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varko wrote:

Purplehood wrote:

RiverCity.45 wrote:If I may draw your attention to the fact that this was not a documentary, but a film for entertainment, that may put it in the proper perspective.

Yeah, but Monday-morning quarterbacking is still fun...

I wouldn’t mind seeing some more of that from you guys with military experience…..perhaps on some other similar flicks.

Post, ask, if I can provide something intelligent, I will.

Texas Dan Mosby wrote:

If I may draw your attention to the fact that this was not a documentary, but a film for entertainment, that may put it in the proper perspective.

This is true.

However, if a film was made "based" upon your life, and you were portrayed as a wife beating, child abusing, satanic, crack-dealing transvestite prostitute who kills puppies, drives drunk, and shoplifts for sport and entertainment, you would probably not be too happy with the portrayal, despite the fact the film was made for entertainment.

And we have a winner……

cbr600 wrote:

AndyC wrote:

cling wrote:The reputation of the Gurkhas makes me think of the "one riot, one ranger" quote.

I sure wouldn't want to provoke one

Apropos. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... attle.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Gurkha soldier in the British Army has been removed from duty in Afghanistan after he beheaded a dead Taliban commander with his ceremonial kukri knife.

The Nepalese private decapitated the dead man with the intention of returning to base with the head so the Taliban fighter could be identified by senior officers as a 'high value target'.

See, what a great Idea.. all's we would have done is take a picture The Nepalese private's idea sounds much more effective.

Thanks, both of ya

I know I come off sometimes as if I'm sharp shooting folks, and that is not my intent at all.
I don’t really talk about this stuff much without cause.. but it does not bother me to correct stuff I read... If that makes any sense at all

gregthehand wrote:

bronco78 wrote:Direct fire IED detonation was specifically forbidden almost 4 years ago. The JOINT IED DEFEAT center, and EOD center of excellence found that it created a more hazardous situation for EOD personal if the IED did not detonate, then if the team dealt with the IED in a more standard procedure. Additionally., IED's in use after about 2004 were / are much less susceptible to a direct fire engagement. Add in to it the need to reduce collateral damage.. and all good reason to not attempt to do direct fire IE D detonation. All that said,,, sure there are still wanabe heroes that do it anyway.. More often than not creating an unstable mess that an EOD tech has to then move to and emplace a charger for a controlled detonation.

Sure enough but the film was supposed to have taken place in 2004. So when they were still shooting stuff to blow it up.

I was just pointing out that it was conceivable that they would know how to operate the rifle and shoot it accurately.

Yes Sir, no argument or dispute.. My apologies if it came off that way.

I see posts and threads like these and have a long 24 year career, intuitionally trained urge to clarify errors, remarks, or just points of reference. I mean no disrespect to anyone here. Nor am I attempting to be antagonistic in my replies.
As this is strike two in this thread for me.. I’ll step away from it, and leave the discussion to others.

gregthehand wrote:[Hmm I had a lot, and I mean a lot, of guys I knew in all kinds of MOSs getting offered Ranger School. Many went. Most of the ones I knew were 31C (Radio Operator Maintainer) which is what I was, although I knew a 71L (Clerk) who went and got his tab as well. Most of it was either they had served in units that had Ranger slots, or they had gotten it as part of a enlistment/reenlistment bonus. .

The MOS standard changes from time to time and back door deals between CSM's and pals at the Ranger Training Brigade happen all the time. Never the less, as of 2007 to present, those MOS's above are the only ones authorized to attend today.

gregthehand wrote:[

gregthehand wrote:[Hmm I had a lot, and I mean a lot, of guys I knew in all kinds of MOSs getting offered Ranger School. Many went. Most of the ones I knew were 31C (Radio Operator Maintainer) which is what I was, although I knew a 71L (Clerk) who went and got his tab as well. Most of it was either they had served in units that had Ranger slots, or they had gotten it as part of a enlistment/reenlistment bonus. .

The MOS stadand changes from time to time, and back door deals between CSM's and pals at RTB happen all the time. Never the less, as of 2007 to present, those MOS's above are the only ones authorized to attend today.

gregthehand wrote:[

By the way EOD uses the Barretts to detonate IEDs and other explosives so it's entirely conceivable that the EOD guys would know how to operate them.

Direct fire IED detonation was specifically forbidden almost 4 years ago. The JOINT IED DEFEAT center, and EOD center of excellence found that it created a more hazardous situation for EOD personal if the IED did not detonate, then if the team dealt with the IED in a more standard procedure. Additionally., IED's in use after about 2004 were / are much less susceptible to a direct fire engagement. Add in to it the need to reduce collateral damage.. and all good reason to not attempt to do direct fire IE D detonation. All that said,,, sure there are still wanabe heroes that do it anyway.. More often than not creating an unstable mess that an EOD tech has to then move to and emplace a charger for a controlled detonation.

Ahh, I think I misspoke or you misunderstood. Sorry about that
We completed missions in platoon size elements most times, I'll not post specific vehicle sets, but.
UAH was enough to carry 2 man crew + leader and dismount a squad team.

MRAPs was much the same.. Those were our average and min movement requirements.

27 Vehicles was never something we did unless it was a company mission along the same axis of advance. But those veh would have dispersed to different parts of the mission AO at some point.

The one exception would be where we were securing a LOG movement bring us major build up supplies. In three deployments, my battalion never worked from an established FOB in whole, We built our own patrol bases or COP’s So massive supplies and equipment were moved into place when we built, expanded, or later parts of this last deployment dismantled a base.

Purplehood wrote:

bronco78 wrote:

Purplehood wrote:Andy, or anyone else that has drove in convoys in Irag/Afghanistan. Did you guys ever have the Road Clearance Package (RCP) guys going ahead of you on particularly sensitive missions? I can recall doing at least two missions with the RCP ahead of us and both times we came across IED's.
It would have been fascinating to see something about the RCP in the movie.

2004-2005 No, 2006-2008, Sometimes, some missions, 2009-2010, more than sometimes but not all the time. Battalion Combat Team , might have 2 RCP packages in the engineer company., if the Brigade commander thinks your battalion 1 of 5 in the brigade is the priority.. We always were based on location/ mission.
Of those 2 RCP, one was normally non mission capable doe to battle damage. Normally the Husky was blown up, or the buffalo had issues... , sometimes one of the RG31's was down, blown up.
Sadr City was not a fun place.

Wow, you guys did stuff on a big scale.

The absolute largest convoy that my team was ever involved in consisted of right around 27 vehicles.
The 5 vehicles of the RCP.
The 2 vehicles of the EOD team.
The 5 vehicles of our team (My CAPT and myself and our security).
The 15 or so Ford Rangers that the ANA used for transport.

We went to visit a pass at the Pakistan border on a route that had been ambushed the week before. So for our standards, we loaded up for bear (see convoy above) and ended up finding what the EOD team described as the biggest/most sophisticated IED they had seen in Afghanistan to date. They likened it to what they had seen in Iraq on previous tours.
Apparently IED's in Afghanistan are a result of what the bad-guys had learned in Iraq previously.

Purplehood wrote:Andy, or anyone else that has drove in convoys in Irag/Afghanistan. Did you guys ever have the Road Clearance Package (RCP) guys going ahead of you on particularly sensitive missions? I can recall doing at least two missions with the RCP ahead of us and both times we came across IED's.
It would have been fascinating to see something about the RCP in the movie.

2004-2005 No, 2006-2008, Sometimes, some missions, 2009-2010, more than sometimes but not all the time. Battalion Combat Team , might have 2 RCP packages in the engineer company., if the Brigade commander thinks your battalion 1 of 5 in the brigade is the priority.. We always were based on location/ mission.
Of those 2 RCP, one was normally non mission capable doe to battle damage. Normally the Husky was blown up, or the buffalo had issues... , sometimes one of the RG31's was down, blown up.
Sadr City was not a fun place.

stroo wrote:Can't comment on specifics but my son-in-law is an EOD guy in the Marines. He thought the Hurt Locker was ridiculous and told me that the rest of his unit shared that opinion.

Sounds like a smart young man......

3dfxMM wrote:I think it would be more accurate to say that it is a different qualification, rather than below. Both Sapper School and Ranger School are leadership courses. They just go about it a bit differently and put emphasis on different things. Any Soldier sporting any one of the tabs earned it through a lot of hard work and probably a good bit of pain and suffering as well.

Very True
IMHO, it would be better to say, The SAPPER course is a leadership course, but that is about the only thing the same as the Ranger course.
the Ranger course.

Not taking anything away from the SAPPER course,, but, it is not compairable to Ranger School.

SAPPER Course
Course Length: 4 Weeks 0.0 Days
Course Scope:

Train and develop junior leaders in a team building environment, to perform proficiently and confidently on battle drills, specialized light engineer and infantry techniques and leadership skills needed to perform in a contemporary operating environment. Designed to build esprit de corps and teamwork by training them in demolitions (conventional and expedient), mountaineering operations, aerial operations, land navigation, waterborne operations, urban breaching, MOUT operations, threat weapons, combatives, threat doctrine, troop leading procedures and combat orders. Taught over 28 consecutive days and combines both classroom instruction and hands-on application. Culminates with an intense field training exercise to reinforce the use of the battle drills, patrolling and specialized techniques learned throughout the course
Prerequisites
Male or Female volunteer, Active 5 mile run (8-minute/mile pace), 12-mile foot march ( 15-minute/mile pace) with 35-pound rucksack, and day and night land navigation
Ranger School
Course Length: 8 Weeks 5.0 Days
Course Scope:

The U.S. Army's Ranger Course develops the combat arms related functional skills, of officer and enlisted volunteers who are eligible for assignment to units whose primary mission is to engage in the close-combat, and direct fire battle in order to return to the Army a mentally and physically tough leader capable of (planning, organizing, and executing) a small unit combat operation in any environment.
Prerequisites
Ranger Training is available on a voluntary basis only for enlisted soldiers who are in the following primary MOS, E-4 and above.
11- Infantry
*12B - Combat Engineer
*13F - Fire Support Sergeant
*14S - Avenger Crewman
18 - Special Forces Personnel
*19D - Calvary Scout
19K - Armor Crewman
OFFICER PERSONNEL: Ranger Training is available on a voluntary basis only for Officers in the following Career Management Fields.

11A - Infantry Officer
12A - Armor Officers allocated against authorized 12C positions.
12C - Calvary Officers
*13A - Fire Support Offices
*14B - Short Range Air Defense Officers
18A - Special Forces Officers
*21B - Combat Engineer Officers

Oh, and EOD dude and Dudeettes.. Most are pretty good both technically and professionally.

Some
Are simply retarded .

This dudes unit commanded directed he should place the C4 charge on the IED's the ground units found from inside his vehicle with a Loooooong stick.. When we found a few IEDs this would not work on, he had to call and get special permission to get off the truck, had to spend an hour getting in to the bomb suit, and then we (me) had to walk him to the bomb.

Best quote of the year.. bomb Dude to me " 1SG, ya know I can not move to fast in this suit,, once I set the charge,, if someone start shooting or something you’re not going to run off and leave me ...are you?"
Me to Bomb dude: " That depends... How close are we to cover?"

Purplehood wrote:I think I see where you are going with the Tab thingie. I can wear any one of 5 combat patches, one saying Airborne and another one saying Mountain, but I am not qualified in either.

Those are
Tabs that are an integral part of Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (SSI), such as airborne or mountain, are worn
directly above the SSI. These are only worn when you are in the unit whose SSI includes that designated tab. It is not earned, just a unit ID deal.


Special skill Tabs like Ranger or Special Forces which you must earned.

Purplehood wrote:I never saw a single Barrett over there. All the snipers on our FOB looked like they carried the same thing that the Marine Snipers carried (30.06), but I am sure it was something else.

Likely the M24 or M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System (or M110 SASS)

3dfxMM wrote:EOD and Sappers are not eligible to attend sniper school. Only Infantry, Cavalry Scouts, and Special Forces are authorized to attend. Also, there is no official sniper tab. There are only four tabs authorized, President's 100, Special Forces, Ranger, and Sapper. Soldiers can only wear three, which isn't a problem for very many Soldiers. Getting all four would be rare.

The Barrett isn't only used by guys who have graduated sniper school. My son was the designated Barrett guy on his team in Iraq.

Yes and no.
Students must be of Combat Arms MOS
The following MOS's are Combat Arms.
Infantry
Armor (including Armored Cavalry)
Field Artillery
Air Defense Artillery
Army Aviation (e.g., Attack Helicopter and Air Cavalry units)
Special Forces
Combat Engineer
Soldiers must be in the rank of PFC and above;
However, only MOS 11B and 18-series MOS will be awarded the B4 ASI upon graduation; as per DA PAM 611-21, CH 12, page 911, Table 12-2.

There are only three Special Skill Tabs . Ranger, Special Forces and Sapper.
The President’s Hundred tab is a separate deal all together

The Barrett M82 and variants (Also known as the M107, or XM107) Is used by the units designated marksmen, or Sniper team.. There is no requirement to go to the US Army Sniper school prior to using it., only that your are trained. Many units have fewer school qualified Snipers then duty positions, as such it's common for a unit to train there designated marksmen in house.

NOTE: None of this is intended as to sharp shoot the OP (pun intended..)
It’s what I do for a living, so though I’d comment for clarity and correction..