RE: Obstacles, Part 3

Yes I have jumped on wire and yes I've walked over someone on top of
wire.  Not the nicest thing, makes hell out of a uniform.  Yes I have
worked with pickets, a lot of pickets.	In fact I hope to never see a
picket again.

John, don't get me wrong I liked your rules.  The pioneer (engineer)
training I did was some of the funnest I ever did.  It was only the move
and clear option given to engineers that I found fault in.  I would
think along the lines of giving engineers greater ability to clear stuff
over standard infantry.  Probably around double.  My reason being that
it takes time to place a charge and to fire it off I'd guess about the
same amount of time it would take to attempt a brute force solution.
But I would think that the bangalore would have a better chance and
clear a better whole.

Speaking of pickets, have you ever done this: it is a sort of improvised
bangalore.

1. Take a 6 foot picket (for those who don't know, it is a straight
steel pole bent 90 degrees along its length, so if you were to look
along its length it looks like an 'L')
2. Fill the picket with C4
3. Attach a det cord

When detonated it works about the same as a bangalore.	We tried it with
the explosive facing up and with the metal facing up, I can't remember
what worked better.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: jatkins6@ix.netcom.com [SMTP:jatkins6@ix.netcom.com]
> Sent: Monday, May 04, 1998 8:57 PM
> To:	FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
> Subject:	RE: Obstacles, Part 3
> 
> You wrote: 
> 
> >It is not ineffective, It would cost a lot in men (not to mention the
> >exposure to fire) but it is doable.	Whether by jumping on it pulling
> 
> 
> Have you ever done it yourself?  I'm saying that if the coils are 
> secured to the pickets and eachother properly, throwing a 200lb weight
> 
> on them shouldn't make a usable gap.
> 
> on >it with chains, firing a Carl Gustav round (not sure what the 
> 
> Don't pull on it with chains.  It's not worth the time.  There are 
> these inventions called pickets, that get pounded into the ground.
> You 
> secure the wire to these 'pickets' and they don't go anywhere unless 
> you blow them up.
> 
> Americans >use, but I know they have better) I'd even use some M72 
> rounds for good >measure.  My point is that the nice text book wire
> obs 
> 
> You'd be surprised.  I wish we had a Carl Gustav.  It's the AT4 and
> the 
> Dragon, nothing in between.  And the AT4 (aka M136, IIRC.  No one
> calls 
> it that) is basically a one-shot Carl Gustav.  Feh.  
> 
> isn't going to >stay pristine for ever and that, with or without the 
> help of engineers >it is passable.
> 
> OK, how would you rewrite the breaching wire rules?
> 
> >I've made the wire obstacle you are talking about an it ain't
> >unstoppable.  You should join the infantry see what you can do
> without
> >fancy explosives.
> 
> I can't be an infantryman, I passed the ASVAB[1][2].	Seriously, while
> 
> it's not unstoppable, it will delay you for a couple of minutes, which
> 
> is all it's designed to do.  Which is all my rules let it do, unless 
> I'm mistaken.  
> 
> John M. Atkinson
> 
> [1]Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.  Entrance exam for the 
> service in US.
> [2]I do respect and like infantrymen, but I have to make fun of them
> or 
> they throw me out of the Regimental Association.  :)