The Military Thread

Yeah, Infantry regiments in the British Army have their own bands. Dunno about Cavalry outside of HCMR. The various Corps have them too, I think.

It's a common complaint in the US's diplomatic service that the armed forces' different unit bands have, in aggregate, more funding than the Foreign Service. I'm not sure how true that complaint is, though.

For bands and the like, I suppose it depends, case by case. If you really want your daily share of mind-screwiness, look up the lineages of various British regiments. Some of them have been amalgamated, reformed, and generally screwed around with so much that the people wearing the regimental flash comes out to be the size of a company or so.

There are some that have ended up as platoons.

Relevant.

Also, I'd like to point out that this super in-depth (and mildly bitchy) discussion on Logistics vs Pointy End started with a joke I made about using airlifters to drop pallets of heavy objects on the enemy's head.

And I'd like to further add that it's completely in line with my dark and sardonic humor (and that of most military types) to refer to bombing the shit out of an enemy as providing them a logistical service.

After all, they didn't specify that the bombs they wanted were not to be built up, armed, and ticking.

edited 19th Mar '14 3:35:59 PM by Cganale

There was a t-shirt I used to have which advertised the United States Air Force as the world's premier high-speed delivery service. I stopped wearing it after I realized just how immensely tacky it was (and a few years after I stopped wearing it, I joined the Air Force...)

But yeah, I'm suddenly reminded of those guys in the Air Force who go on and on about how nobody works as hard as they are, and how they're the reason the Air Force exists, and how you're either one of them, or everyone else.

Yep, aircraft mechanics. What, you thought I was gonna say pilots? Nah, I almost never hear any complaints from those guys. Actually, I only ever see them if I go to the BX or the post office.

The "Sun Gods"? Those are some happy campers...

I'd be happy too if I had their job

Until you have to deal with flight surgeons. :P

As for military bands the Marines have their own band and provide one to the President of the US called the President's own.

So, uh, Ghillie Suits. I just read on TOW that it can take years to handcraft one of those things. Are the Serious Business among snipers?

I found it easier to just hide in a book depository and wait until the car came pa- erm, I mean, yeah, serious business!

Discovery channel did a good series on US military snipers a while ago, I'll see if it's on YT.

edited 19th Mar '14 4:22:38 PM by Achaemenid

Years is a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe a few months. But yes they are serious business as they allow the sniper to hide in a wide variety of environments. Most of the Ghillie suits are adjusted or built for specific regions or for specific types of cover.

So snipers would have multiple ghillie suits for all the different places they've deployed?
Would they keep them after they leave the military? Would seem weird to just give something you handcrafted up.

They may use a few different suits but as I understand it they adjust their suit sets by adding bits of local vegetation and other local items. Building a Ghillie suit is not all that hard. Most are made a zipper suit and burlap with vegetation and local materials added to it. Also often coloured a bit when possible.

So, what do snipers wear when they're halfway through constructing their Ghillie suits? Do they go on walkabout in the area of deployment until they think their Ghillie suit is ready? Are sniper dropped behind enemy lines to construct a ghillie suit in time to link up with the main force?

If they don't have their suits ready, I imagine they make due with whatever they have. Even standard issue camo helps quite a bit in concealing yourself, especially if you've been trained with concealment specifically in mind like snipers probably do.

I'm getting Operation Flashpoint flashbacks...

Do they prepare suits in advance, by taking homeland vegetation that appears in the area of operations?
I'm sorry for the amount of questions, but this is really interesting.

IIRC they only use local plants, soils, and materials when adding the specific touches.

They start with a base suit and then add to it to fit their current location.

edited 19th Mar '14 5:01:12 PM by TuefelHundenIV

So, it's just camo and burlap until they can grab some foliage. Interesting.

Or however they make it. I don't think there is any true specifics for a Ghillie.

re: Achaemenid: I literally laughed out loud at that joke.

Anyway, I doubt the "perfect ghillie" is going to take years to make. You do have to make them in the short time you're in-theatre and about to go on mission, after all, and replacements if necessarily as well.

Worse to worse you could always just pick up a small tree and carry it with you Macbeth style.

Plus, if you're making it from local foliage, you'll have to replace the old stuff as it dries up and turns brown and crunchy.

Also, get to know the local foliage a little before you apply it. There may well be mileage in having flora-based neurotoxins hanging off you in a fight.

The problem is...

edited 19th Mar '14 10:06:50 PM by Euodiachloris