Other Post Gun bunnies unite!!

[GunBunnyInaMAB]

Being a graduate of Bravo Battery,3rd Cannon Training Battalion, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, my opinion that Field Artillery is the king of the battlefield may be somewhat jaded. However, I'm sure that guys like TANKBUSTER and DRONEPILOT would have you believe that the honor of KING goes to airpower...
A story from the days of the cold war in Europe;

We were on REFORGER, a kind of color war in Germany where personnel and equipment don laser sensor tags, and simulated warfare is unleashed.
My Artillery unit was being hounded by this same unit of COBRA gunships. It didn't matter where we tried to hide, or how much camoflage we put up, the bastards kept finding us and lighting up our tags, simulating a battery killed. Our battery commander was getting somewhat annoyed at those rotary wing raiders, so he hatched a little payback plan. The next time we were hit, a detached "scout" unit, made up of some guys from supply section, managed to track the group back to their base of operations. They discovered that they always flew below the treeline up this one particular valley before climbing over a ridge on their way out to go hunting. My unit, under the cover of darkness, roadmarched in blackout drive to that very same ridge at the end of that valley. All the guns, self-propelled M109A1's, were directed to line up abreast with their guns at zero elevation aimed down the center of the valley. Extensive camoflage was set up, the guns were loaded with charge 5 , White bag,(POWDER), but no rounds. We sat all night waiting on the dawn.
Right about sun up, we could hear the steady whup-whup-whup- of the COBRAS coming up the valley. The commander gave the battery a prepare to fire order. As the choppers began their accent to clear the ridge, six 155mm Howitzers simulated a battery fire of beehive rounds. The concussion wave physically rocked the helo's, while the lasers triggered all their sensors indicating that they had been destroyed!!
As per the rules of engagement, they immeadiately landed and shut down their engines for 2 hours. We, on the otherhand, packed up our gear and hauled ass!! Needless to say. we were never again hounded by that same attack wing of COBRAS. ARTILLERY RULES!!!

 

[Niallmhor]

ReForGer 1978

hi Guys

I remember back in the mid the 80 's we where on ReForGer, our Battery had M109A2 at the time, our task was to guard a road juction so we put our youngest Gunner on "Stag" with his SLR and waited for business to come our way, our wait was not long as down the road came 6 Leopard 1 tanks. Our young Gunner stood his ground and shouted the words "For you the war is over" The German tank commander looked a bit stunned till the young Gunner pointed to the 6 155mm gun barrels looking down at him, The words that came back in good english was " Do you have any beer?"
all I can say was a good time was had by all!

niallmhorsal;

 

[John A Silkstone]

Following is a snippety from my book:

“YOU TWO! FALL IN - IN THREE RANKS!”
OR
“Who! Me Sir, No Sir, Not I Sir!”

Anecdotes for posterity of

John Alfred Silkstone


THE INVISIBLE MEN

Also in 1957, I was sent on a NATO exercise. Because I was recovering from a leg injury, I was assigned to drive the umpire who was attached to the battery.
One day the battery moved location, setting up the twenty-five pound guns in a coppice. They were surprised when the umpire declared them prisoners of war: they had been in this new location for about five hours, and in that time they had dug themselves and the guns in and set up OPs (Observation Points). When they enquired why they were POWs, the Umpire blew a whistle and about fifty Ghurkhas popped up from out of the ground or down from trees.
That was the first time I had seen or heard of these people. Throughout my military career, I heard more and more about the antics of these small warriors from the roof of the world. They did, and still do, some unbelievable stuff

 

[GunBunnyInaMAB]

Then, of course, there was that incident of a convoy travelling through the narrow streets of a small German village... An M109A1 driver was approaching a sharp turn that required a ground guide to keep the Howitzer tube from striking the buildings. At the most precarius moment, a very well endowed fraulien in a see through blouse, (with no undergarments, mind you), walks out of a bar on the left side of the street, and strolls past the approaching self-propelled gun. The driver, being a typical 19 year old American, eyeballs her as he passes. By the time he turns his head back 'round, the tube has breached the wall of a Gausthaus. In a moment of panic, instead of hitting the brakes and stopping the 26 ton artillery piece, he locks the right track, and as the gun pivots, it removes one of the building's main support beams, bringing down the entire 3rd floor and roof! OUCH. True story.