From: Tom B <kaladorn@g...>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 17:28:29 -0500
Subject: A good point about combined arms
> My buddy Los wrote: Simple you stand behind or off to the side of the main gun or reamin in the IFV. or take your chances. keep in mind that when you go into the final assault when tanks are intermixed with infantry they are using MGs not main guns. (though watch out if they see something that scares them.) ------ :) In point of fact, that is pretty much it. Heck, even HW can pose a danger to other grunts. Generally, you try to avoid backblast areas and the front end of RRs and GMS systems. And Tanks. But... life being what it is and combat being what it is... sometimes it don't work out that way and you take your chances. Tanks in an urban setting need to be CLOSELY escorted by infantry. Or perhaps even preceeded by same. It's too easy for a tank to die in an urban setting. So infantry protect them. In turn, they are a mobile pillbox with MGs and 20mm cannons. But as Los said, if they see another tank or an AT artillery piece, they'll go *BANG* with the Main Cannon without worrying too much about the nearby Grunts' sensibilities. It's risky being an ant... but on the other hand, you're small enough you don't generally attract as much attention - tanks are targets for all manner of mines, AT systems, planes, other tanks, etc. Combat isn't exactly safe, we just take steps to make it no more of a risk than it must be. Then again, even those protocols get chucked in extremis. In a close-in, knock-down-drag-out... there aren't many rules. If I'm an infantry commander and I have a CEV with a 165mm Demo Howitzer backing me up... great. If I get a flampanzer... good too. I take what I can get, and I try to get it to support me and I try to keep it safe. It's what *teamwork* is all about. Whoever does it better, is better trained, and gets some luck - they generally write the historical accounts. The other side writes the dear-John letters....