The Military Thread

dRoy: Maybe and only if you are taking those medications to begin with. For many those medications are not really all that helpful. Even worse many of them have a string unpleasant side effects.

Ah, I see. I was under impression that many PTSD sufferers do.

That's one of the reasons I'm reluctant to go to my GP with this, even in the mess I'm in; I've seen what they've given other people and what it's done to them. I think I'm better off as I am.

So my friend was talking with a grad student who is absolutely obsessed with the big guns of the WWII Germany. This guy had some really weird assumptions and statements about German Artillery ranging from calibers, field use, and even experimental or unsuccessful weapons.

One of the ones that stood out was a supposed German 88mm Field Artillery gun with a 5 round stripper clip. Now I dug around as best as I could. The only thing I could find was a 5 round auto-loader for 88's in vehicles and a 5-10 round clip fed 5cm Flak gun.

Anyone know of anything else that might fit that or this guy getting his weapon systems confused still?

I think you're right and he's getting the 5cm Flak 41 confused with the 8.8cm Flak 41, which had the same designation. The 5cm was loaded with charger clips. The 8.8cm Flak 41 did have some minor improvements to the loading system and a rammer - perhaps he heard about the new loading system for the "Flak 41" and then read about the 5cm Flak 41's charger clip and assumed it was the same gun?

The Germans did have some insane drawing board concepts, though - like Gerät 85, a 240mm autoloaded naval gun. Predictably, it never got off the drawing board, and was quickly cancelled.

edited 22nd Sep '14 5:55:05 PM by Achaemenid

Maybe he thought adding 38mm was easy. lol

Speaking of marijuana...it's still illegal to produce here in very large quantities. Because of the remoteness of the "plantations" it's the Army that gets to "burn" the produce. lol

Achae: That is what I was thinking last night when I was chatting with my buddy. A mix of designation, the semi-automatic breech on the 88 and the somewhat similar looking mountings and weapons between them. He even confused the production numbers of the 88 Flak 41 and the 5cm Flak 41.

He was also claiming that there were way more then 7 of the Karl-Gerat Mortars and that five of them were used to shell Leningrad. He was getting all sorts of big gun facts wrong from calibers, use by location, production numbers, to how effective they really were vs the myth.

My buddy does a fair bit of study for WWII or other things but for some reason he just doesn't seem to know weapons and kit that well. Thankfully WWII is very well studied and both museums and collectors have put out a lot of info on the gear.

edited 22nd Sep '14 8:06:39 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Pretty sure I posted it here but a few weeks back I learned that the US Navy operated railroad guns during the first World War, with trains set up to support and fire 14" guns.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm re-reading Band of Brothers at the moment () and it mentions that railway artillery was so low velocity that they could run from the top floor of their OP in a ruined house to safety in the basement between hearing the incoming shell and impact.

But damn, I would have liked to have been a railway gun crewman in WWII or WWI (assuming, of course, I had to fight in either conflict).

edited 23rd Sep '14 4:01:18 AM by Achaemenid

Why the thumbs down?

It's not very good.

More seriously: I don't like Ambrose's methodology or his style of history. Also a shocking amount of technical mistakes re: calibers, ranks, tanks fought ('dem magic Tigers), etc. Even leaving aside his well-known, er, "moral issues", he has this really annoying thing where he picks heroes (ie, his interviewees) and then pisses all over the supporting cast; the Air Force, other officers, the British and French, etc. Did you know, for instance, that the 101st held Bastogne all alone? That's the impression his book gives - no mention of the 4th Armored or the TD battalion helping them.

edited 23rd Sep '14 12:39:50 PM by Achaemenid

I never read his stuff so I can't comment.

Foxtrot Alpha — Here's Everything We Know About The Airstrikes Against ISIS Inside Syria

Yes. I've corrected the link. It's rather late here...

edited 23rd Sep '14 3:34:37 PM by Greenmantle

Link goes to the add post button; what's this, military-themed Rick Roll?

edited 23rd Sep '14 3:27:40 PM by desdendelle

Holy fuck, we finally used the Raptor in anger.

So are the pilots suffocating yet or?

So I was trying to remember the title of an Arthur C Clarke story about a war in which one side loses because it keeps trying to develop new technologies at the expense of what they already have, and found it on Wikipedia - Superiority.

That's not the funny part. The funny part is that the "See also" section lists things like "illusory superiority", "opportunity cost", "wonder weapons"...and "F-35".

I was linked to an online copy of the story via an article on the F-35 myself

In the news today: President Obama has committed the worst atrocity in the history of the Presidency, bringing down centuries of military tradition and showing his massive lack of respect for the troops by returning a Marine's salute with a cup of coffee in his hand while disembarking Marine One.

Oh, and I guess we're bombing someone in Syracuse or something. I dunno, it's probably nothing important.

Oh, so I finished my two-day OSHA 10-hour class today. Looked it up online figuring it was something highly marketable, and it looks like it's basically a training course appropriate for "entry level employees". Ah well, the class got me out of the office for two whole days.

edited 24th Sep '14 6:18:14 AM by AFP

The states are breaking down much faster than I thought. Sounds like complete chaos south of the border.

edited 24th Sep '14 6:19:57 AM by QuestionMarc

Yea I saw that.

They included of picture of Bush jr. attempting to salute while carrying one of his dogs. that was...interesting.

-Cannot parse whether this is a joke or not-

It's not.

...
-Rolls eyes-
That's silly.

I think the confusion is over whether or not it's a big deal.

I will neither confirm nor deny it is.