Army
04-12-2002, 11:38 AM
Heading to the field next week
I just got word today, that I'll be in the field from 19 April to at least 3 May.
No SAT-COM feed as I'll be with the Artillery this time, which means I won't have a base to work out of, always moving around.
Should be fun though, word is that there will be a lot of direct fire. Direct fire is when you set your 155mm gun, up at the mortar range on the hill, depress the gun to below horizontal, look down the barrel to find a target, and load with max charges! Wanna say muzzle blast? There are grandstands set up so VIPs can watch the show, but most of us looky-loos fill them. We sit only about 100' to the side of the guns, so the blast whacks into us like a big hot pillow! The shell has to travel so close to the ground on it's horizontal flight, that the pressure wave is pushing the dirt and grass like a boat wake, basically you can watch the round zip across the two miles and explode on the old vehicle targets, throwing huge slabs of steel around like so many playing cards. wOOt!
I just got word today, that I'll be in the field from 19 April to at least 3 May.
No SAT-COM feed as I'll be with the Artillery this time, which means I won't have a base to work out of, always moving around.
Should be fun though, word is that there will be a lot of direct fire. Direct fire is when you set your 155mm gun, up at the mortar range on the hill, depress the gun to below horizontal, look down the barrel to find a target, and load with max charges! Wanna say muzzle blast? There are grandstands set up so VIPs can watch the show, but most of us looky-loos fill them. We sit only about 100' to the side of the guns, so the blast whacks into us like a big hot pillow! The shell has to travel so close to the ground on it's horizontal flight, that the pressure wave is pushing the dirt and grass like a boat wake, basically you can watch the round zip across the two miles and explode on the old vehicle targets, throwing huge slabs of steel around like so many playing cards. wOOt!