Ask a Soldier

[Flying Pig]

I mentioned soldiers buying third party stuff like that in another thread recently. Yeah, I would rather have really good commercial stuff than so-so gov spec if my life depended on its working.

A while ago in the UK, third-party stuff was used a lot by a lot of soldiers because government kit was on the cheap, but with CS95 most of the kit that you get issued is among the best there is,

 

[G-Man]

Some of that could be local atmospheric conditions too. Here at Fort Lewis, when the cloud cover is low you can hear the ranges from miles and miles away and arty rounds going off will sound like thunder and shake your house. But the conditions have to be just right for the sound waves to bounce back and forth from the ground off the low cloud cover in order for them to travel that far.

Well, in my case it was in the desert, and it was clear blue sky, but the throwing area was at the bottom of large mountain which I think echoed the sound.

 

[Elta]

Does Mushin ever play any role in combat?

I googled that, and came up with a very strange page on martial arts psychology. However I did get this:



So I would say rarely. I spent the overwhelming majority of my time as a leader of men, so you are always remembering and following the broad plan and obeying the unofficial para motto - "half a year to plan, half a minute to execute" - plan as thoroughly as possible beforehand then move in with huge speed, aggression and co-ordination. That said,, a lot of it becomes second nature (does 'dash down crawl observe sights fire' mean anything to you?') so you don't have to think too much.



In general I tell; but when that's said it's normally in jest. If there's a situation that the boss doesn't know how to deal with, we need to work out what to do if that happens. 'What if there's ten of them over that hill, corporal?' is often a valid question. Sometimes people just get annoying (especially cadets!) and ask stupid questions like 'what if there's a corps of them over that hill?'

Interesting!, Thank you.

 

[Flying Pig]

Was I right in thinking you were some sort of marine officer?

 

[Elta]

Yes!

And I may well do it, I am not sure at this moment though ...... I am pretty indecisive.


It would really make my resume shine though and give me some leadership training.

 

[Flying Pig]

Reserves? It's quite a committment and I would point out that you can't really afford to look anything other than 100% motivated, so maybe doing it for the resumé isn't great. At the end of the day when marine Atkins sees everyone running around and has no idea what's going on he's going to look at your face to see how he should react.

 

[Elta]

I know, luckily I have a few years of college to go before I decide.


If I am not 100% I won't due it. Being an Officer in any branch - anywhere, is not to be taken lightly.
Well nor is being a Soldier, but you know what I mean.

 

[GenMarshall]

Given the current state of the Economy (Though this is more geared to the US, but can be applied to any country suffering a recession and high jobloss) how much more increase of enlistment of solders that lave lost there jobs during the recent recession?

One of the things I like to point out is that grenades dont actually explode the way they do in Hollywood movies. Almost always without exception Hollywood magnifies what a real grenade will do in almost any circumstance. For example, a grenade under a car isnt going to throw the car into the air and flip it a few times.

In Fallout 3, I had a lose grenade roll towards a derelict car. The grenade exploded only to light the car on fire (the car itself did not moved, despite the Havok Physics Engine) then moments later explode. I would not be surprised if the Mythbusters did a Hollywood Myth related to "grenades flipping cars".

 

[MobBoss]

Given the current state of the Economy (Though this is more geared to the US, but can be applied to any country suffering a recession and high jobloss) how much more increase of enlistment of solders that lave lost there jobs during the recent recession?

All I can say to that is we are having no problems meeting recruiting goals.

In Fallout 3, I had a lose grenade roll towards a derelict car. The grenade exploded only to light the car on fire (the car itself did not moved, despite the Havok Physics Engine) then moments later explode. I would not be surprised if the Mythbusters did a Hollywood Myth related to "grenades flipping cars".

Maybe you should write it in to them. But they may have some problems getting their hands on real grenades to test...

 

[pau17]

Maybe you should write it in to them. But they may have some problems getting their hands on real grenades to test...

I doubt it...they've gotten all sorts of guns, a huge amount of thermite, etc...

But this is probably as good a place as any to ask...is there a set policy on how the military decides when to cooperate and lend technical gear to educational shows, movies and the like? You know, like the reporter gets to fire the full-auto grenade launcher or fly in the F-16. Is it for publicity and a good image of the military, or is there a fee, or what? (I know Russians, Thai and etc. will let you do just about anything for a price.)

 

[pau17]

As to the reload question, I wouldnt bite your head off at all FP. My experience is no matter how good the soldier is, they typically dont count their rounds as they are firing and pretty much have to rely on the sound of no round being chambered when the mag goes empty (the M16 at least makes a different little click when its out of ammo along with the trigger not going 'click, click' anymore..) In fact, in a firefight, I dont think anyone is actually taking the time to check magazines for extra rounds, unless their is a lull or something, and as FP says, during a lull one of the things you do is top off your ammo.

Wouldn't this be really easy to fix with clear polymer magazines? Why aren't they used more?

 

[MobBoss]

Wouldn't this be really easy to fix with clear polymer magazines? Why aren't they used more?

Because they are significantly more expensive than the stamped sheetmetal ones that are gov issue.

Dont get me wrong, the gov issue ones are functional, and as long as you keep them clean and oiled do a decent job...its just that the off the shelf ones are just that much more better.

But thats the case with a whole host of military equipment. The Army Times constantly runs stories on gear and the pros/cons about it in comparison to straight gov issue stuff. The off the shelf/3rd party vendors have exploded in the last several years for your average joe snuffy to buy his nifty bits that make daily life a bit easier on him. Nothing wrong with that. But expecting the Army to outfit everyone like they would the Special Forces (those guys get all the cool crap) is just simply way, way too expensive.

 

[G-Man]

I doubt it...they've gotten all sorts of guns, a huge amount of thermite, etc...

But this is probably as good a place as any to ask...is there a set policy on how the military decides when to cooperate and lend technical gear to educational shows, movies and the like? You know, like the reporter gets to fire the full-auto grenade launcher or fly in the F-16. Is it for publicity and a good image of the military, or is there a fee, or what? (I know Russians, Thai and etc. will let you do just about anything for a price.)

I don't know about other armies, but in Israel you can probably get some support for free if you'll provide the army with positive PR. I imagine they consider each case individualy though, depending on what's the cost and what's in it for the army, but generally the army is interested in making PR and most soldiers are happy to tell others what they're doing.

 

[Chazumi]

Given the current state of the Economy (Though this is more geared to the US, but can be applied to any country suffering a recession and high jobloss) how much more increase of enlistment of solders that lave lost there jobs during the recent recession?

The army is very close to 100% as far as numbers are concerned, to the extent that the bonuses and other incentives they had for enlisting or re-enlisting are starting to diminish. I have assumed that the economy played a huge role in this. Most people that I have talked to about this and reasons for enlisting didn't lose their job in the economy, they just never had careers to begin with (remember most people enlist anywhere from 17-21 on average [US])

 

[Flying Pig]

Because they are significantly more expensive than the stamped sheetmetal ones that are gov issue.

Sun readers, read this

But expecting the Army to outfit everyone like they would the Special Forces (those guys get all the cool crap) is just simply way, way too expensive

Even special forces use STANAG over here.

 

[Harvin87]

Did you have any contact with German soldiers at some point of your career? how good do you think they are? , are they well trained? are they better than the Americans?

 

[Flying Pig]

Americans as you will probably know have a very bad name man-for-man. Their elite units (I trained once with a few Rangers who were very professional) aren't bad, but on the whole they're known by the nickname 'all the gear and no idea'. The Germans are famously even worse; their NATO role has always been to spend a long time getting killed by the Russians.

 

[MobBoss]

Americans as you will probably know have a very bad name man-for-man. Their elite units (I trained once with a few Rangers who were very professional) aren't bad, but on the whole they're known by the nickname 'all the gear and no idea'. The Germans are famously even worse; their NATO role has always been to spend a long time getting killed by the Russians.

Well, you cant blame us. Our mantra has always been 'shoot first...shoot some more....even more.....rounds left? fire them up....keep firing....ok, now ask questions.

We have t-shirts that say 'the problem doesnt exist which cant be solved by the correct application of superior firepower'.

 

[Flying Pig]

We have a medic's one which says 'RAMC - we bury our mistakes'. Americans for all their failings do have great kit and awful rations, so we get their kit and they get our rations. That was the arrangement on DESERT STORM, anyway.

 

[pau17]

What is good accuracy for trained professionals on handguns and what is the typical range that they can be effective at? I was surprised at the amount of kick that even a 9mm has, and with such a short barrel it seems like it would be pretty hard to achieve great accuracy beyond a few dozen meters or so.