540 replies to this topic

[Towerrat]

wa_biker, on Jan 26 2012 - 22:35, said:

Now I get the TowerRat moniker..heh heh heh
Welp..I was the schmuck on the Pad. I pulled tower rotation once, CAS sucked anyway ya looked at it. But I think Pad duty was worse.

I don't know brother, I can't recall seeing any of you guys working the pad on that midnight to 6 am shift. I hated that one so I eventually worked my way into manning tower 6 ( the one with the controls for the perimeter alarms)At least in that tower you stayed in it the whole shift and could hear your squad ldr trying to sneak up that metal staircase, lol.

[wa_biker]

Towerrat, on Jan 26 2012 - 22:40, said:

I don't know brother, I can't recall seeing any of you guys working the pad on that midnight to 6 am shift. I hated that one so I eventually worked my way into manning tower 6 ( the one with the controls for the perimeter alarms)At least in that tower you stayed in it the whole shift and could hear your squad ldr trying to sneak up that metal staircase, lol.

Prolly cuz the whole pad layout was backwards, and the Bunkers were blocking the view! Hell, when we pulled pad duty, we worked it 24/7 in 4-6 rotations. Unless we got stuck on pad during a call out...then it turned into indefinite- 4 or even 2 off.
Yea, I remember the Metal tower. I also remember that on a good day you could pick up comblock broadcasts on the prc. In fact, a buddy of mine got investigated for possible espionage cause he got bored and was listening in and forget to change the freq back.
A10 Low Cap flybys were pretty cool though...all ya'd hear was the soft whine as they floated over.
Fortunately I only did a yr with them, then went to a "real" line company in '80.

[rworden911]

31M with ADA then 31U with FA NYARNG

10 yrs of service

Left it 17 yrs ago....damn i could have been retired by now...

[CTec]

US Army 16S, 87-91

Thank you for all the people who served their respective countries military. Coast Guard counts in my book.

[VonGar]

Kruis, on Sep 29 2011 - 16:55, said:

Lowly deckie on the USCGC Dallas

And anyone who says that the USCG aren't real soldiers, you can go soak your heads. Look at our involvement in The Revolutionary War, The Civil War, WWI, WWII (Specifically Douglas Munro), Vietnam(Operation Sea Lords, Operation Swift Raider), Korea, Iraqi Freedom (Ground and float units), first responders to 9/11 etc.

I'm sure that I'm forgetting some, but we serve our country in wartime and peacetime, just as much, if not more than, any other branch. I don't bash on Jarheads, the swarm, the lounge chair soldiers, or squidies. Don't bash on us puddle pirates.

[VonGar]

Sempar Paratus Deckie (Used to be called Deck Apes. Don't know if that term is still in use.) Totally agree with you.  HSC, retired.  Prefer HMC  rather than HSC, retired.  Anyway  served on 3 ships and one Loran Station, plus a few medivacs along the way  Come to think on it, all those ships and the Loran Station are all decommissioned.  Sheesh, feeling my age thinking about that, lol..  There's an old saying regarding rescue operations.  "You have to go out, but you don't have to come back."  
Puddle Pilots? .  Puddle Pilots, no.  Navy used to call us Shallow Water Sailors.  We just smiled and told them at least if the ship sank we could wade ashore. For some reason they had no comeback for that. http://forum.worldof..._teethhappy.gif

[LeesGhost]

19D from '81 to '85.  Two years in 2/3 Cav ("Brave Rifles") at Ft. Bliss and two years in the 3/12 Cav ("Semper Paratus") 3rd AD in Germany.  Spent time in M113, M577, M901 and the last year in a jeep recon platoon.  Last assignment was far and away the best.  Served during the Cold War and tip my Stetson to all those folks that have served during these recent Hot Wars.  Scouts lead the way!

[amazingronaldo]

Former Mech Combat Engineer here. (ask me how we put in hasty minefields as a mech unit. We blew a Major's mind that was grading us when we showed him. )

I drove mostly APCs (M113, M577), though we did have an old vehicle called a CEV (M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle), and that thing was fun. It was basically an M60 tank but had a 165mm short barreled gun on it that fired rounds filled with plastic explosives. Used for demolition basically for destroying bunkers, log cribs, or any other obstacles. It had a plow blade on the front to push the debris aside after and also had a small crane built into it (A-frame) which I can't remember us ever using. Range of the gun was 900m iirc, and the radius of debris flying/falling was 1000m so we would always fire it fully buttoned up if we ever fired live rounds. We only ever used practice rounds with no plastic explosives in them so it was never an issue. It lobbed the round, so I could watch it clearly go downrange through the scope as I sat in the gunner seat. I read there was another version of this same tank that had a minesweeper on it instead of plow blade. Never saw it in person though.

We also used the old AVLB (Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge) which was another M60 chassis based tank, but with a pincer bridge on top mostly for bridging tank ditches and small streams.

It really is too bad we can't put specialty tanks like this in the game. Have scenarios that call for bridge layers and other tanks to breach obstacles or minefields. But they would only have that one purpose and no anti tank gun to speak of so would be very limited and might be boring to some players so I can see why not. Just would be fun to see in game though.

[Krazny13]

Non-military.

I am however, a Mechanical Engineer who works in the Global Validation and Product Development unit of a major Heavy Equipment manufacturer.

Which means I'm paid to break bulldozers.  

[betazmag]

Veteran
8404
US Navy FMF Combat Corpsman
2nd Marines
MCSFBN

[sourkraut]

Active. Grunt 3/9 USMC

[Dhante]

19Kilo "Armor Specialist" Fort Knox back when the M1A1 was new.

[Dog03]

USMC 72-82  
0369
2/8
MarDet CV43
sec/recon plt 2nd Mar Div
Recruiter (Unfortunately)

Betazmag, maybe we met?

Sourkraut-Semper Fi Marine!

[Pytor_Nox]

19K from 1992-1998, got out to go to school. I was in 1st ID 1-34 AR B Co. Ft. Riley KS upon my exit. Love tanks to this day.

[Cavscout19D30D3H]

19D
Retired in 2006.

[brian333]

US Navy, 1979-1986

Electrician's Mate

Haze grey and underway testing Laser Guided Projectiles. (Our ship was the only one on the East Coast with a laser!) Took a cruise in the Persian Gulf before it was the Arabian Gulf.

Did my Reserve time in Special Boats in New Orleans.

If you think I have an attitude now, you should have met me then! It's a wonder I wasn't tossed overboard or at least into jail.

My background in wargaming comes from years of tabletop gaming. I only got into computers when my friends all got older, moved away, had kids, etc.

[Devil_Dog]

USMC and US Army Intelligence.  My training was actually still focused on USSR doctrine and equipment, even though it had dissolved over a decade earlier.  However, that meant that I studied tanks day and night.  

[JediKush]

Never a tanker.  I was signals intelligence in the USAF.  It wasn't my first choice, I wanted to be the boom operator on a KC135 because the view from there is amazing.  But the powers that be said I didn't have good enough depth perception and would thus end up ramming the boomstick thru a cockpit lol.  The recruiter made it sound as though this was my chance to basically be James Bond so I said hell yeah let's do intel.  It's really not as exciting as it sounds lol.  My tech school was at Ft. Huachuca, AZ and I remember seeing caution tank crossing signs while hiking in some of the more desolate areas of the base, but never actually saw a tank.  Fun times though, one of my more memorable experiences there was staggering back home drunk well past curfew, wondering how in the hell I'm gonna sneak past CQ and then a group of soldiers just appeared out of nowhere, I hadn't heard a thing, they were on some kind of training maneuvers, face paint and all that.  One minute I'm talkin to myself, next minute there's probably 50 or so guys with guns in my path.  I was still in training myself, not too far removed from basic, so I froze not knowing what the protocol is if you stumble in the middle of an army platoon on maneuvers.  I just remember somethin to the effect of get the f out of the way.

[ApathyCurve]

USMC 0341, infantry mortars, '86-'93.
USA 11B1P, LRRP/LRSU, '94-'96.

No steel coffins for me, thanks.  I'd rather a 800-ft night jump than be cooped up in a giant target.  Fun to play on the intarwebz, but I never had the least desire to do it for real.

I did, however, have the opportunity to fire the 73mm LP gun on a BMP-1 in Czech in 1995, during a dog-and-pony operation to get Czech into NATO.  I remember three things distinctly:  1) Very, very cramped.  If fast, pointy things start coming through the walls, you have no place to hide.  Hell, you can't even wiggle a little bit.  Steel coffin for sure.  2) The gun was horrifically inaccurate.  In WoT, the accuracy would about .99 -- or worse.  3) The autoloader would stuff your right arm into the breech if you didn't keep you elbow tucked in really tight while pressing the load button.  I'm no giant and it was still a major problem.  I can only assume Soviet and WP tankers were selected for their small stature.

Love your articles, by the way.  Keep up the good work.

[papa_john]

OK - here goes.  Long army affiliation in family - Great Grand fathers as far back as the Reveolutionary war - unfortunately on the British side - Up to war of 1812, Civil war - both sides - Spanish American - WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Current operations in A and I - some still serving.  I was in a tank outfit for about 1 year - too cold in Maine for tanks I guess.  Anyway - bacame Combat Engineers (133 Bn Co B - Co D then on to training as a small engine mechanic.  Generator training - all sizes - up to Atomic Power generation.  Never saw action due to leg injury that kept me state side.  Served in Ft Bragg - (Basic) then Ft Belvoire, VA for AIT and generator (engineerting school.  I served for 7.5 years - out because of injury to leg again.  Brother served 25 years in Germany with Heavy arty and Tanks.  Love the game and waiting to see the new parts being developed.  Tank on and enjoy.  Send a lot of friends here for the privilege of shooting the tanks.. By the way - I am now a Chaplain - Serving in the Nazarene Church as Senior Pastor in Marlborough MA.  Way to old to be active duty person, but if they called I would go - TANKS by the way are out - to big to get in them.  Pray for all of my friends and the team at WOT every day.

Pastor John