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The Military

American

American

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I have found the Science and Technology Forum to be somewhat unsuited for the discussion of the military. I think there are many topic about the military that don't get discussed for that reason.
 
What about the military do you want to discuss? It is something of particular interest to me as a veteran.
 
Well anything really, this is suppose to be a political forum but as an engineer for the Army I enjoy technology discussions as well.
 
American said:
Well anything really, this is suppose to be a political forum but as an engineer for the Army I enjoy technology discussions as well.
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Give us a boot camp story, tell us about day 1 :mrgreen:
 
American said:
Well anything really, this is suppose to be a political forum but as an engineer for the Army I enjoy technology discussions as well.
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You are currently in the service? If so, you have my thanks.
 
Whats wrong with the science and technology forum? It would probably attract more armchair experts like myself than a general forum.
 
This may not be the direction you wanted this to go since it has to do with Science and Technology, but future military projects always amaze me. I also am always curious as to whether Delta Force is already employing some of these technologies.


I remember at least 8-9 years go reading about a grant awarded to MIT to develop a suit that would meet two particular requirements, allow the user to become 'invisible' and jump up to 20 in the air. That was 8-9 years ago. They almost HAVE to have this technology.

HowStuffWorks "How Invisibility Cloaks Work"


DefenseLink News Article: Future Warrior Exhibits Super Powers


The body armor of the new uniforms will absorb the shock of a bullet much better than current bulletproof vests. "The hard body armor has been stood off of the body by 2 to 3 inches, so when the soldier is shot, the force is more evenly distributed to decrease injuries such as broken ribs," DeGay described.

Soldiers will be able to chat online with each other while they are walking down a jungle trail. The new system has the ability for each soldier to be tied into tactical local and wide-area networks with an onboard computer that sits at the base of the soldier's back. "We essentially call the 2010 soldier an 'F- 16 on legs' because it gives the soldier the same capabilities as they would normally have on aircraft and other platforms," DeGay explained. The F-16 is an Air Force fighter jet.


I also remember hearing a quote pertaining to aircraft technology that was awe inspiring to say the least. It was something to the effect of:

"Anything you see or hear about is at least 10 years old"

and one from a former Skunkworks employee who said :

"If you can think of it, we have built a prototype and explored the possibility and physics behind it."


I recently read that scientists are doing extensive research into studying the flying mechanics of dragonflies, as they are the most well designed flying organisms on the Earth.
 
Polynikes said:
I also remember hearing a quote pertaining to aircraft technology that was awe inspiring to say the least. It was something to the effect of:

"Anything you see or hear about is at least 10 years old"
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I worked on military aircraft in the navy. I would say that that statement of yours is probably true. When we went from FA-18A's to brand new C's, there where some new improvements that are old hat now, but you still don't hear about. Note this was about 1990ish.
 
Redress said:
I worked on military aircraft in the navy. I would say that that statement of yours is probably true. When we went from FA-18A's to brand new C's, there where some new improvements that are old hat now, but you still don't hear about. Note this was about 1990ish.
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I worked on the D models in the Marines.
 
WI Crippler said:
I worked on the D models in the Marines.
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I liked the look of the two seaters better than the one seaters. It's a subtle difference, but still noticable.

Where where you stationed in the marines?
 
Redress said:
I liked the look of the two seaters better than the one seaters. It's a subtle difference, but still noticable.

Where where you stationed in the marines?
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I was "stationed" at MCAS Beaufort, which is down by Parris Island. I spent less than half my enlistment on base though, as I deployed to just about every excercise/deployment we had.

I did my schooling at NATTC Pensacola and NAS Oceana.
 
Heh, I did every deployment and detachment I possibly could, have been to several marine bases, and the only bases you mentioned I have been to are Pensacola(totally beautiful place), and Oceana.
 
Redress said:
Heh, I did every deployment and detachment I possibly could, have been to several marine bases, and the only bases you mentioned I have been to are Pensacola(totally beautiful place), and Oceana.
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what did you work on, with the F/A-18? I was an avionics guy.
 
WI Crippler said:
what did you work on, with the F/A-18? I was an avionics guy.
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I was the same. AQ was the rating, Aviation Fire Control tech. Technically we did weapon systems(radar, MC's, and everything with the SMS) and release checks, but they lumped all avionics types together, so we handled the complete package. Mostly though I was assigned to the troubleshooters out of the Line division, flight deck troubleshooting and final checking and such.
 
Redress said:
I was the same. AQ was the rating, Aviation Fire Control tech. Technically we did weapon systems(radar, MC's, and everything with the SMS) and release checks, but they lumped all avionics types together, so we handled the complete package. Mostly though I was assigned to the troubleshooters out of the Line division, flight deck troubleshooting and final checking and such.
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Well in that case, you wouldn't have liked the two seater F/A-18. Thats all the backseat guy does, is break all the avionics equipment. Its not like he's got to fly the thing, so all he does is sit back there and fart around with all our gear.

We handled all the avionics systems, as well some RECCE equipment the Marines had installed on the D models. When it came to the weapons checks though, the Ordinance OIC demanded his guys do the checks, because he felt they needed to know more about their systems, than just loading and unloading bombs. We did troubleshoot and remove the SMS computer for them, since it saved us from having to do coax connector repair whenever they removed it.
 
WI Crippler said:
Well in that case, you wouldn't have liked the two seater F/A-18. Thats all the backseat guy does, is break all the avionics equipment. Its not like he's got to fly the thing, so all he does is sit back there and fart around with all our gear.
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The level of pilot stupidity was simply amazing. From gripes of Iron crosses on radar display while plane on deck(iron cross means radar not transmitting, radar not transmitting when on deck a very good thing), or my personal favorite, radar altimiter reads 50 feet while plane is tail over water on flight deck. I spend 10 minutes explaining to the pilot that since the antenna's where over the water, they should read 50 feet, but he still downed the plane. I got in trouble for calling him a dumbass, though our skipper agreed with the sentiment.
 
Redress said:
The level of pilot stupidity was simply amazing. From gripes of Iron crosses on radar display while plane on deck(iron cross means radar not transmitting, radar not transmitting when on deck a very good thing), or my personal favorite, radar altimiter reads 50 feet while plane is tail over water on flight deck. I spend 10 minutes explaining to the pilot that since the antenna's where over the water, they should read 50 feet, but he still downed the plane. I got in trouble for calling him a dumbass, though our skipper agreed with the sentiment.
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The RECCE system we had was called ATARS. It was basically the province of the backseat guy exclusively, the pilot could operate it via the DDI, but the power on switch was in the back. In one instance, we had a pilot who was flying solo, gripe that the ATARS system did not come up for BIT test and never powered on. I calmly asked him if he had crawled into the backseat, and flipped the power switch on. The other time, the backseat guy brought us the tapes and said there was no imagery on the tapes. When I walked him through the steps, everything seemed covered, and I then asked if he hit record, on his display, to begin recording. The blank look on his face told me I had just saved my crew 2 man hours of troubleshooting.
 
I have never learned as much about military avionics and such as I have reading you two here... thanks. :2razz:
 
Bodhisattva said:
I have never learned as much about military avionics and such as I have reading you two here... thanks. :2razz:
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i absolutely agree. I love this thread.

I recommend a sticky, and more discussion between Military personnel. I am highly fascinated when it comes to the military, and would have joined if I wasn't built for another operation.
 
Arch Enemy said:
i absolutely agree. I love this thread.

I recommend a sticky, and more discussion between Military personnel. I am highly fascinated when it comes to the military, and would have joined if I wasn't built for another operation.
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There would be more conversation except, contrary to popular belief, many of us don't have that much in common except for having been or currently being in the military.

For instance, lets say that Crippler and Redress were both been Marines, as I was, I have no where near the knowledge they do of avionics, nor do they of the specifics of life in the infantry ( I could be wrong.) We could chat about where we were stationed and swap boot camp stories I suppose, but that is kind of lame.


None the less it is both enlightening and interesting to hear stories between service members... most of the time. I can see the allure of hearing these conversations, especially if you were never in the military but find it appealing.

This reminds me (I'm sure any service member can relate) to the countless times people would come up to me and say "You're in the Marines? My son is in the Air Force." And I would stare at them and politely say "Oh really?" and then depending on my mood at the time or if I knew the person I might ask a follow up question to be polite. Or the countless times people would ask "I have a cousin in the Marines, his name is John Rogers, do you know him?" ..."Uhm..there is 180,000 Marines, No, I've never heard of him."

Maybe that is just me and maybe I am totally off base.

Also, there is another factor and I'm sure this is only my own opinion and some of those who served in the infantry, but we really hate hearing people who weren't in the infantry bitch and moan about their jobs. For example, an Admin Clerk saying "Oh man today sucked, I had to get up at 0630 and had to be in formation at 0800 and then after my 2 hour lunch break I had like 15 papers I had to file before I got off at 1600."


If you're asking what my point is about the Admin Clerk example, and why that makes the infantry dislike non-infantry, I will be happy to further clarify.

I've never seen anyone on this forum do any of the above that I mentioned, I am merely giving my 2 cents.
 
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Yeah, I get the whole "you were in the Marines, my son is going into the Air Force" bit form people.

Like great, good for him.

I also get alot of questions from people asking if we still haze people like in Full Metal Jacket.
 
WI Crippler said:
I also get alot of questions from people asking if we still haze people like in Full Metal Jacket.
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You have got to be ****ting me...

Polynikes, you are right in alot of things there. I know jack about being infantry, except I would have sucked at it. When I was in and people would tell me about their son in the army, I would always feel awkward, "ummm...great" was about the best I could come up with. Now that I am out, it's easier. I can say "thank them for their service for me".

My brother was complaining to me just today about his busy his job was. he is working 60 hours a week. I resisted telling him about what it was like when I was in the navy. On ship, it was up at 0500, shower and grab a couple singe serving boxes of cereal on the way to shop, be there before 0600, get briefed on the day, up on deck by a quarter after, start cyclic ops at 0700, grab a couple sliders from chow hall and eat them in line to turn in tray, back on deck within 15 minutes, relief shows up at 1800, brief them till 1830ish, go get a semi-decent meal if I got energy to, down to berthing, collapse in chair and play spades or tonk till I can't stay awake any longer, sleep in my coffin bunk till next morning and start it all over again, and do this anywhere from 20 to 40 days in a row without a day off.

By the way, during the first gulf war, there was a Doonsbury strip hung on every door(well, a few actually, that liberal comic strip was hugely loved by alot of us during that war, proof you could be against the war, and support the troops), showing infantry guys booing a reference to the navy, and then showing what they thought of navy guys..."hey guys, want to come on deck and play shuffleboard", "no, don't want to leave the air conditioning".
 
Redress said:
You have got to be ****ting me...
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No, I've gotten the question a few times. Of course its not like that anymore, at least in boot camp. There's nobody hitting anybody, or throwing blanket parties in boot. If they are recent boots, and they say they are I'd put money on the fact they are lying.

We do **** with each other pretty good in the fleet though. But more out of boredom than anything else. :2razz:
 
WI Crippler said:
No, I've gotten the question a few times. Of course its not like that anymore, at least in boot camp. There's nobody hitting anybody, or throwing blanket parties in boot. If they are recent boots, and they say they are I'd put money on the fact they are lying.

We do **** with each other pretty good in the fleet though. But more out of boredom than anything else. :2razz:
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There was some hazing that went on in the fleet, some of it pretty harsh, but no one was hurt under pain of captains mast.

Now making each others life hell was a definite hobby. The one time we were in seas rough enough to actually make a carrier rock seriously, we hung pencils from the overhead by string. Almost no one on carriers are used to rough seas, so we found alot who suffered from seasickness, and the swinging pencil would just make it that much worse. Nothing quite like the fun of making your friends puke.
 
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