Why is the army so full of worthless irresponsible douchebags?

>army officer
>army

Fuck you. Air Force is the way to go.
Also, what? 1st LT? Did you JUST get into the military?

Because thats who joins the army. If you were very well put together and had prospects, why would you volunteer to get shit on all the time and have no rights?

Why is the only requirement for promotion time accumulated in the army(and number of dicks sucked, of course)? It causes a lot of useless cock-monglers to be put in important positions.

>>14730229
It's off-topic, but have you had any experience working alongside any British military personnel during your deployment? Don't see enough stories of British and American soldiers working together in modern conflicts.

Has your mentality changed since being in the army? Does combat really change a person?

Portrayals of people in the army in popular media: accurate? Not?

Portrayals of battle in popular media: accurate?

>>14730311
the air force is cool if you have a vagina

Is the age of fixed bayonets really over? Are there really any cases of combat that are truly hand to hand anymore or are they really just a rare occurrence given the advance of technology?

>>14730516
As only a 1LT i can only comment on people I know that have been promoted competitively. LTCs and such. Most are not the cock sucking type. But... most generals are. The meyers briggs test they take pretty much puts them all in the same personality type. Which is guys who dont want to rock the boat.

>>14730696
My personality has not changed much. I have a lot less patience with people who make stupid decisions. Fat people etc. but most PTSD i've seen comes from people who are shocked by the difference of life. Friends getting killed etc. If you're a headcase before you go, you are one when you come back. and collect disability. I also worked 2 years in a VA hospital. But good realistic training helps a lot. For instance, shooting at human shaped targets. little stuff.

>>14730575
Yes. got to work with British SBS once. Totally awesome dudes. Even had a former british soldier work for me once. Their ability to worry about what matters, and what doesn't (haircuts and hats etc) is amazing. A lot of respect for them.

>>14730759
A latin soldier in iraq, from central or south america got a few serious knife kills. Rangers still stack on houses, before they go in, letting the new guy go in to get a knife kill first. More for novelty than novelty than anything else.

>>14731015
Fellow Armyfag here, but I work on the signal side of things.

Can you give me an idea as to how different strategic and tactical sides of things are, or have you only dealt with tactical so far?

>>14730759
They don't even really teach bayonet drill in BCT anymore. They're trying to phase it out and put a bigger emphasis on Combatives.

>>14730229
Cadetfag here. Good evening sir.

Bump
I want to hear more interesting stories.

>>14731065
By doctrine, strategic means national policy goals and the tools to implement them. Like the airforce, SF, navy etc. They have goals like "conquer nazi germany" Operational is Armygroup, Army, Corps, which have goals like "capture paris" or "destroy the confederate army of the X", below that is division on down. Which is tactical level of stuff. So pretty much everybody in the army does tactical stuff. I've never been on a general staff. Nor do I want to in the next 10 years. So I have no comparison.

>>14731093
Depends where you go, and how much time you have. When I went through a few years ago, we did bayonet stuff, and MAC. But MAC isn't supposed to be a close combat fighting thing. Its even state in the manual its for manly competition and team building shit. Not for making you a more lethal killer. They need to bring back sentry neck stabbing.

What branch do you want to go?

>>14731103

this isn't really story time, but as a narcasist, i can always talk.

Any Qs for character background or setting information?

>>14731196
You don't want to be in a General Staff? Why not? I thought they'd get to do all the important and interesting planning. Or do they spend most of their time making Powerpoint presentations?

Yo, LT, what's your branch assignment? And did you get seconded to another branch? Former grunt here, and I've had to work with a few butter bars that came to us from signal, JAG, etc. Signal guy was good and learned his shit; JAG, not so much, but at least he tried.

Anyway, keep your cool, listen to your NCOs (if they aren't shit sticks), and bring your boys and/or girls home.

Canadian amateur military historian here, bumping the thread for interest.

Got any stories about working together with Canada's armed forces?

>>14731397
Well, I'm Artillery. But we got reorganized into a IN CO, so I was an IN PL, without all the training.
Since I'm anon, i will say that I have been less than impressed with NCOs. 1/20 are really good. As in always do PT, care about training, teach guys stuff. Most, especially E7 level, are there, and feel untouchable. So they slack off, dont observe training, skip out on PT etc etc. And it was my job to keep them doing their job. It gets worse of course, with 1SGs, who dont do anything with training, and their whole job is worrying about medpros, and who has an appointment or staff duty, and then SGMs, are almost completely worthless. Completely. They don't even plan training, or comment on it, they certainly don't do PT, they just ride around and make sure guys are in the right uniform, have a haircut and the lawns are mowed. Absolutely worthless. E6s though, thats where the best NCOs are. I went through OCS, so I had this really big idea about how great everything would be, if I just listened, and facilitated what they wanted. Which turned out to be shit. So its a balance. And as far as coming home, something i've noticed with many guys, they think thats the mission. 100% survival is not the mission. Thats not the CDRs intent, or even a key task. If people, or myself die, so be it. We volunteered to die for the country. But camping on the FOB, not going out, and just counting down days is tantamount to fraud/waste/abuse in my opinion. These of course, are the worst things an LT can say, and I realize that. But i've had to carry to many E7s, force them to do their job, teach and do training myself, or encourage/motivate them in PT to believe the lie. There are simply good people, and bad people, of all ranks. Some E4s should be CPTs. Some MAJ should be E4s. Some E6s should be LTCs...

>>14731397
Now disclaimer, I dont run around yelling at soldiers, never have, never will. If I notice something fucked up, I'll lean over to a good NCO and say, "does that look right? what do you think? and the situation is remedied, but... for the above mentioned stuff, the golden age, if there ever was one, is over.

>>14731478
Canada has had the most successful tactical engagements in Afghanistan. They're artillery is excellent as fuck. What more can be said? Excellent.

>>14731478
different dude here;

My uncle is currently teaching the afghani pilots how to use all the old russian equipment that was left behind (last I heard. Which was admittedly a while ago)

>>14731600
Brother, I saw the exact same thing from the opposite end of the chain. I finished out my contract in the Specialist Mafia. I was very lucky to have a number of good NCOs and officers. Not much shit was given about haircuts and hands in pockets and other bullshit unless some numb nut from brigade with his head in his ass was about.

As far as sitting around the FOB counting days, that shit almost drove me nuts on my last tour while I was the armorer. Couldn't go on missions, sitting in an office, etc., drove me fucking bugnuts until I got back to the line. I know the mission comes first and survival comes second, but you have to balance that with having the man-power to keep doing the mission. What I meant when I said that was basically try not to take stupid risks if you can avoid them and use your fifth principle of patrolling.

From what you've said, it sounds like you're one of the few good ones. I probably would have liked to serve with you, if you didn't mind a mouthy E-4 who knows his shit.

>>14731776
thus the comment, some E4s should be CPTs. I've had a few, and was like, "Fuck.. why cant I just make you Squad leader? Oh thats right, I have a fat e5 who cant pass his PT test, etc etc."

One of my favorite things to do in training, especially if its something important, is do retarded shit. Like take my good guys out, ID the enemies, look back at them and say something like, "who wants to earn a medal?" or "what were you going to do with your life anyhow." My PSG thought it was hilarious, and always went along with me on ridiculous shit, just to break the monotony of certs and shit. But my rule to my guys was always, when it matters, give me everything you got, and when it doesn't matter, i'll do everything I can to get you home and off work. Don't waste my time, and I wont waste yours. A fair contract, that 60-70% cant seem to fucking figure out. But, thats the way it goes.

"This, would be a good death" (darknight returns ftw) was also another favorite line.

Randomguy here

To all you dumbasses. 1LT is the next rank up from 2LT. So clearly he's been in the service for at least a couple years.

Hey LT, I'm an AF E-4, and I'm curious about your viewpoint and experiences, but largely because a distant cousin of mine graduated West Point a few years back.

On the offchance you've worked with AF Enlisted personnel, I have to wonder if you've noticed any strong differences between Army and AF enlisted?

It's my understanding (and experience) that we're a lot more casual with officers than your enlisted, and I'll be the first to admit on the whole we're good deal softer too. Do you find this to be the case, or is there some other major facet in which we differ?

>>14731816

unfortunately unrelated to /tg/ but....
collegefag here, looking at having a tough time paying, is ROTC good? tough to get into? is army officer-ing worth it?

I've always wondered just how much ammunition a regular soldier takes along on a normal, one day mission.

Because I've had people in DH drag around in excess of 500 autogun or heavy stubber rounds and that always sounded a bit ridiculous to me...

>>14732077
Yes, I work with Airforce a lot, doing the combined fires stuff. I did all day today infact. And yes... exactly what you said. If any one ever asks, i tell them to join the AF, where you'll be treated like a real person. Extremely different. Probably for the better. Army asshole way of doing things, is because thats the only thing that works in controlling the organization most of the time. I wish the army had better people in it, and we could be more professional and respectful. It just doesn't. AF girls are better, AF food is better, its just better.

>>14732090
I did ROTC for 2 years, and I'd defiantly recommend it. You shit will be paid for, you'll make some friends, and probably learn a lot about yourself. Being an officer is good. Great even. But, 80% of the army is douchebags. Officer and enlisted side. So, be warned. But ROTC is generally a good experience that I'd recommend to anyone.

>>14732090


Relevant overwhelming to me too.

>>14732131

Seven Mags of 30. 210 rounds. For an M4.

>>14732140
douchebags i can deal with, 80% of fucking everyone are douchebags. but yeah, is it hard to get into? it really does seem like too sweet a deal to not be ultra competitive...

Not OP, but someone in my unit is ex-airforce, ( I can't remember why he switched,) and he said one time, they were moved to a base where the AF didn't have enough housing, so they stayed in surplus army housing, It was pretty standard stuff he said. Anyway apparently while they were they received "substandard housing" pay or some such silliness. Just a fun little military anecdote.

>>14732186
I'm not ROTC but I have some friends who are. It's my understanding that it's not difficult at all to get into, you just have to maintain like 2.5 gpa or something silly like that. I guess some branches are competitive however.

>>14732140
>>14731015

Hellos US Army LT, any other less mentioned countries/nationalities members you worked with under arms? and impressions?

>>14732131
When I was in Afghanistan we carried the standard combat load of 7 mags, 249's carried 1200. 240 gunner carried 50-100 preloaded and wrapped around the gun while the AG carried another 2500. Grenadiers carried 28rnd of 203. Then again we got hit everyday so most of us carred another 5 mags in our packs.

LtCol in the Swedish army here. Served with some Americans in Afgan. Why are you so tense, like, all the time?

>>14735692
Because there's a Swede in the room?

>>14735692
It is not altogether insensible to be tense all the time in Afghanistan. That place sucks.

>>14735692
They know they'll die like little bitches if they run into a towelhead with actual army training.

If they were on joint exercises, they were probably made fun of by soldiers of other NATO countries, too.

It's a tough life, being a G.I.

>>14730229

Hey, could you give us examples of ad hoc in the field?

>>14735733

>>14735645
Have you faded out the 203 for the 320 yet? It's supposed to be more useful.

>>14735733
>>14735719
>>14735700

'course it's a shithole and I don't blame anyone for feeling nervous, especially not the green ones. They were cool guys, half expected them to be trigger happy rednecks but I guess generalization got to me.

Needless to say I was only briefing them regarding a mission, I never went into combat along side them.

Are Artillery still called redlegs?

Former Artillery grunt here.

Why was 50% of my time spent cleaning howitzers, support vehicles and the howitzer garages?
It's not like they even were particularly dirty. It just got silly after a while.

>>14735808
The final argument of kings must shine for the photo ops.

>>14735818
I'm being picky, but isn't it the Isn't it the "last argument of kings"?

What sort of things should a soldier do when moving around in an urban environment?

What is the correct procedure for moving through buildings that contain potential opfor?

Both needed for a Shadowrun game.

>>14735836
I don't know. I assume it was in French originally, but I don't know which is the more faithful translation.

>>14735808
Finn reservist here. I don't know about you, but we had to do all this crazy shit like practice with the guns in the forest and for some reason there was a lot of dirt, mud, sand, pine cones, fir needles, leaves and whatnot in and on everything.
Cleaning and oiling the 155 pipe in -30°C at 2200-0000 after live fire was always fun. And preparing all the bombs for the next day. And freezing your ass off during radio watch...

GOOD TIMES, MANG.

>>14735818
Fuck that.

>spend entire day cleaning dirty jeeps (tires and shit included)
>spend afternoon cleaning garage
>"oh hi private anon, gonna need you to sweep gravel away from the drill square outside the garage"
>2 AM: DONE
>"oh hi private anon, gonna need you to wash the garage again"
>"..."
>"we'll let you sleep in!"
>okay.jpg
>get to bed at 5:30 AM
>mfw room mates inexplicably choose to run in and out of our room whilst screaming loudly for the entire first half of the day thus depriving me of any sleep

>next day
>"oh hi private anon gonna need you to run 30 km for no reason"

>>14735889
Well, yeah, same here. But between exercises we still cleaned shit even though it was already clean.

>>14735850
Finn arty reservist here again, all Finn conscripts are trained as riflemen during basic, and our half-arsed MOUT equivalent was more or less about overwatch, checking your corners and not passing unchecked rooms in a nonchalant manner. And, as in all infantry stuff, always being paired with someone; basically, a lone infantryman is only 25% as effective as a pair of the same. Don't trust stupid fiction where alledged "supersoldiers" work solo. There's nothing "super" about being stupid.

Also, "House to House" by Bellavia is a pretty good book about fighting in a city.

>>14735850
For normal patrol through a street or ally its just a staggered column. For buildings we usually checked the windows to gain entry, they had a habit of putting pressure plates in doorways. For buildings with known OpFor its the squads preference but usually a column or T formation.

>>14735898
Cleaning shit when it's already clean is pretty choco, though.

Then again in Iraq and Afucknistan they got all that sand, so shit just doesn't stay clean even unused.

>>14731196
When I was in BCT we just pugil fighting and a smidgen of MAC. Seems like all we did was BRM for forever. Also, I'd like to try and branch into the Infantry, but failing that Military Intelligence, Air Defense Artillery, Psychological Operations, or something like that.

>>14732140
>>14732090
The first two years of ROTC you're still just a student taking an elective course and as such you're not really required to do much of anything. For your junior and senior years you have to be contracted and thusly a part of the US military. As such, you have to really buckle down and get your shit together. As he said though, I highly recommend it. Otherwise I wouldn't be in myself.

>>14735941

Yeah, I've noticed that.

Having said that, I think a lot of that seems to be a case of not having enough eyes, and only needing 1 bullet to die.

Something like shielding would change that. That FIRST surprise burst gets absorbed, and then it's a straight fight after that.

AFAIK, combat deaths don't happen because Jimmy GI took a belt of MG42 bullets. He got caught a few times. Maybe one somewhere good, etc. Maybe a grenade too close. Shields to absorb that, the situation changes a LOT. Or more to the point, being able to absorb the initial attack. Enough time to do something.

Anyway, that's just speculation. That's good advice.
>>14735965

This as well, but the terms are a little jargonistic. "T formation", "Staggered Column", "Pressure Plates". Could you define these a bit?

But spreading out is generally vital, as is high levels of of environmental awareness?

>>14736023
Covering fire is essential. You need to spread out at least somewhat to pull it off.

>>14736023
Sorry about the jargon.
Staggered Column- Essentialy you make two lines walking on opposite ends of a street or alley, about 5-10 meters apart. Each soldier has about 10-15 meters between him and the guy to his front and rear. The opposite side of the column is offset.

T formation is for hallways, two men shoulder to shoulder with their line of fire to the front, aiming at the opposite wall of the hallway from the side that they are on. Other soldiers are close behind in the middle of the hallway. So if viewed from the top down, it would look like a T.

Pressure plate/crush plate. In the crudest forom, find some cardboad, take 2 small metal bands, place them in the carboard about 1 inch apart, parallel. roll/fold this into a long box/tube, wrap in plastic and tape, bury this 4 inches in the earth, now when stepped on the metal will contact each other and if linked to a IED, will detonate, hence the term crush plate trigger.

For moving in open areas, or woodland. Imagine you are a team of Rambos. Or the expendables, you stay in a close team so that you can hate fuck your enemy from multiple angles, but stay far enough apart that a single grenade or automatic burst wont hit several of you.

>>14736170
>>14736155

Excellent. Thanks a lot.

>>14736188
Any other questions? All this if from an infantryman's perspective.

>>14735754
When I was there last year we didnt have the 320's.

Would a supply detail use Strykers in any form or is it mainly 5t trucks and HEMTT's that are used alongside Humvee's? Or any other vehicles for that matter.

I'm asking this because I've been toying with an idea for a story (or a campaign setting even) where a bunch of soldiers get transported over to a fantasy world.
Now the reason I'd rather want to use rear-echelon people rather than frontline troops is just so I don't have to handwave all the supply issues away by having access to something carrying a ton of stuff.
Even if I'd still have to do that with the whole fuel issues. (Wizards!)

If I go to the US airforce, what eventuality would I have to take to get into para-rescue.

>>14736198

What's the proper way of reacting when someone in your squad gets a sniper's bullet to the face?

What sort of circumstances would warrant a physical attack, rather than shooting someone, and what are some common forms? Smack with a rifle butt? Some awesome military martial art?

Oh, and what sort of formation would you be looking at if a tank's involved? Infantry positioning, etc.

>>14736221
Oh and I've admittedly got a bit of a mancrush (boner?) on the Stryker, hence why I'm wondering if they'd be used or not.

>>14736198
I'm British. My understanding of what's going on in Afghanistan is foggy at best, beyond 'Helmand Province is where fuzzy-wuzzies injure out brave lads' style stuff. During the occuptation of Iraq there was a lot more interesting analysis of it.

In any case, what's actually going on? Are the co-allition troops actually fighting an enemy, or are they trying to police the country? Is it just a bunch of bored young men sitting in forts as the pissed off locals take pot-shots at them with mortars, and lay booby-traps when they go on patrol?

Also, air-strikes. Or air-support. In the movies a bunch of explosions happen about thirty seconds after the person tells them co-ordinates on the radio. How long does that kind of shit take in the real world?

Also, funny stories.

>>14735941

>>Also, "House to House" by Bellavia is a pretty good book about fighting in a city.

He is right. If you're not interested in reading it, try Flesh and Iron by Henry Zou. It's exactly the fucking same but with a 40k wash.

>>14736221
Strykers have horrible MPG, better than brads, but still horrible.

Supply runs are usually escorted by a Route clearance package(rcp). And are generally about 20 trucks. HMMWV's arent allowed outside the wire, at least not where I was.

In my stryker we had 8000rnds of .50cal. All APDS. 3 AT-4s, 2 SMAW-D's. 5,000rnds loose 5.56, 10,000rnds linked 5.56, 10,000rnds linked 7.62, and 50 grenades.

For airsupport, unless it was the scout helicopters, we never got it. All ISAF let fixed wing do was a show of forcer(fly at 500ft and drop flares). Since we didnt get many resupplies, we had to run our own. Usually 4-6 strykers and 1 or 2 FMTV's.

>>14736249

I've seen Stalingrad recently. That was nasty. Lot of dead people, with not a lot of warning. Urban warfare looks messy. Very messy.

Also, while we're on the subject, any experience of Private Military Contractors (or Mercenaries).

I've read some interesting shit comparing the rise of using them since 9/11 to their use in the late Middle Ages/Renaissance, but I don't know how much of it ees bullshite.

>>14736270
By my understanding, the overwhelming majority of private sector operations in the east involve banal shit like truck drivers and maintenance. Actual PMC troops were rare to begin with, and are moreso now.

>>14736233
Snipers are, interesting. We ended up with a Chechnyan sniper in our area. We ended up figuring out his patrol route after 5 days. We marked probable OP's(observation points) that he would take up and then waited. After taking fire, we called in 60mm and 81mm mortars to flatten the buildings that we guessed he was in. Must have scarred him off cause we didnt find a body, but neither did we get hit again.

If you actually take a casualty from a sniper you look at the way the soldier falls, generally people fall onto the bullet. So you can assume a 90 degree area from where the soldier is laying towards.

>>14736260
Ah, much appreciated.

>>14736221
There are multiple variants for Strykers, but there isn't a supply one. There wasn't when I got out anyway. They'd be pulling security for the HEM-TTs and other supply/support vehicles if they were there at all.

>>14736233
The proper reaction is to break down to battle drill two: return fire, get to cover, assess the situation. For a detailed look at that kind of stuff, look up FM 7-8 or FM 3.23. They should be readily available.

Something that warrants a physical blow instead of shooting? Entering a room with someone in the way. You jab them in the chest with the barrel of your weapon, butt-stroke them, punch them, just get them out of the way, if they are a non-combatant.

Movement through an urban area with armor depends on the circumstances. Generally the infantry will move ahead in a staggered column looking for anti-armor in buildings and signs of mines or IEDs in the streets. This is called moving in defile or a defile drill.

No clue on PMC's. Never saw them.

I was between Helmand and Kandahar along the Hwy about 4k from where Mohammed Omar first taught the ideals of the Taliban. We had foot patrols just about every day, mostly to try and goad the Taliban to come out and fight us.

>>14736244
At the moment it's a combination of active warfighting against Taliban strongholds and assisting the afghan security forces in policing/naming checkpoints/guarding military and strategically important civilian convoys etc. Everything the police and military do in the west, international forces in Afghanistan are either doing it (usually alongside the Afghan national army or the police/border police) or training the locals to do it.

As for airstrikes, legally as an ex-signalman I can only say so much about the process, but basically you make a request, command either accepts (confirms) request or denies depending on priority/importance of target and nearby resources.

If accepted, you're queued up alongside other requests and given an eta (estimate time arrival) which can be from a few minutes to an hour or two on both sides of the extreme, again dependant on resources, how far the aircraft have to travel, weather etc.

It's not always instant and usually the explosion isn't a massive fireball, it's a loud bang an lots of smoke/dust but little to no visible fire

>>14736233
I don't think anyone seriously uses bayonets anymore. I know the Brits drill with them, and on occasion pull off a badass charge with some covering fire to prove a point: Poorly disciplined thugs with AK-47s can be defeated with waterloo tactics.

For everyone else, thumping someone with the barrel of a gun is almost always sufficient, essentially as though you had a bayonet, except you don't. It's a heavy piece of metal with a small impact surface, the guy's going down with a caved a broken something, even if he isn't bleeding. The butt is overplayed in the media because it looks better.

>>14736312
Trying to get clearance for fires or air support is a bitch. We hatted calling up for clearance to fire mortars only to be told to standby. Then 45 minutes later after the firefights long done, they call us back and say negative on the clearance.

>>14736221
>>14736235
Well, supply really only has the trucks. Generally they wouldn't go through hot zones, and if they had to, they'd have an escort of regular fighting troops, proportionate to the assumed threat.

>>14736233
Sniper fire to the face calls for taking cover and locating the shooter so you can fuck his shit up, although on principle an actual, competent sniper would only take one or two shots max and move to another spot, exactly to avoid getting spotted and fucked.
Physical attack is warranted if you want to take someone alive or you're more or less in a fucked up situation, either because you happened to quite literally run into the enemy or because you're out of ammo and in close quarters. Looking for melee kills is pretty fucking stupid, and while you might get some hard rep for doing it successfully, you're more likely to get fucked up and even when successful might get your superiors to wonder if you'd be better of playing vidya as some rear-echelon clerk. Shit happens, but you shouldn't go looking for trouble, you'll only risk yourself and your team.
As far as tanks go, all I know is that you want to avoid such things as a) getting crushed, b) taking heat from AT meant for the tank, c) being near the main gun when fired. Beyond that, you need comms with the tank and to be the tractorists' eyes and ears. And formations are situational anyway. You're not going to be in a fucking tactical line (dudes abreast with 5-10 meter spacing) in some tight back alley in downtown Buttfuckqiyah.

Disclaimer: All of my knowledge/experience is from two tours of Iraq in 5/20th IN, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, during '06-'07 and '09-'10. Anything with A-stan or more recent in Iraq is not known to me.

>>14736312
Are/were you an FO or JTAC? Ever get to see the Excalibur in action? That thing is fucking insane.

CF Reserves sigop here.

Can't say much about my trade at the moment - still getting some of my quals - but wanted to check in. Heh. This is the most /k/ /tg/ has been in a while.

Ex A 2/1 in 5/2 Stryker here. By the way sorry about that whole thing with bravo company giving everyone a bad name. If it helps, I knew Morlock in basic and he was the same shit eating whiny bitch that he is in the interviews.

>>14730759
Marine here.
I had a Drill Instructor who fought in the battle of Ramadi alongside an Iraqi police man who carried a tomahawk that was bloodied and the man refused to clean it. He said he later saw the man use it in close combat nearly cutting another man's arm off before hitting him in the neck with it.

>>14736333
Ah, thanks for clarifying that. Somewhat handwaving it then.

>>14736325

I know the Australians get taught close combat stuff that basically runs like a Jackie Chan film. I have a mate who was seriously taught (with a bunch of other guys), the right way of clubbing someone with his helmet, entrenching tool, and empty magazines, if it ever came to that. Bayonette stuff as well.

>>14736326
I remember watching that dramatic movie that was online a while back. The one where the Reuters guy got strafed. The air support helicopter dicked around for so long between runs, and before even doing anything. Lot of pissing about.

Swedish army medic here. I'm up for answering any questions up to group level tactics and trauma care and typical combat injuries and treatment.

>>14736378
never underestimate an entrenching tool in close combat. It was used a lot in trench-raiding in WW1, as well as in WW2. Soldiers used to sharpen the edges to make it more effective.

>>14736403
What's the most typical non-combat related injury you had to deal with? Shit like, I don't know, twisting an ankle or having an ammo box fall in your head or something.

>>14736403

A platoon of soldiers are all relatively close to one another, shooting a enemies in a few directions. Someone takes a bad hit, but nothing immediately lethal.

What happens?

And what is the Swedish army like, as an army?

>>14736406
You'd be surprised how much you way in full kit. Other than jabbing them with the muzzle, you can always go for a tackle and just fall on them, then proceed to head but the shit out of them with your helmet.

>>14736345
Hey, fellow reservist.

Armoured Recce here.

Heard some great stories from Afghan vets, the most interesting I heard was Apache pilots reporting ammunition after an attack run. They'd go through rockets, the chain gun, and then at the very end occasionally our guys would hear "9mil, ammunition expended".

You crazy Americans.

>>14736414
Slap a tourniquet on that bitch and call for medevac.

>>14736367
It's also a fact that exceptions happen all the time.

>>14736378
All the hand-to-hand training and such also serves the psychological purpose of conditioning you to fight in situations other than ridiculously perfect.
To oversimplify it, dudes trained only to occasionally fire a weapon from a static position will run as soon as the enemy does anything beyond being a static target, while dudes trained in everything from proper techniques of ancient South-American papercut-fencing to tactical bad jokes will look at even the worst situation and see many options, because they know they have a relatively decent chance even if they're only armed with half a rock and a can of Pepsi per battalion.

>>14736431
Had some Kiowa pilots do that. God I loved them. Female pilot shot a dude on motorcycle with her m-4. From the sound of her voice I imagine she was beautiful.

Every time there's a sword/medieval combat thread some douchefag goes 'SAGE, back to /k/'. It gets repetitive.

Cheers for the info guys. So it's basically the front-line is 'Sit in the fort, go on patrol to see if anyone wants to kill us today, see if the local officials are a bunch of incompetant, heroin addicted boy-bummers, find out they are, try and do their jobs for them while the bloke who delivers our rations gets his vehicle blown out from under him.'?

Sucks as a job. Closest I know of it is a child-hood friend who joined the (Royal) marines to get away from a fucked up childhood. I know he got shot in the arse by a guy cleaning his rifle in the bunk below his, but apart from that we have a no 'Has u evar fired two guns while diving thru the air!?' rule when he gets leave.

>>14736222
Well you go to sign up for it. If I recall correctly you have to get an 80 or higher on your ASVAB. Afterwards you go and take a phsyical test, twice. You need to be able to meet the highest requirement, so 10 pull up, 70 sit ups, 60 push up, 2 mile run in 13 minutes, and 100 meter swim.

After you've done all of that a PJ will come out to evaluate you and you'll take the test again. If he approves you get a green light for consideration. After basic you go and try out for it. If you pass the try out they send you to actual training. My dad was a PJ, 500 guys started and only him and 1 other guy were left by the end. Should've been 3 but one of the guys got bit by a water moccasin and had to drop.

You'll be put through the hardest training the U.S. has to offer because when it comes right down to it PJ are the very last thing we can call on. When Navy SEALS need help they send in the Pararescue.

Obviously, my knowledge base is pretty well covered here. I'm gonna hustle on out unless someone has a specific question for me. Anything to do with infantry tactics, weapons from the M9 to the Mk 19, Strykers, some communications, and shit like that, feel free to ask. I'll be around.

>>14736431
Drivebys are a noble and time honored tradition in Sacred America. Every inaccurate barrage is a sacrament to St. Capone.

>>14736414
I know this is directed to the actual medic, but what's pretty much taught in the US Army is that the most important thing to do is to make the area secure, and just about the only thing you're supposed to do apply a tourniquet. After the area is secure you can go back and preform emergency lifesaving procedures, but the best thing to do is just leave it to the medic. Also, everyone carries a small medical kit on them, and when you're preforming aid on them, you use their equipment, as that you may need to use yours on yourself.

>>14736448
That sounds about right with my deployment.

>>14736431
A few of the guys from my unit went on deployment and wound up in the - fuck, I forget the acronym, the joint task group CP. Some interesting stories from those, for sure.

>>14736508
How long until we admit defeat then?

>>14736510
Might you mean JTF2? If so, holy shit yeah they'd have stories.

>tactical bad jokes

>>14736463

What happens when a platoon runs into a tank?

Say, one of the forward elements spots one cruising along. Infantry company, no local air support or armour.

>>14736527
Until the public makes their political representatives pull the trigger. That's pretty much it for asymmetrical warfare these days - there's no real victory waiting at the end of it, no bunker in Berlin, no formal surrender on the bridge of the battleship.

>>14736537
No, not JTF2 - the area command centre. Though from what I understand they did have a liaison who covered special operations in every now and again.

>>14736222
>>14736457
All power to you man. I have a mehhh stance on Airforce, but when it comes to Para-Rescue your name is definatley right up there with Navy Seal. Of course, this means your gonna get the shit ran, swam, and hiked out of you, if you want to get there.
Fuck I wish I had this pic... it was taken at some airforce base with a big sign saying:
"I am a United States Airman."
"I am a Warrior."
"I have awnsered my Nation's call."
with two marine crew chiefs, one who earned his combat wings, giving big thumbs up beside it.
Freeking airforce.

>>14736561
Blargh, too many acronyms.

Air Force here: Call us when you need us. We'll be waiting. Not like there's anything else to do here god damn.

>>14736547
Figured as much, I was just wondering to what extent the poor bloody infantry felt the same way.

I guess the ability to do a Sri-Lankan Army Northern Offensive style 'Fuck This Shit' depends entirely on political will. For genocide.

Fuck it. Definitely sounds like a shitty job. Why did you guys go into it?

>>14736544
The weapon squad *SHOULD* have two Javelin teams for dealing with such a threat. In my experience, this was never the case due to under-manning and just how fucking heavy the damn things were. We did carry SMAW-Ds and AT-4s, however, usually two in the platoon on foot and six or seven back on the trucks.

To deal with the armor, put the anti-tank weapons in overwatch positions with interlocking fields of fire where you know that tank is going to go. Then light it the fuck up. If that doesn't work, pop smoke and beat feet.

>>14736584
I went in because I thought that my joining would somehow make it so the guy that has 7 deployments and has only seen his kid for 6 months out of the 3 years they've been alive, would'nt have to deploy. And I was wrong

>>14736584
Why? Initially because I was a stupid high school kid who wanted to be patriotic and money for college. After I was in for a while and learned how the bullshit worked? I just wanted to watch the backs of my friends, get them home safe, and teach the FNGs so they wouldn't come home in body bags.

>>14736584
Beats being a lonely goatherd in sicily.

>>14736457
After comming back from Foreign Legion training I was pretty highly disappointed into what it had turned since the 80-90's, so now i'm just looking to get back on my labour feet with civil engineering and eventually imigrate to the US/Canada, and get my Airforce on.

I'd really like to be a 68W combat medic, but piloting seems way more lucrative.

On a side note. RP Characters shouldn't really want to carry more than 40 lbs of gear. Anything more than that and your going to run into fatigue on reduced agility. Granted, some guys can carry 80 lbs with no problem. But still. I hate seeing players with every gadget under the sun strapped to them.

>>14736684
Hey, it's not geardos don't exist in the real world too!

They just stay inside the wire.

>>14736684

That's what I loved about playing a body 15 Agility 13 Solo in Cyberpunk. I could carry my entire arsenal, plus tools, and not have to worry about getting slowed down much.

LEt's talk small arms. How much or little do you actually get to test out various (non-standard, obviously) small arms like assault rifles, rifles, SMGs and all that shit?

>>14736413
>Typical non-combat injury
Traumatic injuries?
Broken legs are common. Lots of heavy machinery, dubious construction, stress and vehicles.
Non-traumatic?
Muscle strain, sprained ankles, etc. Common colds.
>>14736414
>Someone takes a bad hit
Depends on the groups medical resources. There's either a squad medic, a platoon medic, company medical team or regimental medical teams.

No medics-
A nearby soldier will attend to the soldier. He will try to evacuate him from the line of fire and life threatening situation, after which he will, according to his own memory of mandatory first aid, try to tend to his friend. He will most likely apply a field dressing or tourniquet. The closest medical resource will be called in to take over.

Squad medic-
Same thing, but he'll do it better. He'll have specialized medical equipment and will be better suited to give life-sustaining aid such as CPR. He might set an IV and try to keep the blood pressure up until a medical evacuation comes around, which might be located at a company or regimental level.

Platoon medic-
Same thing as group, but he'll take over from the soldier that initiated care.

Company medical team-
Usually have advanced equipment and can drain chests from blood, intubate, defib, etc. Will most likely also act as the medical evacuation.

Regiment medical team-
See above.

The injured is then evacuated to a field hospital or regular hospital, depending on how much of a total field war it is.

This is how we did it, and I suspect that it's pretty standardized in the west.
>Swedish army, how's it like?

>>14736684
That fatigue happens in real life, too. For a while I was carrying 150 lbs of gear. Yeah, I know that sounds like bullshit, but it was water, batteries for the radio, ammo, food and body armor. The only reason I could do it at all was because I was hitting the gym regularly, and we'd stop in houses to sit with the families and talk. One ever block or so. The tricky part was climbing and walking along walls. Real pain in the ass.

>>14736717
Very rarely. Supply in Afghanistan is a bitch.

>>14736414
Common injury for us was lower back and knee issues, all the weight caused a lot of stress. Medics usually just handed us flexoral.

>>14736714
Problem is that all your gear hangs on your shoulders, unless your running a street sami with a reinforced skeleton and cyber replaced back and shoulder muscles, your going to feel all that shit cutting in.

>>14736717
Yeah, grunts don't get to play with that shit. We aren't "testers" at all. You get what's issued to you, that's it. If you want to buy your own optics or bipods or whatever tacticool shit for your weapon, go ahead. Just keep in mind, it will probably disappear and go on the armorer's weapon if he likes it.

>>14736414
>Swedish army, how's it like?
In a state of change. We just shifted over to a professional army from a conscript one. I served both in the conscript army a few years ago and I just joined the professional one.

They're very different in terms of mood and attitude. There's not enough willing soldiers to go around at this time and the need to secure an image as a good workplace is high priority, so they're very touchy-feely with how to handle us as professional soldiers rather than the conscripts the same officers had just one year ago.

So, in summary- quite relaxed, but professional. Goal, not road oriented. "What gets the job done" seems to be the new dogma. If the soldier does something differently than proceedure and it works, without safety secession, why not?

They seem very keen on developing how we do things, seeing how everything is changing we might as well all try to work together to make sure it goes in the right direction- which acting soldiers usually know better than deskbound captains.

so what do you think about combatives?

ever tapped a guy with an omoplata?

>>14736785

>reinforced skeleton
>replaced muscles
>RNA rebuilt for strength and durability.

That's how he GOT body 15. I was wearing the usual skinweave/trenchcoat thing at the time, and made sure that I had some variate of high-tech webbing to call upon. Stuff on the thighs and chest.

>>14736805
Combatives is purely for PT as far as Im concerned, try getting a guy in a rear naked choke or a arm bar in full kit. It aint happening. Just fall on him and your weight alone with crack his ribs, head but with your helmet and the metal plate on the front will break his nose.

>>14736786
But stuff like AK47 and such? Y'know, in cases you run out of ammo, but got two dead talibs next to you or something? Does that happen, or is this fiction only?

And speaking of fiction, any movies you could name that got (modern) military stuff (and by "stuff" I mean "everything) right?

>>14736684
This. Remember that the full IBA weighs over thirty pounds, but just the vest alone still weighs about 15 pounds. Add to that the PASGT helmet, weighing about 4 pounds, the M4 weighs about 7 loaded (not to mention any attachments, such as CCO), the extra magazines, grenades, medical kit, ect. You end up with just your basic equipment weighing ~40-60lbs as it is, so you're not going to want to add a bunch of extra equipment. It may not seem like much, but when you're running around in it, it gets heavy fast.

>>14736801
>which acting soldiers usually know better than deskbound captains.
This is true EVERYWHERE.

>>14736805
Never really was up on combatives, personally. I always carried two knives as a back up, one on my vest and one on my belt, nothing fuck-off hueg shiny, but simple and useful.

As far as MACP goes, in my opinion, it's useless. Most of that shit you can't do in armor, and it doesn't train to kill, it trains to fight competitively.

>>14736833
You mean planting weapons? Or taking their gun and using it? Generally their guns are in such shitty quality theres no guarantee it will still fire.

>>14736833
We trained with AKs and RPKs and such, yes. Even an RPG or two. Field stripping, loading, mag changes, etc. Sadly, that was only in country when we got our hands on them. We'd even keep spares with ammo on the trucks as a "just in case."

>>14736854
Hey, man. No one carries drop guns! That's illegal! *wink*

And, yes, there is the LAW OF LAND WARFARE. Had to get quarterly training on that shit. Buckshot is illegal according to it because it causes undue harm and suffering.

>>14736785
Knee injuries are among the most common long-term problems of soldiers. Every little jump with combat gear is a killer.

>>14736916
Six years in and Im already slotted for stereoscopic surgery to clean up my IT bands. Atleast, I was before I moved to Germany and they lost my records.

>>14736916
Fighting for disability from the VA for my knees, back, hip and ankle. And my spine actually compressed one full inch from the weight I carried and how long I did.

Anyone have any other military questions for us? Im on here most nights, I dont know about the other guys. Regardless, feel free to set up threads for addressing realism in your games.

>>14736969

Thanks a lot. Normally I have to venture into /k/ to get anything approaching realism.

Shadowrun's tricky, because a 20 minutes into the future game might have so many things similar, but so many things different, that it's difficult to model.

Do you regular grunt types get to try out sniping and sniper rifles? Like, say, your only sniper gets hit, but you absolutely NEED to fuck someone's shit up from a long distance, could you pick up your fallen comrade's *insert common sniper rifle here* and proceed to ruin the enemy's day?

(I guess that one's more likely to happen in an RPG with the misfit crew, but hey, 's what this thread's for!)

i hear tabletop RPGs are a popular way to kill time in the military.

true? is there normally at least 1 group on the larger bases?

>>14736969
I'm with this guy. I'm usually just lurking around, not doing shit. If you've got a question for me, feel free to ask.

>>14736993
You're welcome. Have fun with your new-found knowledge.

>>14737019
>>14736969
How are the minor allies doing in Afghanistan? Are they useful?

>>14737004
Stick with your own weapon, its sighted to you. If you pick up someone elses weapon its not likely to hit exactly where you are aiming.

If you really need to fuck someones day up you try and open up with a 240. The rule for initiating ambushes are to start with your highest casualty producing weapon(by the textbook that would be a claymore).

>>14737028
Canadians are almost never around. The Danish helicopter pilots refuse to fly below the safe ceiling limit. Ive never seen the French leave Kandahar Air field. And the British seem to stay around Helmand or as QRF for Kandahar air field.

>>14737054

And the Australians?

what's the role of combat engineers?

>>14737028

ISAF = I See Americans Fighting

>>14737004
This is exactly why snipers work in pairs or even threes. Normally it's a spotter and a sniper, the spotter being the more experienced shooter, and the third man being a radio operator. Your regular grunt generally doesn't know shit about DOPE or how to gauge windage or compute the Coriolis effect. So generally, no, you wouldn't just pick up the sniper's rifle and go to town.

>>14737015
Yes, RPGs are an awesome way to kill time. We had alternating DND and W40K nights in the company command post during my last tour. This was done with the commander's permission, of course. He even bragged about us and showed us off to the other company commanders. I quote straight from Charlie's CO, "My nerds only play magic. What the fuck?"

>>14736926
How oddly convenient...

>>14737054
Well, the Canadian mission ends this year, so yeah. But prior to that decision we were pretty active - just not necessarily in the same provinces.

Also we're taking the T-Ho's out of KAF with the pullout, is the rumour. Sucks for you guys.

>>14737077

i thought there was a security element with sniper teams nowadays, so the team is shooter, spotter, then 2-4 guys with a SAW and a M203.

What training/procedure is available for infantry when dealing with the prospect of being ground under an armoured advance (literally)?

I'm talking about what are you supposed to do if there's a tank about to roll right over you, assuming you can't get out of the way and don't have any cover - dive under it and hope for the best?

Same applies for how are you supposed to take one out if you need to but have no dedicated weapons - I've seen the russian method is/was dig yourself a little trench that it rolls over and then you pop up and chuck a molotov at the engine, but what's the american equivalent (and please let it not be 'wait for support')

>>14737066
To get blown up. Seriously. The go out on route clearance to find and remove IEDs and such. That's usually done by hitting the fucking thing, but their vehicles are built to take it. The also do bridge building, running of power and water to areas, and blowing up cashes that require blowing up. I've got much love for the engineers. Even if they are POGs, they're still some hard-ass POGs.

>>14737054

Brits are minor allies now? There are ~9000 of them!

Okay, that's minor compared to the US, but they're the only other big player, in terms of boots on the ground, serious air support, and getting stuck in on their own. Our troops (Danish military) do combat attachments to other units, but rarely large major ops on their own.

>>14737116
What is a POG? Usually on /k/ people don't really answer it, it just becomes a trollfest.

>>14737015
I managed to talk a few other guys into starting up DH while we where over there. Only problem was that since we had no internet I only had a few of the books in PDF. Getting together was the hard part, with constant missions, being on our own company outpost and have a platoon patrol base on weekly rotations, it wasnt easy to get together for games. Other problem was the discrimination we got from the rest of the company.

>>14737129

People Other than Grunts.

People who aren't primarily fighters.

>>14737066

Engineers: maximise friendly mobility, minimise enemy mobility.

That means clearing and building roads, clearing mines, and providing infrastructure on the one hand, and being responsible for building walls, wire, checkpoints etc on the other hand.

>>14737129
POG is person other than grunt. Theres a million different definitions. Some argue its anyone that isnt infantry, some that its all the non combat MOS's.

>>14737116
So there's no 'combat' involved at all?
And are they prepared according to their rank?
I assume they need quite a lot of guys to arrange a power line that don't actually need many knowledge besides "keep 'live' and 'neutral' apart", but somebody has to design the system

>>14737104
What you're referring to is called an SKT, or small kill team. They were starting during my first tour of Iraq, but the use of them ended after the SOFA agreements. The also had a nicer, more media friendly name that I can't remember. Whether they're still in use in A-stan, I can't speak to.

>>14737114
See my previous post about dealing with armor. However, if it's SHTF and it's about to run you down? Run like a bitch for the nearest cover. If you can't do that, try to duck under it or climb up on it, the former being more preferable. That's a situation that you don't really train for and which you would need your fifth principle of patrolling, common sense.

>>14737128
I cant say what they do and dont do, I just know that I never saw them outside my resupply runs the KAF.

As for the Australians, no clue

>>14737143
Ah. I see. Thank you!

Also, how are the Army Infantry Regs on soldiers in the field using their opponents weapons? Or say, swapping out their own combat blade with something like a kukri? Currently I'm guessing that the latter would only be Spec Ops, if at all.

>>14737162
We ran SKT's all the time in Afghanistan. The 4 man sniper team(sniper, spotter, radio operator and medic), and then a SAW gunner and 1 or 2 rifleman. Any more than that and your to large to be able to quietly move around.

>>14737160
Dude, getting blown up is combat. They'd also get shot at and ambushed as much as we would, sometime a little more because they had to move so slowly.

>And are they prepared according to their rank?
I don't understand the question.

As far as running the power and such, go talk to a lineman. The guys who climb the towers to get power to your neighborhood. Dealing with "live" wires usually means in excess of 1k volts. Not my shtick so I really can't comment on it.

>>14737178
You can only use government issued firearms, otherwise its counted as murder. Personal knives are your own choice.

>>14737066

I was combat engineer in FDF, we build minefields, clear of minefields, clear unexploded ordinance and destroy roads and bridges, stuff like that.

>>14737178
If you're in the shit and you're out of bullets, feel free to use whatever is to hand. And no one cares about what you use for a pig-sticker. If you want to carry around that three pound kukri while I use my 8 oz. folder, you go right ahead. However, you'll probably get laughed at like a motherfucker.

>>14737190
Okay. I can understand, since the m-4's round isn't meant to over penetrate, whereas the 7.62 cartridge does. So how come they don't care if you swap a mostly stabby weapon for a mostly limb-choppy weapon? It would very obviously go from "silent, small deadly wound inflicting material" to "OH MY GOD, YOU FUCKING DECAPITATED HIM." Is this taken into account, or "whatever works" in terms of defending yourself?

BTW, this is actually for a small comic I'm working on.

This is my only experience with Canadians, we picked them up from a outpost on a resupply to Kandahar and dropped them off at the base.

>>14737054
Ok, anything about the others?

># Germany Germany – 4,909
># Italy Italy – 3,815
># Poland Poland – 2,527
># Turkey Turkey – 1,799
># Romania Romania – 1,726
># Spain Spain – 1,499

>>14737223
Problem with the 5.56 is it does tend to over penetrate.

I carried a 154cm Benchmade straight blade. Theres just no need to carry a machette when the only time you will probably use a blade is to open MRE's. And in terms of melee, its probably going to be that you tackled him and are rolling around on the ground stabbing him. Even then, you would probably just fall to the ground with him, roll away and let your buddy shoot him.

>>14737265
Never say them. A lot of the NATO forces stay on the large FOB's((KAF and Kabul) and provide support like medstaff or construction.

>>14737283
>>14737283
>I carried a 154cm Benchmade straight blade.
I really hope you missed some punctuation there. (Although carrying a two handed sword in a warzone would give you insane Mad Jack Churchill points)

>>14737283
Makes sense on the blade portion, though I've heard from many others that 5.56 NATO tends to embed itself rather than push through. I'll trust you, though.

Does anyone know about the group known as "PsyOps" by chance? Or what they do today?

>>14737283
Makes sense.

I've heard some such bullshit about there being an interest in tomahawks amongst soldiers in the Middle East. Know anything about this, or is it just taktikool bullshite?

>>14737321

154CM is the steel grade.

>>14736684
I am a little bit curious about this. I read in one thread about how military life affected your RPG playing where somebody mentioned putting together an "assault kit" for their characters but he never really offered a decent explanation to what it contained. What would be contents of one of those?

>>14737223
Obviously, I'm in disagreement with >>14737190 on this point. Yes, you may only use your issue weapon until it runs out of ammo. But, if I'm up to my ass in bad guys, I'm grabbing haji's fucking rifle and taking some more bastards with me.

As to over penetration and caliber: the NATO 5.56mm round isn't geared to reducing over penetration or causing wounds or shit like that. It's built to enter a human being and kill them whether it has to pass through glass or open air or what have you. The Russian 7.62mm is designed the same way, as is their 5.45mm.

On the knives, it's all about practicality. How practical is it to carry around that 2' long, curved, limb-hewer as opposed to an 8" folder that weighs about a quarter as much and will do you just as well in a fight. The only reason to carry something that large is for psychological value. Speaking of which, I had a buddy that carried a fucking meat cleaver on his kit just for the shock of it. Never got to use it though. He was a right goofy bastard, too.

>>14737321
http://www.benchmade.com/products/141 This was company issued.

As for the SOG tomahawk, our battalion ordered 10 per company, and we have no idea why.

>>14737335
PsyOps just played recordings every morning in Pashto talking about how we where there to help them and that the Taliban where the ones holding them down by taking away their sons.

>>14737335
PsyOps is Psychological Operations. The cocksuckers that get in your head. They're the ones who come up with the fliers and shit that get dropped and distributed to locals about helping friendly forces and fuck the insurgents. Only dealings I had with them, they were pretty fuck useless.

How much have you kept up to date on weapon and armor research? If you could outfit the army with anything currently available, costs be damned, what'd you get, in terms of weapons and armor both?

>>14737356
In that case then with the psychological value, does it work like you want it to against the enemy or is it really just for dead weight and squad humor?

>>14737379
I see... and with the same premise as my previous question, does this really work?

>>14737352
My bad, I was just looking at the blade trying to find any identifying marks.

>>14737354
Would probably ammo, knife, gps, grenades, medkit, NOD's, radio. Everything you would need for your random firefight.

>>14737412
Generally, it was dead weight and humor. But the humor came from all of these random civilians on the street seeing this dude all of 5'5" and 120 lbs soaking wet carrying around a SAW and a fucking cleaver.

For the psych value, say your door gets kicked in and there's a dude in armor with a fuckhueg gun in one hand and a meat cleaver in the other. Are you going to try to fight him, or are you going to shit yourself?

>>14737403
I haven't really kept up at all, but for outfitting, I'd go with plate carriers and change rounds to the 6.8mm. It would be a bitch to do during wartime with logistics going to hell, but that's what I'd do.

>>14737425
>NOD's
I googled it and it only shows anti-virus program and computer communications. What be this NOD you speak of (I assume it doesn't involve anything about the cult of Kane)?

>>14737480
Night optical device. AKA: NVGs, Starlight Scope, that annoying fuck thing hanging off of my face.

Some decent references for military tactics and protocol read:
>The US Army Ranger Handbook
>US Marine Guidebook
>US Army Warrior Ethos and Combat Skills Handbook
>US Armed Forces Counter-Insurgency Manual
>US Army Sniper Field Manual FM 23-10
>Illustrated Manual of Sniper Skills
>Total Resistance

>>14735692
Because Americans actually leave their bases to get shit done. If Swedes were actually there to prosecute a war rather than stand around and watch America and their two or three allies who actually fight, you would notice that you are in a land that has basically been in one continuous war with each other and everyone who enters their country since they were known as the bactrians.

>>14730759
The Argyll Highlanders committed a successfull bayonet charge against the Iraqis insurgents during the occupation. The marines still use bayonets. Only armchair faggots think the age of the bayonet has ended. Even if the haji's could shoot, the bayonet would still be worthwile as it makes it so they can't take you alive.

>>14737480
Night Optic Device(night vision monocle)

>>14737480
Night Observation Device. Night-vision goggles basically.

>>14737500
>>14737498
>>14737490
Spank you very much, sirs

>>14737493
I always carried a round in my MOLLE. Upon it, I wrote, "Syracuse or Bust." If I was going to be captured, I wasn't going to be captured, if you catch my drift.

>>14732090
Don't join the military for any other reason than to serve your country or kill shit. Joining the military for the benefits is like joining a convent for the keggers, you won't get much.

>>14737537
Had a hand grenade for that same purpose. Ill be dammed if ill be taken alive.

What would you do if you encountered this on the battlefield? You have unlimited access to any weapon system in your countrys arsenal (9mm pistol to nuclear pomf)

>>14737562
Walk away and let the goat-fuckers deal with it.

Ever worked alongside the special forces? (Delta, SEALs and whatnot). If yes, how was it, and what were they like?

Have you ever met eastern european, post-Warsaw Pact soldiers like hungarian, polish etc?

I'm really interested the military of those countries.

>>14737618
Traded some ammo with CIA operatives.

Every time rangers planned a mission we where told to stay in our COP for a few days to the right and left of it.

Had some Asymmetric warfare dudes use us as a security element for a few meetings, other than that, nothing really.

>>14737644
I know the Poles actually did do fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq

>>14737618
A couple of times. First tour, it was a group of SEALs, and we were doing a night raid. We were in over watch with blocking positions while they actually hit the house. Sitting there waiting for shit to go down, I see these blue lights run across my sector. It's the SEALs with blue chemlights on their helmets. (There are chemlights that show up only under night vision, which we were using.) When asked later why they used them, the SEALs said they didn't want us to shoot them. Good dudes, they just weren't the sharpest knives.

Second tour, we're going out for a routine patrol when we heard gunfire coming from near the FOB gate. We booked it over and dismounted, shouting and yelling, pointing weapons and shit. Turns out we drew down on a handful of SFOD-D guys (CAG, Delta, whatever) who were test firing weapons and scared the piss out of them. I still remember one screaming, "HOLY SHIT HOLYSHIT WE'RE AMERICANS DON'T SHOOT OHGODDON'TSHOOT!" while on his knees. Now, I'm not saying that they aren't damn good at their jobs, but surprise and violence of action can turn the tide in any fight.

>>14737644
Not the Afghanistan guy myself, but living in an ex-Soviet country. Our army isn't that different from the west. And no, it's not AK47s everywhere. In fact, I don't think the Army even has any of those (phased out for G3 and Galil), although the Defense League does (sort of paramilitary, high morale, but extremely huge differences in actual combat ability, ranging from "gangstas" with guns to offspring of Rambo and Chuck Norris).

The main difference, at least in our case, is the lack of air support. We have no combat-capable air force to speak of, so whenever air support is needed for ground operations, our guys need to rely on others (I'd presume Americans mostly).

>>14737680
I can visualize that perfectly.

>>14737737
That's what I was going for. Hope it got a laugh or two, as well.

>>14737680
That, and I imagine pointing guns at you wouldn't have been a good way to diffuse the situation :-p

Especially when that was what was running at them, yelling, "DROP YOUR WEAPONS, DOWN ON THE GROUND!"

Are you that artilleryman that posted last year?

>>14737759
Nice. I cant stand the leg rigs though.

>>14737771
No, I am not. Just a former grunt that pops up from time to time.

>>14737778
I swear by it because the ACU pockets can't hold an empty mag for shit. But, to each his own.

Gonna give it ten minutes, and if no one else has any other questions, then I'm going to finally get off my ass and go run.

My recruiter told me a while back that if I do a 3-Year term Active with the Army and then went into ROTC, that I'd be paid higher and have more experience than fresh-out-of-high school kids, and even out-rank a few in my class. Is this a good way to go? Or should I just pick one side (Enlisted or ROTC) and stick with it?

As for the comic I was doing, I need to know exactly what a "tracer" does to a round - considering that our "intelligent" politicians were planning on banning civilian tracers because they "burn their targets or light fires due to phosphorus."

>>14737869
I've known a few officers that came from being enlisted. All of them good guys. The big thing here is that your recruiter is trying to fuck you. You don't just sign up for three years. You sign up for eight. EVERYONE signs up for eight. You'd do three years active then 5 in the IRR, but it's still eight. My thing, if you want to be a good officer, be enlisted for a while and see how the other half lives. Hell, maybe you'll like enlisted life so much you'll stay there. The big thing is, it is YOUR choice. Find out all you can before deciding. I didn't and I got fucked.

>>14737890
No clue on the recruiters advice.

As for the tracer, they take a phosphorus pellet and put it in a dimple in the ass of the bullet.

Question: What's the diameter on an artillery shell, or is that classified?

>>14730229
Hi I'm in college and I'm joing the canadian forces as a officer cadet. I don't have the chance to ask an actual junior officer what its like to lead an actual platoon so I was wondering if I have the right idea on how to effectively lead. I want to lead with three set rules; never give up, always try, don't waste time. I want to always do PT with my unit and never join a officer pt clique. I want to always share in the crappy jobs with my men like if we have to burn our shit I want to be first up along with the senior nco. I never want to yell unless I have too and I never want to give an order I wouldn't give myself. I always want to listen to my senior ncos and never think that I'm better than them because I go to college. I don't want to be a butterbar, I know I'm not infailible and I'm learning like everyone else. What traps are there that a junior officer can fall into? How would one avoid being a Captain America?

>>14737890
Tracers are just what they sound like. The show, or "trace," a line of light to the target. This is done by a bit of chemicals at the end of the bullet that burn when it's fired. Do they start fires? They can if the ground is dry around where they strike. Is that their primary purpose? No, that's what incendiary rounds are for. A good example of tracers are old WW2 documentaries. You see them flying through the air. What you don't see is the 4 rounds in between each tracer. All they do is keep you on target and help spot where they're going.

Someone up thread asked for a good reference for modern military that's actually accurate. Best one I've found is Generation Kill. I'm actually making my friends watch it before running a game for them so they have a point of reference besides me.

>>14737927
Usually 120mm or 155mm. I think. I didnt deal with Artillery all that much. Cant call in ordnance within 300 meters of existing structures, or illumination over houses due to the chance of the round going through someones roof and killing them(true story).

hello various fags.

I have a rather odd inquiry. say, should i apply for air force academy?
Now the details. I am a second year economics student ,and dunno if i should apply for a job and try to continue my master or try the armed forces ( a childhood dream). Another detail would be that i am not in the US but eastern Europe. Specifically Romania. And I suspect that as always things are different here from the rest of the world, and not in a good way. Another detail is that the limit for pilot enlistment seems to be 21 years old, and next year summer would be to late so i would have to apply in my last faculty year and renounce master and perhaps a possible job in economics. I am currently at about 60% compliance with physical requirements and think i might wiggle in, and could easily dust up my maths skills to get a good rating.

Now the secondary question: would it be worth it?

How did a thread asking for reference to realism turn into a recruiting thread?

>>14737904
>>14737949
Hey, thanks for all your info and advice. I still have about 5.5 months before I am able to enlist (due to a surgery) but I'll do every bit of research I can before then.

And thanks again for confirming the tracers (everyone.)

>>14737956
Don't forget the 105mm howitzers!

>>14737962
I'm gonna give you the same advise I just gave wallamazoo: find out what you can, as much as you can, and make an informed decision. If it's your dream to go in the military, give it a shot, man. What's the worst they could do? Say no? I say go for it, if you can.

>>14737956
>illumination over houses due to the chance of the round going through someones roof and killing them(true story).
What? How?

>>14737978
I think most of the people here also lurk /k/, but can't actually get decent answers from the /k/ommandos. /tg/ is renowned for having "decency" in... uh, most of the threads. Seriously, go on /k/ and ask any question related about Recruiting, by 20 posts it will have become MY MOS IS BETTER THAN YOURS, YOU'RE A POG FAGGOT.

>>14737978
Carefully.

>>14737997
Had some 155mm arty fire an Infa-Red Illumination round. Imagine a giant phosphorus torch hanging from a parachute. Well after it burned out it apparently fell through some afghans roof and hit a women on the head, killing her. So now you cant fire illume missions over homes.

>>14737997
We had an illum mission burn down an award winning garden and yard in Baghdad. Christmas morning, about two am, we were firing an illum mission for a show of force. I was on the roof of the operations center at FOB Loyalty watching the rounds and smoking a Christmas cigar while wearing a Santa hat. One of the rounds burst, and it's parachute didn't open to keep it in the air. Dropped straight onto this dude's lawn and burned it to a crisp. Since it was, supposedly, a Homes and Gardens award winner, he was comped about two grand for it.

>>14738046
Yeah, just like the trees we knocked over where worth $400. And that mud wall next to the road cost $250.

Alright, night all. Hopefully we where able to help you all out.

>>14738016
such are the insidious ways of the armed forces

>>14738024
>>14738046
Dang.

>>14738046
>>14738024

Lovely. Not to J-derail, but the IDF does that kinda shit in a densely packed urban area, and their response is, "Tough shit. Those Palestinians shouldn't be standing where our WP illuminator mortars / 'nades wound up, and they'd not be burned." Good to see we actually change policy when we fuck up.

>>14737944
Don't pick up any AK47s.

>>14737335
Swedish Psyops in Afghanistan mainly keep up good relations and spread various half-truths and sometimes outright lies about current and local events to cover up things that the natives might get upset about, like arrests, shoot outs etc.

>>14738087
The problem with that is, what happens when someone is in contact in a town and they need that illum for whatever reason? NODs malfunction, distraction, whatever. Now they can't get it, and lives may needlessly be lost over some bean counter's hard-on for "reducing collateral damage."

>>14738098
That is quite funny. Really, I got a kick out of that. Two points to pick with it though. Their flags are wrong, and the dude's knee pads are on upside down.

Civvie here, hat tip to all the milfags here and thanks for the interesting combat info.

What's the drill if the enemy or circumstances severs communications with higher echelons? Proceed as planned? Waypoints? Return to FOB or rallying point?

Given recent turncoat incidents, how much did you trust local soldiers/police?

>>14738179
Never trust the local dirty's. They are some shady motherfuckers. Our local ANA(Afghan Army) had a truce with the Taliban to hold a cease fire during the poppy harvest.

How much internet/computer/vidya access do you guys get?

>>14738103
>Don't pick up any AK47s.

Yeah no kidding. It reminds me of a couple of things I've read.
An incident where some guys picked up AKs and started using them. I don't recall the reason. It might've been a low ammo situation but whatever the case, friendly units homed in on the sound.

The other bit was an article where a WW2 American para vet recalled some experiences. Their friendly mortar teams were adept enough to drop shells with deadly accuracy based on sound in the evening hours, so this guy and his squad were moving around with captured MP40s. What they did was cut the recoil spring down a bit and it changed the pitch of the SMGs so when the mortar teams heard it, they knew there were friendly squads at work.

Mind you, I don't know if trimming the recoil spring will work on the sound with every firearm (likely has to do with how the gas moves) out there. Never had a reason to screw around like that but it might be something interesting to think about.

>>14738232
I didnt have any internet on my base, or phones. Only when it was your platoons turn to go pick up supplies from another base would we get the chance to use their internet or call home.

>>14738179
Send out a runner!

>>14738128
Bootlaces and straps hanging out all over the place too.

>>14738179
Professional armies are - at least in theory - trained in such a manner that fireteams and squads, when comms fail, just do their own thing, "their own thing" being based on a model of thinking that more or less causes the system to pick itself back up. NCOs can, with initiative expected of them, keep shit running until platoon level shit gets organized, and platoon level command keeps shit running until company level shit gets organized, etc. Generally the immediate "big plan" is know to every grunt, so they can orient themselves based on that.

For example, you got a city and a couple of bridges, and you need both bridges. The dudes are sent in, but battalion command gets their vehicles stuck and cannot get signal. The squads and platoons pretty much just keep doing what they were supposed to be doing, and eventually the system will get its shit sorted out. If the battalion command (or higher) actually dies, the next in line gets an instant promotion.

In short, if you can really fuck up a modern professional army's command to a point where the whole thing breaks apart, you're most likely in a position to fuck them seriously anyway on equal grounds.

Of course, one issue is losses. On a squad level, even one casualty is a lot, but you need some heavy casualties on battalion and higher level for a temporary breakdown to be a truly serious thing.

Fuck it, former USMC artillery section chief here... Don't know if it is useful or not, but I would like to contribute and can pretty much offer up a good deal of know-whats about indirect fire...

...at the minimum maybe enough nerd-info to add some authentic feel to it.

Wonder how much of /tg/ is former and current military.

>>14738235

As a gun nut, I can say that cutting down the recoil spring can drastically change the way a firearm works. Anywhere from changing the cyclic rate to simply rendering it useless.

>>14738326

Former CF Infanteer here. Just adding myself to the tally.

>>14738326
I wouldn't be surprised if it were a sizeable number, especially considering tabletop wargaming.

...hell, my Gunny, 1st Sgt, and 2 LTs were all hardcore 40k nerds.

Alot of artillery dudes here...
What are your opinions of the Archer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYCwU7B8jI

>>14738232
My first tour, I had barely any. The second, I had that shit hooked up in my hooch.

>>14738179
SEND OUT A RUNNER!

Unrelated note:
The textbook way to figure out an all clear after a gas attack is to use chemical test kits. If there are no kits available, the SOP is for the lowest ranking person to remove his protective equipment. If he doesn't keel over, it's all clear.

Nerds in the armed forces? It's more likely than you think! We're EVERYWHERE! *Dun dun Duuuuuun!*

>>14738346

On a related note, at my SQ course my buddy got ambushed by a MCpl shouting "I AM MEGATRON MOTHERFUCKER!" That same MCpl also told us we had to pray to the Machine God quite often and shouted "For the Emperor!" a lot. It's just a single example, but I can think of dozens more times shit like that has come up from various people.

>>14738358
Looks fantastic, but expensive+specialized tech=troublesome.

Exactly the main reasoning behind the USMC abandoning self-propelled guns and sticking to towed pieces... That weapon system requires probably double the manpower to ensure proper maintenance and upkeep... specialized dudes for sure. The old M198 155mm gun that is now being phased out could be 1st (and honestly 2ndin a pinch) echelon maintained by the firing crew itself. Also self-loading "smart-guns" have a fuckton more systems and parts to break.

Boils down to money, essentially...

Weasel let me send you a solid.

1. Obtain your service treatment records.

2. Take them to a private physician. Obtain statement from the doctor with both the diagnoses and " upon review of this veterans STRs it is more likely than not that these currently diagnosed conditions are directly related to military service ."

3 submit to your regional office.

>>14738358

I'm not in the forces, but even I fucking want one of those. :D

>>14738371

> If there are no kits available, the SOP is for the lowest ranking person to remove his protective equipment

You're shitting me

>>14738358
Maintenance and reloading can potentially be a huge bitch, but SIT IN A CAR PRESSING BUTTONS INSTEAD OF MANUALLY SETTING UP PUTIN KNOWS HOW MANY TONNES OF GUN AND BOMBS? Sounds like fucking heaven.

>>14738438
Thanks. I've already got my med records and the note from the doc. Got that done before I even got out of the service. It's just kicking the local VA in the ass to get it done.

>>14738453
I shit you not. One of the reason's why I always tried to make myself important by knowing how to use something someone else didn't.

>>14738333

>>14738235 here. IIRC, they took anywhere from half to a full inch off the spring. Apparently the MP40 has some length to spare but I've seen a few firearms with pretty lengthy recoil springs.

>>14738493

Well at the VA we are getting mandatory overtime until October starting May 1st. . .so hopefully we get to you soon.

>>14738453
Like the other guy said, no shit. But it's not like the squad/platoon leader just doesn't want to wear his mask so he tells some guy to see if he lives. If there's a real chance of chems/bios having been applied, I'm pretty sure they'll use one of the guys to test it only if there's a critical need.

>>14738453
Its not as bad as it seems. I was assigned to be our battery's NBC liason NCO and have a little knowledge about this procedure.

Basically, selective unmasking procedure works like this:

-There is an NBC detection machine (think it was called an ACAIDA or some shit iirc) that detects even trace, non-harmful amounts of all your nasty little agents... 1st-ly, it has to show NO AGENT PRESENT.

-There are handheld little test packets too (forget the nomenclature, but you basically break little bubbles on the pack and mix it then wave it in the air)... 3 of these must read NO AGENT PRESENT.

-Command calls up a detachment of non-essential personnel (non-command, non-NBC related, probably E-1 - E-3) and "inspects their weapons" (an excuse to disarm them. Gives the order to "close eyes, hold breath, unmask for 5 seconds, re-don mask and clear it". Medical personnel is on hand - they are not waiting for this kid to die (it would be impossible at this point) but are there to simply monitor vitals, check pupil dilation, and ask how he feels.

-Same thing again, but with eyes open.

-Same thing again, but taking one atmospheric breath.

ALL CLEAR, UNMASK.

...I actually have enough faith in my knowledge of the subject and the training that I would willingly volunteer for selective unmasking. Gas is scary shit, but its an old tactic and we know enough about it to mitigate the threat. It is an area denial tactic moreso than an actual offensive weapon anymore... just means "Goddammit, we gotta leave this position now and decon fucking everything... thanks dickhead, you just took us out of the fight". Also it is notoriously difficult to keep confined to the intended area and, given weather, sometimes even hard to keep concentrated enough to even be effective.

>>14738546
Thanks for the intel.

>>14738619
Awesome. Thank you for improving my knowledge on the subject. Something I always wondered about, how effective are the filters? I was always told that they work for CS and tear gas, but useless against agents like VX and such.


And for some fucking reason, my posts don't seem to be going through on the first go. What the fuck, over?
>>14738619

>>14738638
Me neither... th' chan is all fuckered up right now. Probably its monthly DDoS or some shit.

>>14738638
I'm having some trouble posting too. Shit seems to being going through though, but I'm just pressing the button and then reading comics online and checking back every 5-15 minutes and at least one post went through after I just reloaded the page after it was stuck uploading at around 500 B/s for closer to ten minutes.

>>14738665
M50 Joint Service mask is supposed to be just fine for VX... can't say I know it to be true in practice, however... never been gassed with VX :-)

Fuck, I know what you guys mean about cleaning. I'm a helicopter mechanic, and that shit is NOT FUN AT ALL HOLLY FUCK.

If you ever wonder why i takes so long to get out a gunship, its because almost every time they set down, we have to disasemble the rotor and clean and lube EVERY FUCKING THING and some of those bitches are still fucking manual (Meaning that the yoke is hooked up to a set of cables, pullys, push rods, and is all mechanical.) so you end up spending all day taking of panels and checking cable tensions/ lubing all the pivots.

Thankfully, we had some guys in from the Israeli airforce to teach us how to sand proof our shit, but it is seriously fucking hard. Makes me wish I worked on fixed wings.

(oh, worst thing? Alot of our lube was shit. I had to order this special RX helicopter lube by the case with my own money to do the bearings, or they would start to seize after being in the air during days with high temp / atmospherics.

but every day, I thank Allah for not being in the army.

This thread has been some good shit. I'm glad to have helped out anyone that I could, and I'm happy to see all the current and former milfags here. Makes a beat up grunt proud. I'm always happy to share knowledge and experience with anyone who asks. Hell, maybe it'll give you an idea to stick in a campaign or give a character a quirk. Have fun with your games. I'm out for a bit.

>>14738619
I wouldn't be surprised if some chucklefuck decided to keel over and start foaming at the mouth if you actually did this.

>>14738098
Cirno is the strongest

>>14737962
Try it. Always always try it. If you think you've got what it takes and you want to try it go for it. It really doesn't matter what you learn in the AFA because it's an Ivy League school, one of the best in the country. Just going there guarantees you a job on the outside.

I know what you faggots mean about cleaning everything, I was a helicopter mechanic. That shit was unpleasant.

If you ever wonder why it takes so long to get out a gunship, its because almost every time they set down, we have to disasemble the rotor and clean and lube EVERY FUCKING THING and some of those bitches are still fucking manual (Meaning that the yoke is hooked up to a set of cables, pullys, push rods, and is all mechanical.) so you end up spending all day taking of panels and checking cable tensions/ lubing all the pivots.

And due to the dumb shit nature of some fuckhead on some other fuckheads staff, Fixed wing gets most of the fat from the budget even though they fly none of the fucking combat missions, so I had to BUY MY OWN FUCKING LUBRICANT FOR THE BEARINGS. Some super expensive RC helicopter shit, because the stuff they gave us would start to seize if it got dusty at very high temperatures. HERP DA DERP, THAT WONT BE A PROBLEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING DESERT.

But at least we didn't have any officers ridding our ass all the time, and we dint have any avoidable mechanical failures, so I'm going to chalk it a win.

>>14738789
>>14738721


sorry for doubles post. But at least I got to clean it up some!

>>14738785
epic troll would fucking be EPIC....

...and probably hazed to hell and back, but it would so be worth it.

At the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, I actually fucked with my SSGT a bit like that; our detection equipment went off, they were all "GAS GAS GAS!" and we donned out masks (we were already in MOPP suits and boots).

Started fucking with him... "You know that greasy wet feeling on your hands inside the gloves (durr sweat)? Well aerosolized agent is oil-based... this might be an attack... only way to know for sure is to look at your pupils SSGT... wow, um... they actually DO look kinda pinpointish... maybe I should get a second opinion... do you feel like you are over salivating?"

...Just let the rampant paranoia do the rest (he was a fucking tool anyways).

I've been considering enlisting in the army recently, how hard is the physical basic training portion, Is it geared to cut out people, or to build people up gradually?

Also, there is a lot of stereotyping of the military of apes with gun, and while this is most likely untrue, what seems to be the average disposition?

>>14738861
Depends on what you're enlisting for. But basic is not meant for "weeding out" people, it is supposed to build you up. Not really gradually though. And you get the usual variants of people: nerds, goths, brainless jocks, jocks with brains, rednecks, ghetto fucks, wanna be ghetto fucks, ghetto fucks who are turning their lives around, etc. Same as you'd find anywhere.

>>14738861
The same as every other professional army in history.

"Fuck me I'm bored. Can we go kill shit now?"

so

what makes the green grass grow?

>>14739054
BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!

How much worthwhile participation do you have in the COIN fight at company level? Where along the line did you feel the decision making was winning/losing it for you?

That said, was it even possible to get enough of your guys to realise that killing bad dudes isn't necessarily winning and may even be losing.

Fellow swedes, can you please help me out? I've heard from a friend that there's a lot of drugs involved, especially when you're doing "lumpen".

Things like amphetamines and stuff to keep the soldiers going.

It seems likely, but I need some confirmation on this. How is it like in the other countries? How common is it?

My friend was stationed in Boden, by the way.

I'm glad to see that this thread is still alive.

>>14738768
Furthermore, this webcomic kicks ass. I once put up the one about MREs and there was this one guy who just couldn't understand why it was funny.

>>14737129
68W here. Bit late to the party, but one of my favorite past times with a new line unit is correcting my fellow soldiers misconceptions about what a "POG" really is. First of all, it should be spelled pogue, and originally was a pejorative term for an effeminate or gay male. Now it is used to describe essentially anyone who isn't as much in the fight as you are. Hence tankers call supply pogues. Infantry call tankers pogues...

Most people are usually taught that it means person other than grunt, and it does. The English language evolves. But what it originally meant, before guys started making up clever acronyms for it, was someone who was to much of a sissy to have a real job.

For some reason all the infantry guys I teach that take a newfound pride in the term, as well as their ability to spell it. They also were a little more careful about jokingly calling buddies they knew were gay, pogues, which was an added benefit.

>>14738179
Complete the mission. Once that's done extrapolate based on the commander's intent, which usually boils down to hold said position or continue to fuck up the enemy until there's nobody left to fuck up. Hopefully the runner returns before you run out of supplies.

>>14739240
Thanks for the history/language lesson. However, I will continue to use it in the acronym form. Also, do you know what a NIF is, friend? Because you sound like one. It's not a bad thing. Hell, coming from a grunt, depending on context, it can be a pretty good tag.

This is now saved at Suptg.. Couldn't see wasting first hand knowledge from people in the feild.

Thanks for your service US milfags.. For you other guys I'm sure your country men feel the same way.

>>14739613
Eh, I think military history is important. I think it's important to know that you're not only deriding someone for not being a grunt, you're calling them a sissy as well; an important distinction for the newer guys who think they can casually call a guy a POG because he isn't an 11B. Then they won't be surprised when doc kicks their ass for calling him a sissy. Honestly, I'm fine with the acronym as well. Grunts go through a lot of crap, they deserve every ounce of pride they have. I just think trivia is fun.

As for NIF, I can think of a number of possibilities, but I haven't ever heard it. All of them make me believe you that it truly is all about the context, like so many sayings in the army.

>>14739730
A NIF, my friend, is a Non-Infantry Fuck. The term is generally used to describe someone who would make a hell of a grunt if he wasn't in a different MOS. In my opinion, damn near all line medics and combat engineers are NIFs. And hell yeah on knocking the cherries down a notch. To be fully accepted into my platoon, you had to be humped in. Not jumped, Humped. Sometimes with pants, usually not. Then you had to see my buddy Zach's "HI" tattoo. Which was on the head of his penis. Yeah, infantry, no fags here! Oh, and I was the primary humper.

>>14739762
I was thinking that was a possibilities, but there were others as well. I have of course heard the full term non-infantry fuck on more than one occasion. Sounds like you guys welcome newcomers in style. The way I see it, if you get freaked out by having a battle buddy hump you or can't appreciate a man's penis art, you have no business going into combat with them.

>>14739809
You are goddamn right, brother. I'm off to the land of Nod. Watch your back and keep your boys healthy.

So how are the locals, anyways?

>>14739930
My experience was as a soldier in Iraq only.
1. Attempting to make gross generalizations about the locals is precisely that, a gross generalization and should be understood as such.
2. The photograph is genuinely true for some individuals. It is however a different culture so don't judge to harshly.
3. Iraq sprang from a tribal culture in an area with scarce resources. This means an individual's ties to whoever was in charge could mean the difference between life and death, especially in rural areas. Hence a strong focus on family, and advancement that is often based on connections rather than merit. Consequently, especially in rural areas, a lot of workers appear to be lazy or ineffectual. They are there because they're somebody's nephew or something. Ten percent however, know their shit and are hard workers. They have to be because they're carrying everyone else's nephew. This does, however, lead to a lifestyle that is less individualistic and more focused on family.
4. It is a culture of shame vs. America's culture of guilt. This is an important distinction and is often the reason for what many Americans see as two-faced behavior. In a culture of shame, it's not whether you think what you did was right or wrong, it's how everyone else sees it. It also means that if I trick you and get away with it, shame on you, not I should feel bad about it.
The last two were two of the bigger differences I saw culturally. But otherwise, the locals were locals. Just regular people like everywhere else. Some liked us, some hated us, most where pretty guarded, all of which is pretty understandable under the circumstances.

I considered joining the army for a while, but apparently they don't like people who are on antidepressants, antipsychotics, narcotics, and stimulants all at once. Discriminating bastards.

I get the impression it's not as interesting as it looks anyway, though. 99% backbreaking labor, constant walking, and 100-degree weather, but every now and again somebody tries to shoot your head off. Maybe it'll be more fun after they invent power armor or something.

>>14741271
It is, I've found, a lot more fun to pretend to be a badass then to actually try to be one.

>>14739158
Swedish medic here again. Currently serving. Never heard of it. There's a zero-tolerance policy on drugs, if anyone did this and got caught (likely if on the job) they would be thrown out.

Your friend is talking shit.

>>14742152
>>14739158
Also, there's no "lumpen" (slang for conscription) anymore. It's GMU (Basic military education) and then straight to employment.

>>14731600
>>14731600
>>14731600
>>14731600
Sorry for the slowpoke-ness, but I feel asleep reading another post and I had this opened. I just read this and needless to say, your post inspired me. I'm a Spc 19D on my second tour right now in Baghdad and we have new guys, Spc's and junior NCO's that bitch in my platoon for going out on a daily bases. We've yet to get hit, and our destination is usually a 30 minute drive out the closest gate. besides that we have more than enough time to eat breakfast, PT afterward and sleep at night, YET THEY STILL FUCKING BITCH!! I had to do screen lines on the Syrian border for days some time weeks at a time on a M3A3 with 4 other soldiers plus all the space was used up for ammo, MRE's and personal bags.
BTW: If you're still on here, I want to let you know I'm rewriting this in note book and on my platoon's bulletin board tomorrow morning.

I was looking to join the AF, but I'm still not sure what sort of profession I should be looking for within it, what would be an interesting MOS (Don't know if thats correct terminology) to take without getting my head blown off?

>>14743638

AFSC, not MOS.

do you have a college degree?

>>14743693

Negatory