asiafun Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 My personal favorite: MARINES My Ass Rides In Navy Escort Ships On a serious note Cobra Gold starts in may so the influx could start as early as then. Does it ever get busy with soldiers and sailors in BKK or is it just Pattaya? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderlust Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Just to clarify, there are only 1,400 coming or is this just one exercise? There are more Arsenal fans in Pattaya and they're more of a pain in the Arse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Is it pick on the Marines time again? Okay ... USMC = Uncle Sam's Misguided Children MARINE = Muscles Are Required Intelligence Not Essential p.s. If I were going into the military today, unless I was going Army combat arms I'd definitely go Marine. They Army has so buggered up "initial entry training" -- to use its modern PC name -- that those going into REMF MOS's hardly get any infantry training. Not surprising that they are the ones getting killed most often in Iraq. At least Marine boot still tries to make every Marine a rifleman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 They Army has so buggered up "initial entry training" -- to use its modern PC name -- that those going into REMF MOS's hardly get any infantry training. Not surprising that they are the ones getting killed most often in Iraq. At least Marine boot still tries to make every Marine a rifleman. I thought they were mostly getting blown up in Humvees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 << Does it ever get busy with soldiers and sailors in BKK or is it just Pattaya? >> You seldom see any in Bangkok. They only have a few days shore leave, or during Cobra Gold are too busy running around doing training in the boonies. The free time they get, they spend around Pattaya. But I do remember when the RAN was in Bangkok some years ago. Docked at Klong Toey for some reason. You'd see the Ozzie matelots in the Patpong bars, but they left you alone. Their thing seemed to be getting sh*tface, then beating the crap out of their shipmate and then buying drinks for the guys they'd just beaten the crap out of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Unarmoured Humvees ... the armoured ones are at Fort Hood, Texas. But most getting killed are in support units -- supply etc. Plus most are reserve or guardsmen. Grunts of the ground aren't a nice compact target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Flashermac said:Unarmoured Humvees ... the armoured ones are at Fort Hood, Texas. But most getting killed are in support units -- supply etc. Plus most are reserve or guardsmen. Grunts of the ground aren't a nice compact target. Shouldn't they be using armoured Humvees if they can stop IEDs? I thought the trade off with any vehicle was between weight and speed. "most are reserve or guardsmen..." Aren't combat troops the ones sticking their necks out? Where are you getting your numbers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 << Where are you getting your numbers? >> The news. e.g. Convoys bringing supplies from Kuwait get hit regularly. These tend to be reserve or guard units. Big stink over the Humvees. Just why the hell are the armoured Humvees sitting in Texas, and the military riding around in unprotected one -- which they try to armour with scrap metal? p.s. Even the old armoured personel carriers of WWII, Korea and Vietnam really weren't very well armoured. A .50 cal machine bullet would go right through them, and hitting a mine was likely to kill or seriously injure everyone riding inside. We called them "moving coffins" in VN. Safest way to get around, believe it or not, is on foot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Flashermac said:<< Where are you getting your numbers? >> The news. e.g. Convoys bringing supplies from Kuwait get hit regularly. These tend to be reserve or guard units. Big stink over the Humvees. Just why the hell are the armoured Humvees sitting in Texas, and the military riding around in unprotected one -- which they try to armour with scrap metal? The news? Didn't Donald Rumsfeld more or less just say the media is working for the insurgency? Of course convoys from Kuwait get hit. Shouldn't they get better protection? I've been following the stink over the HUMVs...armoured or not it looks like they get blown up. Those IEDS can blow up Bradleys and Abrams tanks so it looks like the only defence a HUMV has is its speed. A heavily loaded 6.5 turbo diesel isn't very fast. It's also very hard on brakes and axles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 A bit old, but still relevant: Rate of Guard deaths higher By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY WASHINGTON -- In a reversal of trends from past wars, part-time soldiers in the Army National Guard are about one-third more likely to be killed in Iraq than full-time active-duty soldiers serving there, a USA TODAY analysis of Pentagon statistics shows. According to figures furnished by the military branches, the active Army has sent about 250,000 soldiers to Iraq, and 622 have been killed. That works out to one death for every 402 soldiers who have deployed. About 37,000 Army Guard soldiers have been sent to Iraq since the war began and 140 have died there -- one fatality for every 264 soldiers who have served, or about a 35% higher death rate. There are several reasons for the greater death rates among so-called part-time soldiers, who generally drill one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer when there's no war. The Pentagon has called up thousands of part-time troops for tours of a year or more in Iraq. Some of the most dangerous missions, including driving convoys and guarding bases and other facilities, frequently are assigned to Guard and reserve troops. Iraqi insurgents have attacked convoys with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, and a Tennessee Guardsman publicly complained to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week about the lack of armor on some vehicles. Active-duty casualties have spiked during major battles such as the attack on Fallujah, largely carried out by Army and Marine troops. But such engagements have rarely been waged since President Bush declared major combat over in May 2003. Other branches with troops in harm's way in Iraq -- the Army Reserve, the Marine Corps, the Air Force and the Navy -- did not supply total numbers of their troops deployed to Iraq since the war began in March 2003, which would have made similar comparisons possible. But fatality numbers show the vast majority of U.S. deaths in Iraq come from the active-duty Army, active-duty Marines, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. The Marines have lost 350, while the Army Reserve has suffered 59 deaths. The Air Force and Navy together have suffered 27 deaths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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