Military Roll Call! Veterans, GTFIH!

Alright I'm out 0042 and I have to be up at 0430 peace out devil.
 
@BillytheFish, @Roaming East
Close call for the boys from 'The Big Red One' - (BRO)...

"Paktika Province, Afghanistan - after spotting Taliban forces on a distant ridge line, U.S. Army mortar teams engage with 60mm mortars. A simultaneous airstrike is called in which accidentally drops a 500 pound bomb on a U.S. Army infantry outpost, mistaking the position for Taliban fighters. Luckily there were no friendly casualties in this rare incident, due to the First Sergeant's decision to bring everyone to 'stand to' before the drop. It is still unclear what caused the pilot to target the wrong position. If it wasn't for the decision of the First Sergeant, three soldiers would have died in that wooden building which was shredded by shrapnel."
 
Phr3121 said:
@BillytheFish, @Roaming East
Close call for the boys from 'The Big Red One' - (BRO)...

"Paktika Province, Afghanistan - after spotting Taliban forces on a distant ridge line, U.S. Army mortar teams engage with 60mm mortars. A simultaneous airstrike is called in which accidentally drops a 500 pound bomb on a U.S. Army infantry outpost, mistaking the position for Taliban fighters. Luckily there were no friendly casualties in this rare incident, due to the First Sergeant's decision to bring everyone to 'stand to' before the drop. It is still unclear what caused the pilot to target the wrong position. If it wasn't for the decision of the First Sergeant, three soldiers would have died in that wooden building which was shredded by shrapnel."
Click to expand...

CSB time: My first significant combat action was as attached supporting detachment to the 2nd btl/ 7th Cav. I came under direction of the 24th STS (and coincidentally earned my 'air commando' coin) during a shitty little dust up in some town back in Nov of '04.

Any way, it was IIRC the 14th or 15th of November. Late night. call over the net comes in that UAV's had spotted hold outs moving eastwards along the big river some 3 blocks of the Bridge. the big one everyone see's in the news. Their were smaller single lane ones a few blocks up and down the town proper. So by this time Big bridge is well and secured and the operation is moving into mop up mode as opposed to assault mode though from the ground it was hard to tell. USMC had already pushed the phase line up so these rear guard weenies are now officially property of the US Army. well nobody wants to move around at night trying to play whack a mole with a half dozen gomers if we got the ability to just sky frag em, so we get permission to introduce these guys to an F16's party mix. we got no LOS so ground targetting is a no-go. UAV plays the role of cockroach flashlight and the Viper dumps a single JDAM with everyone on the tacs watching the 8 second delay play by play. Well the UAV guys didnt bother to realize that an F16 flying a vector from 030 is going to have OUR side of the river catch splash over (or they knew and dont care. USAF is cold like that). JDAM goes pop and craters these guys, and fragmentation stream of course continues in as momentum and physics would suggest, directly across the river, some 600 meters and puts a piece of concrete the size of a bowling ball into a building that was being used as an observation post. Guts out a downstairs living room area that was only filled with gear but scared the piss out of the dudes in it. To wit, our OP was at least 300 meters SW of the river and the JDAM splashed about 900+ of the opposite bank. Because of the approach angle of the weapon it launched crap (at butt clenching speed mind you) over 1200 meters away and peppered the opposite side buildings like the worlds meanest shotgun.

Approach Angle Matters.

CSB over.
 
Roaming East said:
CSB time: My first significant combat action was as attached supporting detachment to the 2nd btl/ 7th Cav. I came under direction of the 24th STS (and coincidentally earned my 'air commando' coin) during a shitty little dust up in some town back in Nov of '04.

Any way, it was IIRC the 14th or 15th of November. Late night. call over the net comes in that UAV's had spotted hold outs moving eastwards along the big river some 3 blocks of the Bridge. the big one everyone see's in the news. Their were smaller single lane ones a few blocks up and down the town proper. So by this time Big bridge is well and secured and the operation is moving into mop up mode as opposed to assault mode though from the ground it was hard to tell. USMC had already pushed the phase line up so these rear guard weenies are now officially property of the US Army. well nobody wants to move around at night trying to play whack a mole with a half dozen gomers if we got the ability to just sky frag em, so we get permission to introduce these guys to an F16's party mix. we got no LOS so ground targetting is a no-go. UAV plays the role of cockroach flashlight and the Viper dumps a single JDAM with everyone on the tacs watching the 8 second delay play by play. Well the UAV guys didnt bother to realize that an F16 flying a vector from 030 is going to have OUR side of the river catch splash over (or they knew and dont care. USAF is cold like that). JDAM goes pop and craters these guys, and fragmentation stream of course continues in as momentum and physics would suggest, directly across the river, some 600 meters and puts a piece of concrete the size of a bowling ball into a building that was being used as an observation post. Guts out a downstairs living room area that was only filled with gear but scared the piss out of the dudes in it. To wit, our OP was at least 300 meters SW of the river and the JDAM splashed about 900+ of the opposite bank. Because of the approach angle of the weapon it launched crap (at butt clenching speed mind you) over 1200 meters away and peppered the opposite side buildings like the worlds meanest shotgun.

Approach Angle Matters.

CSB over.
Click to expand...
That was a good write up. I wonder what happens to these pilots once they get back to base for a debriefing. Does anyone get punished or is it just a hand slap? Personally, if it was me, my days of dropping bombs would be over. I would request a re-assignment in the U.S. Air Force or the U.S. Navy. How could any pilot who makes a mistake that kills soldiers or Marines on the ground go back for another bomb drop?

The closest I've been in the receiving end of anything remotely 'HE' was the 120mm mortar rounds landing in the bunkers at Ft. Benning, GA. About a dozen rounds landing on top of Lieutenants going through IOBC. 40 meters blast radius. That shit was scary enough, I can't imagine what a 500 pound bomb would feel like.

Here is another fuck up by the U.S. Air Force. In this case a B-1 bomber dropping two 500 pound bombs. 6 soldiers on the ground killed:
 
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from my experience, pilots are the LAST to get blamed. First guys with their feet to the fire are always the observer/FAC/TACP whatever. Second is the AOC for authorizing the drop. Third is the weapon. cause obviously it might have malfunctioned or did something the pilot didnt tell it to do. fourth you have the Air operations guys, the weather dudes, the crew chiefs the AMU guys because that goes back to the third blame-ee. Fithly? yeah just bad luck. Maybe those troops shouldnt have run up and put themselves under that weapon, or the hand of God did it.


Pilots only get blamed if Congress gets involved.
 
A story for the flip side of the coin for fairness: we did a 4 day operation in Nad-e-Ali in 2006 where we flew into the village and occupied one compound before first light. The idea was to disrupt the enemy there and conduct pure fighting patrols in the surrounding areas then get the fuck out back to our main location (poking a fucking hornet's nest). There were no friendly forces anywhere in the vicinity at that time.

The fighters in this area were foreigners (not from Afghanistan), and thus very well trained and tough as fucking nails. We were clearing a set of compounds that were laid out like the figure 11 from the sky (parallel buildings for about 1000m). We cleared buildings systematically to avoid booby traps and what not, so we had to be careful not to advance past our teams that were parallel...there was a LOT of heavy contact over those few days.

Anyhow without prior warning via comms, we seen an A10 flying towards us...by the time we saw it flying low it had already released a burst of fire and then it fucked off. My butthole was clenched for the 5 seconds this thing happened lol. It turns out there were 5 guys loading a suicide bomber into a car in the very next compound, with the goal of attempting to drive into the flimsy metal door of the compound we had just cleared and were now prepping for the next one. That pilot likely saved a few lives in that one moment that day.

Edit: have to add, anyone who's heard that A10 firing at CLOSE proximity can testify that 'farting' sound will put the shits up anyone...
 
Roaming East said:
From my experience, pilots are the LAST to get blamed.
Click to expand...
'Red Flag'. How does a B-1 bomber pilot not see IR strobes on the ground? (video above) How does he know where friendly troops are located? But, he says 'fuck it' and makes the drop anyway.
BillytheFish said:
Anyhow without prior warning via comms, we seen an A10 flying towards us...by the time we saw it flying low it had already released a burst of fire and then it fucked off. That pilot likely saved a few lives in that one moment that day.
Edit: have to add, anyone who's heard that A10 firing at CLOSE proximity can testify that 'farting' sound will put the shits up anyone...
Click to expand...
Who called the mission for the A-10? How could you guys not be warned of the incoming plane?
...and to think the A-10 was getting ready to retire (obsolete) just before Desert Storm. The plane is basically built around that cannon - 30x173mm GAU-8/A Avenger.
 
Phr3121 said:
Who called the mission for the A-10? How could you guys not be warned of the incoming plane?
...and to think the A-10 was getting ready to retire (obsolete) just before Desert Storm. The plane is basically built around that cannon - 30x173mm GAU-8/A Avenger.
Click to expand...

We didn't call in shit, by the time our jtac relayed the info to us shit had already gone down lol.

On this location we had a lot of air cover as standard throughout the day for us to bring in when we wanted...so he was already in the skies above us providing support. I can only assume he spotted something and went for it and informed JTAC on the fly
 
Phr3121 said:
'Red Flag'. How does a B-1 bomber pilot not see IR strobes on the ground? (video above) How does he know where friendly troops are located? But, he says 'fuck it' and makes the drop anyway.
Click to expand...
A B1b isnt going to see shit visually anyway. Sometimes those things will fly low, but its still a big ass plane with the cockpit layout more similar to an airliner than a fighter. cockpit visibility is shit. these guys are straight depending on sensor data and im not gonna trust some zoomie whose only info around him is the FOV of a Sniper Pod.
 
I
Phr3121 said:
'Red Flag'. How does a B-1 bomber pilot not see IR strobes on the ground? (video above) How does he know where friendly troops are located? But, he says 'fuck it' and makes the drop anyway.

Who called the mission for the A-10? How could you guys not be warned of the incoming plane?
...and to think the A-10 was getting ready to retire (obsolete) just before Desert Storm. The plane is basically built around that cannon - 30x173mm GAU-8/A Avenger.
Click to expand...
I sure hope some dude in a B-1 isn’t going off his eye.
 
Hail to the Redskins said:
I sure hope some dude in a B-1 isn’t going off his eye.
Click to expand...
Maybe not for an IR strobe, but why isn't the pilot, or bombardier, asking for the 'friendly' location. Look at how the pilot on video #3165 does his run. Regardless of airplane or height, he still wants to know where the friendly troops are in relation to the enemy. Is that so hard for the B-1 pilot to do? Plus you have 4 guys in that airplane (aircraft commander, copilot, and two combat systems officers). Time to put that coffee and donut down and plot point (a) friendly position, and point (b) enemy position.
@Roaming East
 
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Phr3121 said:
Maybe not for an IR strobe, but why isn't the pilot, or bombardier, asking for the 'friendly' location. Look at how the pilot on video #3165 does his run. Regardless of airplane or height, he still wants to know where the friendly troops are in relation to the enemy. Is that so hard for the B-1 pilot to do? Plus you have 4 guys in that airplane (aircraft commander, copilot, and two combat systems officers). Fuck! Time to put that coffee and donut down and plot point (a) friendly position, and point (b) enemy position.
@Roaming East
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no argument from me. Blue Force Tracker has been around for awhile now. No reason not to have an MFD with that info on it.
 
HunterSdVa29 said:
No, 2/2 was in Bamberg (I believe) although it may have moved w/ other units to Baumholder after I left
I was in 3/4 IN BN, 170th IBCT
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Okay I was just wondering because I recently read his book and last month his Silver Star got upgraded to a Medal of Honor.
 
"Pepperdine University professor Dr. Michael Crooke has accomplished much in his life -- athlete, veteran, business entrepreneur, academic -- but he claims his experience as a Navy SEAL laid the foundation for his many achievements." Interesting guy. Went on to get a BA, MBA and PhD.
 
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