amalgamated and translated
there’s a Part1 linked here, I can’t get the threadreaderapp to unroll the first part.
https://twitter.com/WT3ll/status/1679140808363057152
Thread about studying in Germany. Part 2
So I was in a reconnaissance platoon, we were trained by American Rangers. The program was aimed specifically at intelligence. There were three main instructors, that’s how they are. The three of them were equally square.
Line up at 6 in the morning to find out that classes start at 9. Why? For some reason, Americans like the rule “Arrive early to wait longer.”
The first day, familiarization with weapons. We were told in detail about the M-16, the entire structure and main mechanisms. The class was quite useful, it can be seen that they have been working with this weapon for many years.
When communicating with the instructors, they realized that there are many people with combat experience among us. some guys fought for more than one month. Here came the understanding that their program is not designed for people with combat experience. They thought that recruits would come, and all training was to become KMB
We immediately described our capabilities, what we need (shooting, coordination of the unit and with other types of troops, sapper work, drone flights, etc.). They promised that they would revise the program to adapt to us, but spoiler, almost no changes happened.
The class lasted about 6 hours, and after lunch we were already free. You could spend your free time as you wished. But there was not much entertainment. We didn’t know about the gym in the nearby camp and the recreation area, and no one told us that we could go there.
The next day we were supposed to have posts and gun fire. Now lining up at 5am. We gather in full battle formation, line up and find out before the shooting starts at 9.
We continue to understand that creating schedules is not a strong feature of the Americans.
The advantage of getting up early was the opportunity to have a normal breakfast and recharge.
At 9 o’clock we arrive at the shooting range, a couple of kilometers from the camp. We are told by the security team and the machine gunners that they need to go to another shooting range at 11 o’clock. They were very satisfied and went back to the camp.
After the briefing, we went to the shooting range. Now we had to wait for all the platoons in front of us to fire back. +3 hours of waiting in the field. It was good that there was a tent with heating, tea and coffee in thermoses.
So we woke up at 5 to shoot at 1 p.m. Why? I do not know
Aiming is absolutely standard, one store, a special target, and an explanation of how to adjust the sight. Next, we went to shoot at falling targets at 100-200-300 meters. Two more shops. After that, I did not shoot a gun for more than a month.
The second day ended, and we finally stopped being called to super early lineups. Finally, they made at least some schedule, and we could sleep until 7, have breakfast, and go to classes at 9.
Next, according to the plan, we had orientation on the terrain, and cartography.
For a week, we were taught to read maps, reflect the coordinates, take the azimuth, transfer the azimuth from the compass to the map and vice versa. When we told them that we use electronic cards on tablets and phones, they did not take us seriously.
They do not rely on electronic devices at all, and the fact that we go on missions with Chinese smartphones and tablets was wildness for them.
Yes, the equipment can sit down, fail, and the paper card will always be with you (if it is not damaged).
But after Nettle, I don’t want to go back to paper cards at all.
The same for quadcopters. The concept of Maviks and the use of civilian copters is simply not even in their plans. Of course, they study our war, but they are still surprised that we use it this way.
For scouts, it is absolutely normal to climb a hill, trace the coordinates of a point using a paper map and azimuth, call an arty on it by radio, make adjustments on the radio and return back.
Of course, they have drones. Aircraft of different types, but this is purely brigade level.
This perfectly shows that in addition to the war with the aborigines in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc., the Americans have not participated in a serious war for a long time. Their army does not even have an analogue of the Chinese Mavik 3, it was a shock for us.
After the lectures, we moved on to practical classes. The tasks are quite simple. You are given a map of the area, a list of points with coordinates, or azimuth and distance, and you have to find these points. So we walked around the German reserve for another week, looking for and hitting points.
To be honest, these two weeks were the most interesting, because we were really taught something, albeit quite rudimentary things. At this moment, by the way, I saw in myself a certain knack for reading maps.
Next, using the experience of map orientation, we began to learn correction. Classes were held in a special office with a large screen. In front of you is a large map, and on the screen is a projection of the area. It looks as if you are looking from a hill at the area you have on the map.
Before the adjustment, a lecture on the types of artillery, types of projectiles, fire call protocol, etc. American scouts themselves order the artillery strike, the type of ammunition, the number of shots, etc.
For them, the challenge of art is to screw up a single target and the mission is accomplished. Therefore, this concept is unlikely to work for us, with a limited amount of ammunition and a huge number of targets.
By the way, don’t joke with the Americans about white and red phosphorus. They were very tense when we started ordering training shots with phosphorus on the manpower of the conditional enemy. Phosphorus can be used to hit enemy formations. They did not answer the question of what to do if there are people there.
Learning to adjust took three days and it was also a cool experience. It even looked a little like editing from a drone. A target appears on the map, you mark it on the map, give barks, and on the screen the artist hits it. The truth is not very plausible. Arta always hits on what you said.
Then the first day off. Although we were on the territory of Germany, we were not allowed to leave the base. So we just rested in our tents, washed things, and just rested. We learned about the gym in the nearby camp and visited there.
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Thread about studying in Germany. Part 3
Part 2:
The first two weeks have passed. The next stage of training, movement on equipment.
Two Humvees were allocated to our department, three M113s to the other three. https://twitter.com/WT3ll/status/1679483946785206274/photo/1
Unroll available on Thread Reader
We had to learn how to control the equipment, study it, master the skills of moving in different formations (column, wedge, etc.), hurrying, and so on. If earlier the lectures were held indoors, now we came by vehicle to the training ground and listened to everything in the open air.
The main topic is the methods of movement of the group. What car and where it should be, where the commander is and how he controls the column. What to do during fire contact, or if the car is hit.
An interesting observation is that if we asked few questions on the topic, did not arrange discussions, but simply listened to the instructors, then the classes ended earlier than scheduled. They just told all the material, and we waited until we could return to the camp.
The second interesting fact is that the scouts traveled on non-armored Humvees, and they were never jammed. The machine with the stove could work from morning until afternoon. They have a lot of fuel.
In addition to the equipment, we had 4 Brownings and one MK19. We were taught to install them on cars, and… That’s it. For some reason, there was no training on the weapon itself. We were once shown how to disassemble it for cleaning. This is the end of the additional information.
Ttx weapons, tactics of use, aiming devices, preparation for battle, elimination of problems - they did not talk about it. Although we received a very detailed lecture about the same M-16 with almost all the nuances.
You can also add classes for machine gunners on the m240. There were some close-range shootings, and that was it. And you should understand how important training and shooting are for machine gunners.
So, we learned to drive cars, it’s time for practical classes. We spent quite a lot of time traveling in formations, the instructors praised us, they liked that our formation did not fall apart, everyone kept their distance and listened to the commanders. Our drivers also had a lot of fun and interest.
But the crews of all the machines almost all the time played the role of furniture and just drove in the landing section. Rushing was practiced minimally. There was no evacuation of conditionally damaged equipment. There were no practice shootings at this stage either (although we fired blanks once).
Next, we were told about the creation of observation points, masking, and the quiet movement of the group. These were super basic skills, reaching the standard “biju kriya”. We constantly asked questions about drones during training.
That most of the tasks that scouts do on foot can be done with a drone. And in general, we tried to tell them how it works now in our country.
Of course, it was interesting to them, but they are supporters of pure reconnaissance on foot. Sometimes one could almost read “drones for gifts” in their intonations.
Immediately we started asking to be allowed to launch drones at these exercises.
This was a very problematic issue, on the territory of Germany, to launch a copter, you need to get permission, have a pilot’s license.
We face a lot of prohibitions, although even an American general at the meeting promised to help us. However, our birds remained lying in backpacks.
That is, our UAV department did not receive any experience from these exercises, according to its profile.
We performed the tasks of foot reconnaissance, and received basic skills. Also, other units did not interact with us in any way as with air reconnaissance, because such a concept simply did not exist in the training.
At the next stage, we began to prepare for large battalion exercises, where the entire battalion was supposed to interact. We had to complete a combat mission against the Americans. The MILES system was used.
We had to move temporarily to another camp, closer to the necessary training ground. Before moving, one of the instructors offered us to optionally shoot with an MK19 and a Browning from a Humvee. Of course we agreed and he just told us to follow him.
At the shooting range, we quickly received a rifle, were instructed in safety techniques, were shown how to load weapons, and each shot bullets and grenades at the zinc.
But we had a feeling as if the instructor himself understood that we were a little bored, and he knocked out some bonus bk for us for these shootings, just to make us happy.
Transfer to another camp, half an hour in the car and we are there. From this moment, the most boring stage of our entire stay in Germany begins.
According to the plan, every day we were supposed to leave the barracks at 7 a.m., line up in a column with other battalion equipment, go in a column to a large range with a shooting range, deploy in combat formations there, and practice the approach to firing positions.
Next, the infantry had to hurry up, occupy the lines and open fire on the targets from all barrels.
The shooting range had a bunch of different types of targets that rose and fell. The scale is very large, up to 6 units of equipment and a platoon of soldiers were to fire at the same time.
Everything had to be rehearsed before combat shootings. So that everyone moves synchronously. Delays began in the morning, when we could not line up in the convoy for two hours. They did not explain to us the reason for such delays and we simply waited in the engineering.
Sometimes it got to the point that we could wait for our turn at the rehearsal, but it did not come to us. All day we could just sit in the humvee and wait, and at the end of the day go to fill up the cars.
Here we have a meme phrase “we jerk off in a Humvee/m113”. One of the days the instructor tells us again “guys, we have to wait until the other equipment finishes the check-in.” They asked “will they give me napkins?” from the ranks. This phrase was translated, although the instructor still did not understand why we need napkins.
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