I see the Awesomeness.
It should be easier to reload machine guns.
Fight smart, not fair.
He was all jittery, you can reload them quickly when your hands aren't shaking.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
God I hate those shakes when the adrenaline gets pumping and makes your hands a lil shakey. When your drill enough you can clear, feed, load, and charge the weapon in 5-10 seconds.
Loading a Mk-19 with the shakes is pretty daunting. Nothing like handing explosives and a bolt that can snap your fingers off.
edited 24th Apr '10 11:58:27 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
Heh, I hear that. It's so frustrating when you get the gribblies to the point of dropping shit, which then infuriates you when you were already scared.
I see the Awesomeness.
Would switching it to a "fit the box in the hole" style reloading mechanism like a clip work better or is it just something that has to be dealt with?
Fight smart, not fair.
Dreams of Revenge
I don't know much about grenade launchers, but might it not be difficult to get something fat/tubular such as the grenades to actually load properly (considering that they'll want to roll around with each and every jitter and such) in such a system?
Locking you up on radar since '09
Dreams of Revenge
Thanks. I should have mentioned though that I was responding to Deboss's suggestion.
Locking you up on radar since '09
"In distress", my ass.
Hmm. Right now the only thing "military" I can think of is a military joke I heard the other day. Tuefel will probably like it, and the others not, but here goes anyway. 
*The Prayers of Officers*
One day, three O-6s were hiking together and unexpectedly came upon a wide, raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so.
The Air Force Colonel called out to God, praying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river."
*POOF!*
God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across. It did, however, take him more than an hour and he almost drowned a couple of times.
Seeing this, the Army Colonel played to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and tools to cross this river."
*POOF!*
God gave him a rowboat and oars. He was able to row across but it still took almost an hour, it was very rough, and he almost capsized several times.
The Navy Captain saw how things worked out for the other two, so when he prayed to God, he said, "Please God, give me the strength, tools, and the intelligence to cross this river."
*POOF!*
God turned him into a Marine Lance Corporal. He looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, and walked across the bridge.
edited 25th Apr '10 5:49:53 AM by Nohbody
All your safe space are belong to Trump
Eye'm the cutest!
That sounds in character for the Air Force guy. I mean its either that or he prays for God to send him a helo to ferry him across.
"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."
I see the Awesomeness.
Question, who's on Schmuck Bait? I wanna say that's a marine.
Fight smart, not fair.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Actually the 40mm the MK-19 uses fire a more powerful cartridge. They have to operate the recoil system in the MK-19. If you fire one out of a M-203 you will probably damage the weapon and hurt yourself. By the same token you can not fire a M-203 out of a MK-19 as there is not enough recoil from the round to cycle the weapon.
edited 25th Apr '10 12:11:56 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
I just meant the same caliber round Tueffel, I forgot to mention the grain, you're right.
Schmuck Bait is an army soldier.
Dreams of Revenge
That joke's good (of course, if I were actually in the army/air force/navy then I might have a different opinion).
Locking you up on radar since '09
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Military Humor
This of course is humor based on the military and its interaction with the media.
News anchor Dan Rather, The Reverend Jesse Jackson, NPR reporter Cokie Roberts, and an American Marine were hiking through the jungle one day when they were captured by cannibals.
They were tied up, led to the village and brought before the chief. The chief said, "I am familiar with your Western custom of granting the condemned a last wish. Before we kill and eat you, do you have any last requests?"
Dan Rather said, "Well, I'm a Texan; so I'd like one last bowlful of hot, spicy chili." The chief nodded to an underling, who left and returned with the chili. Rather ate it all and said, "Now I can die content."
Jesse Jackson said, "You know, the thing in this life I am proudest of is my work on behalf of the poor and oppressed. So before I go, I want to sing "We Shall Overcome" one last time." The chief said, "Go right ahead, we're listening." Jackson sang the song, and then said, "Now I can die in peace."
Cokie Roberts said, "I'm a reporter to the end. I want to take out my tape recorder and describe the scene here and what's about to happen. Maybe someday someone will hear it and know that I was on the job til the end." The chief directed an aide to hand over the tape recorder, and Roberts dictated some comments. She then said, "Now I can die happy."
The chief turned and said, "And now, Mr. Marine, what is your final wish?"
"Kick me in the ass," said the Marine.
"What?" said the chief. "Will you mock us in your last hour?"
"No, I'm not kidding. I want you to kick me in the ass," insisted the Marine.
So the chief shoved him into the open, and kicked him in the ass. The Marine went sprawling, but rolled to his knees, pulled a 9mm pistol from his waistband, and shot the chief dead. In the resulting confusion, he leapt to his knapsack, pulled out his M4 carbine, and sprayed the cannibals with gunfire. In a flash, the cannibals were dead or fleeing for their lives.
As the Marine was untying the others, they asked him, "Why didn't you just shoot them? Why did you ask them to kick you in the ass?"
"What!?" said the Marine, "And have you jerks call ME the aggressor?!"
edited 25th Apr '10 3:12:41 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
Dreams of Revenge
Military humour is awesome.
No seriously though, this thread is absolutely fascinating.
Locking you up on radar since '09
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
It is important to note despite the banter and bickering when it comes down to it the various branches rarely have trouble working together.
A squad of Marines were driving up the highway between Basra and Baghdad. They came upon an Iraqi soldier badly injured and unconscious.
Nearby, on the opposite side of the road, was an American Marine in a similar but less serious state. The Marine was conscious and alert. As first aid was given to both men, the marine was asked what had happened.
The Marine reported; "I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway. Coming south was a heavily armed Iraqi soldier."
"What happened then?" the corpsman asked.
"I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein was a miserable piece of crap, and he yelled back: 'George Bush is a miserable piece of crap."
"We were standing there shaking hands when a truck hit us."
edited 25th Apr '10 3:26:05 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Conventional Warheads on Ballistic Missiles
Mach 6 Cruise Missile
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
In other news the South Korean ship that was sunk was believed to be from a torpedo strike. Stand by for the the fecal matter to strike the oscillating rotary air impeller.
Who watches the watchmen?
Eye'm the cutest!
That moves my forecasts up when it comes to a potential WW3.
I was expecting the chances of such being 1 year or less away as pretty low but within 5 years as pretty high (within 20 is a more or less certainty given the current geopolitical climate).
What a great time to have a pussy in the White House...
Oh well world peace cannot last forever.
edited 30th Apr '10 3:44:09 PM by MajorTom
"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."
Sapere Aude
Especially since world peace hasn't even started yet. There isn't gonna be an all out war between nuclear powers, unless they go on with this stupid nuclear disarmament bullshit.
North Korea has alienated all of its former allies and nobody is gonna rush to their aid when their leader finally goes bonkers. China seeks economic dominance and Russia just likes the income from their oil and gas exports just too much. A war would fuck that up for both of them.
edited 30th Apr '10 4:12:05 PM by DasAuto
Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris
Eye'm the cutest!
^ Then they better pull a 180 on foreign policy and soon. The path they are on is putting them on an inevitable crash course with many nations including the United States.
China is in a no-win scenario over North Korea. They don't want to state they will oppose them if conflict re-erupts yet at the same time they don't approve of their nuclear belligerence. They also don't want to side with or oppose North Korea because they will suffer a massive refugee crisis on their side of the Yalu.
In short, regardless of what happens China's going to be angered.
Russia with Putin and Medvedev at the helm is almost as belligerent towards the US and other Western nations as the old Soviet Union. The conflict in Georgia proved that. (Since 2008 US-Russian relations have gone nowhere.)
One more thing, I really don't think a WW3 will be this massive nuclear exchange. The US has had ample opportunity with other foes to deliver first-strike nuclear arms yet hasn't. The Russians at one point had a no-first-use policy. (which fell apart after The Great Politics Mess Up) The Indians have a no-first-use policy. What does this mean for a hypothetical WW3? It means the only cards in the deck that would start a nuclear exchange are the rogue states with nothing to lose. More than likely those same rogue states are going to start the whole thing and drag the world into it as they sink.
"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."
Sapere Aude
I never said there will be no regional wars. There will be many, but the bigger powers going to war with each other is a scenario that will be limited to video games, Tom Clancy books and the wet dreams of war nerds.
edited 30th Apr '10 4:35:33 PM by DasAuto
Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris
The Shadows Devour You.
The "Rogue states will screw it all up" brings back to my memory something ominous.
"European War will come out of some foolish thing in the Balkans..." Bismarck, predicting the First World War.
The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.
Video of a firefight in KG valley.
Gunner mounted in a vehicle.
edited 24th Apr '10 11:08:25 PM by Barkey