RE: [sg] platoon stuff and combat engineers

At 9:55 AM -0700 6/25/02, John Atkinson wrote:
>
>All civillian firearms use the same caliber as your
>military weapons?  Interesting.  It's your
>setting--although to be fair, I do also issue
>standardized assault rifles to practically every adult
>in my Empire.	Of course, there are a wide variety of
>handguns, hunting rifles, etc. in civillian usage, but
>the availability of 5mm caseless rifles does mean this
>caliber is carried by most stores that carry any ammo.

Likly Beth hasn't looked at any of the modern reloading manuals and 
the sheer volume of calibers out there still being used. I'd also 
expect that the kind of rounds that hunters and farmers would tend to 
have on hand would be much more geared for taking down big nasty 
animals vs killing a Eurie trooper.

See March Up Country.

>Of course this doesn't do my regulars much good since
>they carry 4mm gauss rifles and those are restricted
>availability.

See March Up Country.

>I would also expect that the first thing an invader
>would do would be to confiscate 'em, move them to a
>central location, and control strictly what you could
>and couldn't produce.

All the more reason to stick with good old fashioned brass cases that 
you can make with simple machine tools. At least as far as civilian 
populations go.
>
>
>Military equipment eats POL.  I mean, I could roll my
>AVLB into a corner gas station and put their 15W40

I'd love to see that. Most gas station people go nuts about my little 
Ferret. Tiny compared to your AVLB....

>into my engine.  The probem is one of scale--I've had
>to, on one occasion, drop 10 gallons into my engine,
>plus more into the transmission.  Last time I lubed
>the track, I just did the roadwheels and the tongue,
>and I still used 6 tubes of grease (yes, it had been a
>while since the damn thing got lubed).  Then there's
>those POL products that there is little call for in
>civillian life (90W oil for ACEs, FRH for M-113 ramp
>hydraulics, etc, etc, etc).  I might could find them
>somewhere in Kileen, but I'd have to spend a lot of
>time looking.

Actually you'd be surprised at tractor supply stores. I've found 
everything I need for my Ferret and Dingo in small town 
hardware/automotive stores where as the local AutoZone guys didn't 
have the required Shell Telus Hydraulic Fluid for the Daimler Fluid 
Coupling.

Still, it is a matter of adequate supplies. Get a brigade of armor 
foraging for POL in a small town and you won't be finding 15 gallon 
pails of 90W-EP gear oil anywhere.

>
>You have critters that can kill a tank?
>

They don't kill it, they probably gum up the tracks when they die 
trying to climb up the blasted things. Imagine cleaning 500 
porcupines out of your AVLB's tracks, roadwheels, and mudguards....
-- 
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