Artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a savage brawl.
Posted on 11/11/2004 6:10:18 PM PST by neverdem
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 10 -- U.S. Army observers watched as the white pickup truck sped from house to house in Fallujah on Wednesday morning, stopping more than 20 times to drop off armfuls of rocket-propelled grenades. Every few stops, the driver threw dirt on the roof of the cab, apparently in an attempt to disguise his vehicle.
A few miles away, soldiers in the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Platoon, Alpha Battery trained their M109A6 Paladin, a self-propelled 155mm howitzer, on the truck. Minutes later, a shell shot out of the cannon, whizzed across the sky and landed next to the truck with a massive boom, shooting off shrapnel.
In the resulting cloud of dust and fire, the observers could not tell whether the truck had been hit directly. But even if the driver got away, said Staff Sgt. Shawn Zawistowski, a member of the 1st Infantry's Task Force 2-2, "I guarantee we made him think twice."
Powerful artillery pieces such as the Paladin deserve much of the credit for the ease and speed with which the U.S. military has been able to take control of most of Fallujah, according to American soldiers who have been sweeping through the city over the past two days.
Before ground troops entered Fallujah on Monday night, warplanes pounded insurgent targets with bombs; mobile artillery batteries followed with cannon and mortar fire. The effect was significant, according to military commanders and soldiers inside the city.
"It's made everybody get out of town," said Zawistowski, 30, of Cleveland.
Alpha Battery's two artillery pieces have fired more than 300 rounds in the first three days of the battle. The Marines' Mike Battery 414, which has six big guns at the same military outpost, has launched more than 500 rounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Was that the towed, split-trail, silver tube howitzer?
I dragged three of those around RVN for six months.
Simple trajectory shells targeted by GPS.
Man, does that bring back memories. Everybody wanted to get the picture in full recoil.
Artillery= The KING of Battle
You know the old story: The King puts it where the Queen wants it!
Armor: Combat Arm of Decision.
Speaking as a former Infantry captain and a former Armor captain aka "D.A.T." or Dumb A$$ Tanker, all I can say is that my Abrams could do more battlefield damage in 10 min than a grunt platoon could do all day!
Compared to air support, the great things about PGM arty are minute response times, and hour after hour loiter time. If you need a really big bang, air is still the way to go. Little fleeting packets of infantry won't stay around long enough to make a reasonable target for a 500 lb bomb. But you can put rounds on target in one minute, after a mortar fires etc.
Over hill, over dale
As we hit the dusty trail,
And the Caissons go rolling along.
In and out, hear them shout,
Counter march and right about,
And the Caissons go rolling along.
Then it's hi! hi! hee!
In the field artillery,
Shout out your numbers loud and strong,
For where e'er you go,
You will always know
That the Caissons go rolling along.
In the storm, in the night,
Action left or action right
See those Caissons go rolling along
Limber front, limber rear,
Prepare to mount your cannoneer
And those Caissons go rolling along.
Then it's hi! hi! hee!
In the field artillery,
Shout out your numbers loud and strong,
For where e'er you go,
You will always know
That the Caissons go rolling along.
Was it high, was it low,
Where the hell did that one go?
As those Caissons go rolling along
Was it left, was it right,
Now we won't get home tonight
And those Caissons go rolling along.
Then it's hi! hi! hee!
In the field artillery,
Shout out your numbers loud and strong,
For where e'er you go,
You will always know
That the Caissons go rolling along.
Artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a savage brawl.
Thanks for the link. I lost it in my hotmail account when it overflowed and then expired. Oops
Thanks for the lyrics. Bookmarked!
Oh Yeah, I still remember running Commo Wire up to an F.O.
Laying on my belly Listening to,and feeling the One Five-Five rounds going overhead with an awful sound (like a 55 Gal. Fuel Drum tumbleing end over end in the sky) The Impact,and the heat smacking you in the face 1000 yards away.
I wasn't real sure where it was that I wanted to be at that moment. But I was damn sure where I didn't want to be.
Life goes on at a frightful clip. But some things you never forget.
Thanks for the motion flick!
No, it was the original baseline, short-tube Paladin, before six generations of mods were applied. It was like the Model-T of the current M109A6.
"Thanks for the lyrics."
You are welcome!
too good eh? the Caissons have now become Palladins!
now's there's some progress....
but he wrote it in 1907 ....no?
Here's a couple links to more info on the M109s
M109A6 Paladin Self Propelled Howitzer
and some pics HERE.
What ever happened to the M110A2 SP, 8" ?
I think they've all been replaced by MLRS. Our other battalion was M110s. I used to love watching them hump them 200-pound projos.
I did have a bit of howitzer envy, though. When our rounds hit, you could hear a faint boom. When an 8-inch went off, you heard a loud WOOMP.
I presume we also took out the twenty houses that this worker bee so obligingly pollinated for us.
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