Re: B'n FMA (and a comment on Captains)

From: "John Atkinson" <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com>

> However, I'll point out that my batallion has a pretty
> blue streamer embroidered "Normandy".  So I guess
> amphibious assault isn't that hard.

...must...supress...urge...to...say..."Self-evidently"...

Whew. Made it.

To all the guys who landed at Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah and Omaha,
"You're a better man than me, Gunga Din".
And for that matter, to the guys at Tarawa, Saipan, and Iwo Jima.

And that *is* Self-evident.

On a lighter note: a NSTRH story about the US Army's amphibious
abilities.

During one of the earliest KANGAROO series of exercises in Queensland,
a small recon unit unit (is there any other kind?) of the Australian
Army
infiltrated through the FEBA and made their way several hundred
kilometres
through enemy territory, deep into the hinterland. This was quite a
feat,
as the M113A1/LRVs http://members.iinet.net.au/~spooner/m113.htm
had to carry quite a few spares, track pins, etc as
well as POL, Ammo and a few troopies squished in on top.
Anyway, after dodging enemy recon air, travelling at night and under the
forest canopy, the very last serviceable M113 eventually got to the
landing
beach - where we^H^H they drove up and down the sand, yelling "dakka
dakka
dakka, you're all dead" , behaving like Yahoos and being completely
ignored
amidst the organised chaos that is a divisional logistical tail doing
cross-beach supply transfer. No Umpires this far back, either.
But after a short while, during a turn, the M113 threw a tread and
sheared
a track-pin, with no more spares to be had.
So the Cpl in charge walked up to a USArmy Beachmaster, who was chomping
on an unlit cee-gar with a PRC in each hand, showed him the broken
track-pin,
pointed to the M-113 and asked "Hey Mate, Got a spare?"
"Sure,Mac!" the beachmaster replied, as he waved truck after truck over
the beach. He spoke a few words into one of the com-sets, and less than
10 minutes later, a bloody HUGE CH-53 came roaring over the beach, and
dangling underneath it was... a complete M-113.
The beachmaster then asked the Cpl "Where do you want it?"

The Australian Army has a deep respect for US Logistics. And as I said,
"No Sh*t This Really happened" though it was in the late 70's.