[Nightcrawler]

Here are some of the promised pictues from AT. The first is my squad, taken after a long day on the breaching lanes. We breached a row of triple standard concertina wire with bangalores and a tank ditch with big lumps of C4, shaped charges, and cratering charges. Another squad had a misfire so we all had to sit in the track in the sun and wait the 30 minutes before someone ran out with a pop & drop to get rid of the unexploded ordnance. I volunteered to go, but they didn't even consider letting me.

In case you're wondering, I'm the big, tall, goony looking dude with his helmet off and the shades. Just being an individual, doing my own thing...

:o

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=443988

[Devonai]

Bwahaahaha! You get to lug around the M249. Just remember to have the bolt in the forward position before you strip it! Fortunately I've never been the recipient of a bolt in the crotch (and since you're smiling in the pic I'd guess you haven't either).

In reality, clearing lanes has a negative connotation for me. I'm usually OPFOR, which means falling back like a jackrabbit while the squads come for my butt!

My only salvation is the crappiness of the MILES gear.

[Nightcrawler]

And here is me in MOPP IV. God, I hate MOPP IV. We were Quartering Party, so we had to spend more time in MOPP IV than everybody else. Picture was taken in front of our M113A2 track. Ours is probably the crappiest track in the battalion. It's very old and, on a good day, does 18 miles an hour going down hill. The mechanics go over it repeatedly; it's just a dog.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=444015

We didn't use the MILES gear on that breach; we don't have OPFOR running around when we're using live demo. (THough I was standing outside of our track when Charlie Company, over on our right (or maybe it was Bravo) on the next lane set off a big boomer about 200-250 meters away. COOLNESS (though probably dangerous).

I missed the day they did miles gear and had to sit in the track for five hours. I got pulled out of the field for a special mission that required me to drive (with another solider) a GSA van back to our home station in CAlumet, then back the next day. So I missed the "fun". :cool:

[Devonai]

Fortunately, the only time we've had to worry about anybody yelling "gas, gas, gas" and waving their arms over their head is after a particular pair of E8s have finished their Ham Slice MREs.

And you still look too happy to be in Mopp 4. You must be a space alien.

[Nightcrawler]

Here's me looking all Tom Clancy. I"ve got on my person:

Kevlar Helmet
Load Bearing Vest
M249 SAW w/ 200 rounds (blanks)
Extra 200 round saw drum in FMCO pouch on right hip
M40 Gas Mask on left thigh
MRE and 16 oz water bottle in Buttpack
FMCO water bladder holder on back of vest with CamelBak 100 oz resivoir
1-quart Canteen on belt
1 ammo pouch holding face paint, small mirror, note pads
sun glasses in ammo pouch
Misc small items

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=444053

Eat your carbon fiber heart out, Skunkabilly. :neener:

[Devonai]

The M40? Slacker! Real soldiers use the M17. What, you can't hold your breath while changing cylinders?

[Silent Bob]

The track's name in the 2nd pic is Abaddon, after the demon of the bottomless pit (Apollyon in the Greek tongue) I love it!

[Nightcrawler]

Yep. Cool name, crappy track. We name all of our vehicles. We have other tracks named "A-Snafu", "Athena", "Thor", "AKORN", etc. We have a C named "Gravedigger" and a 916 (tractor-trailer) named "Splat".

I would show more pictures, but I'm on a very very crappy dial-up connection that just isn't cooperating right now...

[Nightcrawler]

Another failed picture upload. This one keeps showing about half of an old picture, even though I replaced it with a new upload.

Crap. Well, folks, the rest of the pics are gonna have to wait until this weekend, it seems, when I have access to high speed internet again. This dial up just isn't cutting the mustard.

Unless someone can point me to a good picture hosting place that's either free or pretty cheap and has lots of space.

[benewton]

Almost makes me miss my active, or even my ANG time.

NOT!

[OEF_VET]

113's, you poor bastards. Nightcrawler, it's not just your track that's a dog. All 113's are crap. I was with 8th ID(M) in Germany (90-91) and ours were also. When we deactivated and essentially rebuilt the tracks from the ground up, we found some interesting stuff. One had a base paint job of green with a BIG white star on the side. Another's maintenance records showed battle damage from 'Nam. We were lucky if all 14 in the Company could roll out of the motorpool at the same time.

Frank

[Jeff White]

OEF-VET,
One had a base paint job of green with a BIG white star on the side.

I probably painted it. Was a young soldier when we changed everything over from OD with big white stars to the old 5 color camo. Spent weeks in the motorpool, washing, scraping, chalking the pattern on and painting. To this day I hate to paint anything....

Jeff

[natedog]

Do us all a favor and keep the MOPP IV on, you look better with a gas mask :neener:

[wingnutx]

I lug a MK43 instead of a SAW, and wear an MCU2/p, but otherwise my AT was a lot like yours :)

[Nightcrawler]

Here's me with some C4. Oh, I love C4. :evil:

What's a Mk 43?

And I don't know what you mean that I look better with the mask on. I mean, look at this!

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=446482

That's dead sexy, baby. Am I right, ladies?

Ladies?

*somewhere, a dog barks*

Ah, to hell with you then.

:D

[Nightcrawler]

Here's our AVLB launching its bridge. We just got it recently. It has to stay at Camp Grayling, though. It (along with our M88 tank recovery vehicle) is too big to put on our flatbeds and too big to get across the Mackinac Bridge in any case.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=446507

[Jeff White]

HEY SOLDIER!! WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO PUT YOUR CAMO ON LIKE THAT??!!!

:scrutiny:

Oh, sorry..forgot I retired....Carry on :neener:

Jeff

[Nightcrawler]

Hey, I had more camo on than ANY of the officers I saw running around out there. It's not my fault the stuff comes off in sweat and rain.
:o

[wingnutx]

http://www.usord.com/images/e4_large.gif

Basically the newest incarnation of the M60.

Kind of sucks to haul, but they give me way more ammo than the pukes with the M16s :)

[Nightcrawler]

AHH...is that what the Army calls the M60E4? I heard they had reliability problems due to the light barrel, but that might've just been the A3.

You in the Navy, then?

Ahh, back on high speed internet. It's good to be home.

Here's a picture of us stuffing C4 into holes we drilled in a wall. The concrete wall was behind a backstop at an old rifle range, and people would sit back there and manually raise and lower the targets. (I had to do this once in Basic). The wall was quite tall, quite thick, and was reinforced with steel rebar, though I don't think it was solid concrete all the way through. (I think it was filled with dirt.)

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=450407

[Nightcrawler]

And here is the result. Blew clean through the wall, though it did a lot more damage to the concrete than it did to the rebar.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=450408

[Daedalus]

How did you get both the machinegun and the c4, I always thought you could only choose one treat.

[DesertRat]

Is that a billiard stick being used to cram the C-4?

Too funny, I didn't know pool sticks were part of your standard loadout.

hahahahaha!!!:D

[Nightcrawler]

We're combat engineers. We get the same basic small arms as the infantry (in our case, M16A1s and M249 SAWs, as well as some M9 Berettas for drivers/officers). All of the 12 Bravos do demolitions, though.

And it's not a pool cue. It's a broom handle. :p

[Norm357]

Nightcrawler! Thanks for your service.


Norm

[Orthonym]

remember what Shakespeare said about the engineer being "hoist with his own petard"! We'd miss you here if you blew your own self up! (Ok, just jealous, I guess. I don't get to play with explosives paid for by other people.)

[wingnutx]

I'm a Seabee. We're almost related :)

[Nightcrawler]

Ah...the Seabees, the Army Corps of Engineers Naval brethern.

:)

[0007]

Naw, Seabees are swabbies that can't figure out how to put on a uniform and who can drink more beer then any of the other squids... I know, I have to work with a couple of them over here. :D :neener: