Posted on 11/11/2004 6:10:18 PM PST by neverdem
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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