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S-2 · 05-01-2008, 22:21 PM

I've got some bad memories shooting for infantry mortars. Watched 400 81mm and 4.2" rounds fired sans subsequent CORRECTIONS. Their FDC wouldn't compute corrections nor send them to their tubes. My F.O. parties were there to observe a safe impact in the range.

Most of my F.O.s and self came from Portland, Oregon, drove to Ashland, Oregon (300 miles) on a Friday afternoon, piled in buses to Camp Roberts, Ca. (Pasa Roubles) Friday night/Saturday morning, arrived 0630hrs, OBSERVED all day, bussed back that night, arrived Ashland Sunday morning, recovered from the LFX, and drove 300 miles home that night for work/school Monday morning. Myself? Two grad school exams.

I wasn't happy. My battalion commander wasn't happy. My brigade commander became unhappy. 1-186 INF Bn. cdr became unhappy. His unhappiness made life really unpleasant for their CSC cdr and battalion mortar platoon leader who was running their consolidated "training".

It's a retention issue and our guys were dogged needlessly. We'd been better to stay home. They could have observed the impact area with their own folks.

Oh! 30mph winds that day, MET messages available but unapplied. I don't know how many METRO data lines a mortar round travels through but I'd bet max ord for a 4.2" is up there.

A bad day for the U.S. government.

05-01-2008, 22:21 PM	#58 (permalink)
S-2 *Military Professional* Join Date: 09-11-06 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 2,112 Country:	I'm With G.G. I've got some bad memories shooting for infantry mortars. Watched 400 81mm and 4.2" rounds fired sans subsequent CORRECTIONS. Their FDC wouldn't compute corrections nor send them to their tubes. My F.O. parties were there to observe a safe impact in the range. Most of my F.O.s and self came from Portland, Oregon, drove to Ashland, Oregon (300 miles) on a Friday afternoon, piled in buses to Camp Roberts, Ca. (Pasa Roubles) Friday night/Saturday morning, arrived 0630hrs, OBSERVED all day, bussed back that night, arrived Ashland Sunday morning, recovered from the LFX, and drove 300 miles home that night for work/school Monday morning. Myself? Two grad school exams. I wasn't happy. My battalion commander wasn't happy. My brigade commander became unhappy. 1-186 INF Bn. cdr became unhappy. His unhappiness made life really unpleasant for their CSC cdr and battalion mortar platoon leader who was running their consolidated "training". It's a retention issue and our guys were dogged needlessly. We'd been better to stay home. They could have observed the impact area with their own folks. Oh! 30mph winds that day, MET messages available but unapplied. I don't know how many METRO data lines a mortar round travels through but I'd bet max ord for a 4.2" is up there. A bad day for the U.S. government. __________________ "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski