Andy, Great photos again from you. No 162 Casualties of war shows three of the four stretcher bearers in non desert camouflage uniform. Would they have been new to the dersert and therefore lacking in desert Uniform? We hear so much of the troops being ill equipped and I wondered if perhaps this was an example. Regards Tom
Desert kit was issued within my brigade (7th Armoured) on a need to have it basis in March 2003. Medics were considered in the rear with the gear so they were not very high up the pecking order. Infantry first and so on. However some did choose to stay in green. My Troop SSGT said he would stay in Green until we entered Basrah......He had a bet with 3 other Staffies in my Squadron to see who could stay in Green DPM the longest. Cheers Andy
Not me. The boats are my Sqn, and that is a section of Cullingworth Bridge being moved from the Naval Academy down river to the bridge site, but I was up at the bridge site delivering some plant and a CP on an M3 ferry.
Chieftain AVRE with dozer blade and maxi-facines...... Not the most delicate solution to a clearance job, but it'll certainly do the job
What are these pipes for? They are called 'Facines' and are released to fall into an anti-tank ditch in order to provide a rapid breach of the obstacle. They are probably the fastest method under fire and there are smaller 'mini-facines' carried by other vehicles in order to cross narrower 'trenches' or ditches. On the Chieftain AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) two 'maxi-facines' are carried and each can be released individualy and the platform tipped in order to allow them to fall in front of the vehicle. If they don't quite find their mark they can be pushed foreward into the gap with the dozer blade. Hope that makes sense :p
Did you have many dealings with the Black Watch out there mate?......my old Platoon Sergeant was out on Telic 1 with the Black Watch.....everyone of them i met were loons Donnie
Yes mate, my troop had a Rebro Det attached to the battalion so had contact with them. Mainly there HQ but got out to a few company locations. I can vouch for loons, a hard fighting unit from what I saw. I think I've posted a few BW pictures already and probably some more to come I suspect. Cheers Andy
These really are great pics, Drew, meant to say before... BTW, your various Challenger pics, most, but not all, have funny looking white panels on the front of the turret...what are they...or shouldn't I ask ????
If its what I think you mean its covered between posts 42 and 50 on this thread. Plant-Pilot gives a rather good description, far better than me Cheers Andy
These are really great photos. Re the 'fire trench' - am presuming that was full of fuel? Was it triggered remotely? Or is it a case of light it and run!
