Zeris posted:

I apologize for killing this thread twice in two pages.

Zeris posted:

They fly low, act like literal cowboys, blow their ammo load in 2 gun runs having scared nobody, then fire the 9 mils into the dirt and jerk each off about it in the debrief.

iKon posted:

First time we had a SWT rolling with us was pretty fun. Front row at our own private air show. Then it became clear they were reckless, useless idiots.

quote:

Master Sgt. Thomas Case, a tactical air control party airman, has joined the ranks of the military's most decorated troops.

Case, a TACP airman with the 18th Air Support Operations Group at Pope Field, N.C., was awarded the Silver Star an oak leaf cluster Thursday for an overnight battle in Afghanistan in 2009 when he was assigned to a group of Army Rangers in a notoriously dangerous part of Paktia province.

Case stood up during the gun battle, laying down suppressive fire with his M4 and directed five troops to remain behind cover.

"Due to the extreme close proximity of friendly forces to the enemy, and with bullets still hitting within feet of his position, he again willingly stood up while under fire in order to make sure the rounds from the AC-130 hit the correct target area," Case's citation reads.

After the second danger-close strike, Case saw two insurgents running down the hill shooting at him and the team's ground force commander. As they got within 15 meters, Case placed himself between the insurgents and the commander. Directing the commander to take cover, Case shot both insurgents with his M4. They both turned out to be heavily trained foreign fighters, the citation states.

As the battle continued, the enemy moved higher and began throwing grenades at the team. One grenade exploded about 10 feet from Case, damaging his helmet and wounding two Rangers.

He continued to direct more air strikes, calling for six more before he moved to link up with the lead element in order to get eyes on the insurgent's entrenched position.

"With the dust and haze from the airstrikes bringing visibility to near zero, he climbed 50 meters up a 60 degree embankment to reach the fire team leader, all while under enemy fire," the citation states.

Once there, he fixed his radio to call for four more AC-130 strikes on three enemy personnel about 100 meters away. Two more insurgents moved to flank, and Case used a grenade and his M-4 to kill them both.

"It all becomes a blur to me," Case said. "At the same time, we just kept doing (air strikes) until we had regained our freedom to maneuver. The engagement lasted most of the night. … It could have been 30 minutes, it could have been two hours.

"We just continued to hammer the enemy."

After the battle ended, the team was able to complete its mission. An after-action report showed 18 insurgents were killed.

"We didn't know how many (insurgents) were there prior to infiltration, we just expected some enemy combatants," Case said. "We didn't expect the fight we faced when we got there."

As the haze cleared, it became apparent that the team's wrong turn was actually a blessing in disguise. The enemy's position had a "commanding view" of the team's original target area, with large-scale weapons directed where the team would have ended up, Case said.

quote:

This is really for my career field. I firmly believe that, of the other certified JTACs, I'm almost positive that 98 percent plus of them would have done what I did. I just went to work that night."

Zeris posted:

at the date posted:

jesus christ

Flikken posted:

Which one is he banging?

Cole posted:

Jesus was a virgin

Flikken posted:

Which one is he banging?

Zeris posted:

Cole posted:

What a dope rear end pickup line that must have been

Kung Fu Fist gently caress posted:

both

Flikken posted:

Think he will hate gently caress her for misspelling sergeant.?

Cole posted:

she joined the army for a reason dude

MassivelyBuckNegro posted:

The military is an equal opportunity all you can suck dick buffet.

TPSDude posted:

Can't wait to read about a line platoon getting the herp from their new 13F, and the safety stand down that follows.

Zeris posted:

Is 13F open to all genders now?

TPSDude posted:

Naw, still closed.

Big army came through Ft. Hood in early 2014 collecting data on feasibility for a possible implementation this fiscal year, and the big take away was that company and below is a no/maybe, and BN/above ok; we have female medics running with line platoons now, just a matter of time with radios / laser range finders getting smaller and lighter.

EDIT: I should also add that when our BN targeting NCO was at SLC mid 2014, his class was pretty upset hearing it was going to happen and how they are going to have to figure out manning when it does. This is going to kill 13F unfortunately, the MOS is already filled with way to many reclasses that do not know how to do the job. Specifically the glut of E7 re-classes that are preventing 13F E6s from making rank, of which my bn has been plagued with.

Fucitol posted:

The reclass thing is news to me, but 13F skills were on the decline when I was in. Granted, this was the height of Iraq and focus was just shifting over to Afghanistan, but GMLRS and Excalibur missions were so rare (good luck w/ a BN 6 or a ffe on my position situation overseas) that we were sent as either patrol fodder or company level intelligence. The smartest thing the army could possibly do is assign mil intelligence duties to a FO. Totally compatible. So the aspect of training on spotting and adjustment fell to the way side while emphasis was placed on baseball cards and other poo poo that would have been better served by beefing up the bn S-2 and pushing those assets where needed.

I never sat in the cool dude mountains of Afghanistan, but my peeps that did said that they were running relatively mobile OPs while attached to maneuver elements. So those skills theoretically didn't decline, but there was a significant gap for a few years where most observers I knew were not recerted every six months as required and the GUARDFIST facilities gathered dust.

gently caress, some of the dumb poo poo Joes that I was fortunate to get around '07 had not spotted a live artillery round until one of our CALFEXes months deep into our training cycle.

Probably the only good thing that was done for the MOS was the emphasized JFO course, but that only came about because the JTACs got tired of their high tempo deployment schedule of six on and twelve off.

poo poo was bad, and I'm honestly surprised that there are people reclassing INTO 13F. I assume it's a combo of manpower needs and easy promotion potential, correct?

Equine Don posted:

It is 100% the low promotion points.

Zeris posted:

Ashmole posted:

One on the left would hit

Ashmole posted:

One on the left would hit

at the date posted:

yeah with a hammer lol

seriously, though, if you were forced to choose, you would go with the one on the left? weirdo

Zeris posted:

Update on that thing nobody wants to hear about, my former squadron commander who knocked a kid to the floor in the process of "preventing the filming of two lesbian officers kissing at a military ball"

Former Fort Drum officer sues Army, claims unlawful punishment following incident at 2012 ball

Icon Of Sin posted:

An LTC getting an article 15? That schadenfreude is weapons-grade.

e: of course the morons are jumping at the chance make him a martyr.

http://www.thomasmore.org/news/deco...ederal-lawsuit/