment

* 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards

* Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Regiment

* 1st Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding)

* 28 Regiment Royal Engineers

* 1 General Support Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps

* 2 Close Support Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps

* 2nd Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

* 1 Close Support Medical Regiment

* 5 General Support Medical Regiment

* 1 Regiment Royal Military Police

* A (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Squadron and W (Westminster Dragoons) Squadron, Royal Yeomanry

* Elements of 5 (STA) Royal Regiment of Artillery

* Elements of 33 (EOD) Regiment Royal Engineers

* Elements of 32 Regiment Royal Artillery - Phoenix Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

* Elements of 30 Signal Regiment

* Elements of 14 Signal Regiment

3 Commando Brigade - Brigadier Jim Dutton

* Headquarters 3 Commando Brigade

* 59 Independent (Commando) Squadron Royal Engineers

* 131 Independent (Commando) Squadron Royal Engineers (Volunteer)

* 9 (Commando) Assault Squadron

* 531 (Commando) Assault Squadron

* 29 (Commando) Regiment Royal Artillery - 18 105 mm howitzers

* 40 Commando, Royal Marines

* 42 Commando, Royal Marines

* 15th MEU (USMC)

7 Armoured Brigade - Brigadier Graham Binns

* 7 Armoured Brigade Headquarters and Signal Squadron

* 32 (Armoured) Regiment Royal Engineers

* 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - 32 AS-90 155 mm howitzers

* Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) battlegroup, including elements of 1st Battalion Irish Guards - 42 Challenger 2s, 28 Warrior Tracked Armoured Vehicles (Warriors)

* 2nd Royal Tank Regiment battlegroup, including elements of 1st Battalion The Light Infantry - 42 Challenger 2s, 28 Warriors

* The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) battlegroup, including elements of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment- 28 Challenger 2s, 42 Warriors

* 1st Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers battlegroup, including elements of Queen's Royal Lancers - 14 Challenger 2s, 42 Warriors

16 Air Assault Brigade - Brigadier 'Jacko' Page

* 16 Air Assault Brigade Headquarters

* 216 Parachute Squadron Royal Signals

* Pathfinder Platoon

* 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment

* 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment

* 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery

* 9 Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers

* 23 (Air Assault) Engineer Regiment

* D Squadron, Household Cavalry Regiment

* 7 Air Assault Battlion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

* 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Royal Logistics Corps

* 16 Close Support Medical Regiment

* 156 Provost Company Royal Military Police

* 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskillings), 83rd, 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment)

[Cpl Steiner]

From wikipedia (under "Op TELIC")...

Bloody hell, nice resource! As an aside, I'd heard of "Operation TELIC" but had assumed it was some sort of sweep against insurgents after the war rather than the invasion itself. Obviously I was wrong.

[JonS]

It's surprising - to me - how little artillery they took this time. two Light Gun regiments, and a single AS90 regiment ... although, it looks like it was well overstrength, or at least had a fourth battery attached. But no air defence (granted, not really needed, but still ...), and no reinforcing gun regiments. Weird.

The really odd thing is the RAF - did you look at the TELIC orbat for them? Not a single squadron deployed in it's entirety. The whole air compent was made up of 'part' of this sqn, 'part' of that one, 'part' of the other. It must have been an administrative nightmare.

Like the addition of extra armoured regts to 7th Armd Bde, it shrieks of an defence force nether organised nor equipped for operations.