Posted on 05/16/2004 5:01:44 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
Thankyou for keeping me safe long enough to join you in defending this country. Without you holding the line, I wouldn't be here!
Armor Conference was great. I actually saw this vehicle, but with no turret. This is the Cobra, a Turkish designed shell on a HMMWV chassis. More room than our M998s with some armor and better stowage. My scouts really liked it because it was simple and effective. Plus we already have all the engine parts for it!!
The MPs have another vehicle (I misnamed it, sorry). It's made by Textron and is a BRDM looking, 4-wheeled, armored car. A little tall for scouts, but then, the M3 Bradley CFV is taller. The MP vehicle also had an integrated M2/MK-19 stabalized turret with the ability to make it a remote turret. Good design and we suggested improvements.
Two companies had Loader's and TC's gun shields for the M1 series and the HMMWV weapons carrier using transparent armor/ballistic steel. New target aquisition gear for the vehicles, see-through, helmet-mounted displays (already in use on Stryker, the contractor wanted to see if they could work with the M1A2SEP), and many different types of NVGs/light-weight thermal viewers.
There was also the XM-8 5.56mm weapon. Easy to use and very modular. Also very ergonomic and good for either hand. It comes in Compact (slightly bigger than the 5.56mm Pistol or an standard MP-5), a Carbine, or a Sharpshooter/SAW configuration. It takes about 3-5 minutes to change betweeen modes (as long as you have the moduals you need) and doesn't require the armorer to get involved! Sights are easy to use and include a CCO (Close Combat Optic), scopes of varying power, laser pointer, and flashlight. Several butt-stocks and 3 different barrell types are available. Everything is modular and hooks to the reciever. No tools for takedown, can run it over with a vehicle or drop it. It uses high strength poly magazines (NATO 5.56mm Mags don't fit). The new magazines are semi-transparent, more rugged than the steel ones, and hook together side-by-side with a snap (no more taping magazines). Attachments like the M203 are simply slid and locked into place using retaining pins and rails. The Heavy Barrel Sharpshooter/SAW comes with a built in bipod and a 100 round magazine. There is also the Modular Shotgun which fits on the XM-8/M-16/M-4 like the old M-203. We still have the M-9 9mm pistol, but will probably up the caliber soon due to reality not fitting well with the PC 9mm NATO ball round's performance.
The bottom line is this new weapon will allow the Soldier to be more versitile without the military having to buy 50 different weapons only to find out things like the Tankers don't have enough rifles to do dismounted patrols. All the Tanker does with the XM-8 is take off the barrell, handguard, and stock and put the carbine or SAW's components onto the reciever. And even the SAW version is lighter than a fully loaded M-16, plus it's recoil is straight back, not "up and right". I'm a "gun nut" and I was impressed.
There were the new helmets with integration for radios and the various attachments for sights/NVGs. Better protection than the old Kevlar, lighter, and more comfortable! Also, that annoying lip in the back that forced the helment forward when you went prone is gone.
New body armor, including a Class III-A Combat Vehicle Crewmans (CVC) vest and the shoulder guards for the IBA vests.
Lastly, there was the new uniform equipment. The Army/USMC finally got smart and started shopping where sportsmen shop. UnderArmor, Polarmax (I have one of their shirts on now..much better than cotton!!), Matterhorn Boots, Camelback, and many other vendors/suppliers were there to show us their stuff and show the soldier what the Army/USMC bought for them. The biggest problem is there is so much new stuff, the soldiers don't know what it all is.
There was soo much more including the Stryker MGS (I hate it still and I've been all through it), the FCS, robotics, C4ISR, etc, etc, etc.
That was it!! The ASV. I only had a few things I wanted shanged on it, but even as the "A" version, I'd rather have that than a Stryker! The "A1" version will be even better!
Of course, I'd STILL rather have a tank... but the ASV is a good wheeled armored vehicle.
Did you go to the Armor Conference?
Would you consider starting a thread on the Armor Conference? I think most of the people on the Stryker and Treadhead ping lists would be interested.
Good God, Specialist, have you never heard of war being a come as you are party? It always has been, always will be. By the way, be aware that your plight is known and , in spite of obstructionism of the most traitorous kind, your bleats are being answered as quickly as they can be. Meantime,do your duty, stand tall and remember your ancestors who avenged Bataan.
Dude, you don't EVEN want to hear from me on this issue.
A FLIPPIN' FINANCE CLERK IN BIAP WHINING ABOUT BODY ARMOR???
I'll gauran-f'n'-tee you that if you had a IIIA vest with SAPI plates and you were required to wear it, you'd be bitching about that.
Somebody has misplaced his tube of Combat Vagisil.
A small recollection or two about finance in the war. We needed to pay our local workers in local money; we could have paid them in dollars, but they would have been gypped by moneychangers. But... would finance give us local money? Hell, no. They explained that you had to go from Bagram to Kabul to change it at a bank, and it was too dangerous for them. So we did it.
I won't even go into depth on the operation fund rules, which were unwieldy as hell. For instance, we could pay an informant for giving us information leading to the capture of certain people or weapons. The Small Rewards Program was created by Rummy and he directed that no one would add complex rules or restrictions to it. When Finance got done with it there was a 338-page series of rules and restrictions that they said, "were not rules and restrictions but merely guidelines to facilitate implementation." Those guys are worth a battalion each; unfortunately, it's to the enemy.
By the way, we took gunfire, and RPGs, and land mines, and IEDs, in the vehicles we had -- Hiluxes and Tacomas (ordinary Toyota pickup trucks). We got some HMMWVs but had rotten luck with them, and an IED blows up an uparmored HMMWV just as thoroughly as a Tacoma.
Another finance war story. When I got medevaced, treated & released, I didn't have the stuff I needed to stay -- I had to buy a $60 Brigade Quartermasters poncho liner so I didn't freeze my yarbles off in the uninsulated, unheated transient tent. So I went up to finance -- in mixed civilian clothes, dirty, and bloody -- and got the run-around from the fine troops in finance. The killer of it was I HAD A CHECKBOOK and was just trying to cash a check (a courtesy extended to the REMFs without any problem). Fortunately, I ran into a Finance Corps O6 who was wondering what such a dirtbag was doing in his offices... when he learned, he couldn't do enough to take care of me, and I actually left with his business card for any other guys that found themselves "in town."
I bought TWO poncho liners with my resulting gains.
My unit may be unique in that we were the only like unit that actually got all of our guys paid all of their pay while overseas. We did that by keeping two guys off the books in the US to chase the paperwork and abuse the clerks. I know guys that were over there concurrently with us and are STILL missing incentive or proficiency pays, because, I guess, the finance clerks are so busy advising the generals and their staffs that they haven't got time to stamp their damned papers or whatever it is they do.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Thanks for the story and your service!
The last sentence needs an alert.
One should be careful about making such snide comments...
I've had more than one person tell me they enjoyed their time as an E-4 more than they did any other rank. High enough on the food chain to get out of most of the crap details, but not enough responsibility to lose sleep over.
One of the black-humor nicknames WWII troops had for the Sherman was Zippo--because in combat against the Germans, they lit up every time.
People make some good points here. However, I don't think it's un-American to admit that some errors have been made. The first step in correcting a problem is recognizing that one exists.
And sitting here safely in front of my computer, I'm going to be very reluctant to criticize someone who's actually over there dodging shrapnel, no matter how outrageous their remarks. There are some here who are qualified to do that; I'm not.
Not everybody in the Finance Corps sits behind a desk. I have a cousin who was in Afghanistan last year. His job was to go around with a pistol in his shoulder holster and a briefcase with a half million bucks or so handcuffed to his wrist, and pay off various tribal leaders, contractors, etc. Pretty wild stuff. I doubt they covered that in his MOS school :-)
The last straw for Heldt, who works in the Army's finance unit, came earlier this month when the Army extended his year-long 'boots on ground' tour of duty another 90 days, through the June 30 transfer of power deadline in Iraq."
I wish an asteroid would hit this guy. Apocalypse would be worth it. What a piece of crap. He is a FINANCE CLERK. He does nothing but sit on his butt all day long and screw up people's pay. He is at Baghdad International Airport. That is the cushiest assignment in Iraq. He is getting paid tax-free, getting a hostile fire bonus, incurring far fewer expenses than he would at home so he is saving a ton of money, he is eating 3 hot meals per day, he is a short walk from a decent PX, and he has MWR facilities. If any FReepers are anywhere near this guy, please beat him on my behalf.
There was a plan but I never heard back from my operator ;^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.