Joint Task Force Pope

[panzergator]

I believe I know how my 3D-printing son is going to spend a few weekends with his dad... We are going to have a miniature Ray Barracks in my basement! Been to Conn - took the M1 driver's thermal viewer there for testing in '81 and wife was stationed at Wurzburg '93-'97. Went up to Schweinfurt for my tank fix a few times.

[MechCommander]

Speaking of 3D printing. feast your eyes on this!!! A YB-49 bomber

[whenimaginationfails]

Next I made a basswood square that just barely fit inside the building. This would provide the layered effect I wanted and it would provide stability.

That is a very cool approach. It would be a solid building.

I glue thin plastic sheets to the inside of the walls with a glue stick and then glue plastic L corner pieces to hold the corners together. Holds up well and is lightweight.

[redleg]

Whenimaginationfails, that sounds like a good technique! I think I might give that a shot on some future buildings. I'm still experimenting quite a bit, and I knw I want to have hangars and maintenance bays open, so that might be a great way to stabilize the building and keep the internal space open!

PG, you gotta share your Ray Barracks project! I don't know that caserne, but I spent a lot of time at Conn Barracks (usually when the brigade commander wanted to chew our butt for something) Spent a ton of time in Wuerzburg - beautiful city! I would move there in a second if I had an opportunity.

Nice bomber, Mech!

[panzergator]

Did you know Ted Barnes at Conn?

Ray Barracks (where Elvis served) was in Friedberg, near Frankfurt 3AD. I also spent some time in Baumholder. Wife dragged me to Wurzburg. All were privileged assignments. Also enjoyed those periodic excursions to Grafenwohr, Hohenfels, and Wildflecken.

[MechCommander]

Whenimaginationfails, that sounds like a good technique! I think I might give that a shot on some future buildings. I'm still experimenting quite a bit, and I knw I want to have hangars and maintenance bays open, so that might be a great way to stabilize the building and keep the internal space open!

PG, you gotta share your Ray Barracks project! I don't know that caserne, but I spent a lot of time at Conn Barracks (usually when the brigade commander wanted to chew our butt for something) Spent a ton of time in Wuerzburg - beautiful city! I would move there in a second if I had an opportunity.

Nice bomber, Mech!

Thanks took me 3 and a half hours to print this bomber on my Ender 3 pro.

[redleg]

I just finished a couple mech companies for my DD-214 project. This is A and B Companies / 1-18 Infantry "Vanguard". I feel like I ALWAYS need more Bradleys! And I still have another mech battalion to build once 1-18 IN is done!





Just basic M2 Brads for both companies, except for the B Company Commander's track. When we deployed to Iraq in February 2004, B Company was commanded by CPT Hans Kurth. Hans was a great dude. He was killed on March 13, 2004 in Tikrit, so to honor him B66 will always fly an American flag.

[chrisswim]

Ohhhhh Mike, that is so cool! The American Flag in the breeze on the M-2!
Those two companies look great.
Is that an Orange panel for air recognition?

[foxbat]

Beautiful minis, redleg. Great rendition oif the NATO camo scheme. And a great tribute to your departed friend.

[panzergator]

Great stuff, Hoth. A nice tribute.

You are correct, though - you always need more Bradleys. An armored or mech unit NEVER has ENOUGH infantry! Armored infantry battalions in armored divisions during WWII were ALWAYS short of infantry. And these days, because of limited capacity in Bradley, mech platoons start off smaller. The M113 was designed for the 11-man infantry squad. So pack on the Bradleys. Or add two AMPVs to each platoon to carry more guys to beef it up.

I've considered adding two M2s to each platoon, adding two AMPVs, or just adding a 4th platoon to each company. As inclined as I have been to run tank-heavy teams and task forces, the fact is, you simply need more infantry available for most tasks. And given what is going on in Ukraine, we should emphasize infantry even more. We have to be careful of providing the enemy in neat little packages of infantry soldiers to be easily destroyed by the dozen by inexpensive drones. Hope the planning guys are paying attention, because the solutions of 10 and 20 years ago no longer apply.

Think about how you will add drone defense to formations and vehicles - not just single drones but swarms. It may be lasers with computer-driven (dare I say "AI") targeting.

My collecting largely emphasizes extant TOEs - D, E, H, J. BUT! I'm looking at my own ideas for MTOE, also. The money just keeps getting soaked up by work on artillery support, Brit, German, and French units of the NATO brigade, as well as interesting support vehicles, like the CRAARV, wreckers, bridges, engineers, and TRUCKS. MY GOD, THE NUMBER OF TRUCKS! I'm really gonna hafta learn 3D printing... I need to work out the goals and set priorities. So, I'm currently fleshing out the Brits. One more Challenger 2 squadron, maneuver support company for armoured infantry battalion, 2 more batteries for the Arty regiment, and then on to a mechanized battalion in Boxers. 3D printing would make it a lot cheaper if I'm doing the printing. I really need Chris Stockton's budget for this, although, with two daughters getting married this summer, his budget for minis has likely taken a slight hit!

Some of the things I am considering - US units equipped with Boxer, Eitan, Merkava IV, adding an airborne battalion represented by the infantry company in formation. I just got the Israeli stuff from Chris. One 14-tank Merkava IV company, one Namer company, and one Eitan company. Need one more Eitan company, organized as US.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO TURN OFF THE DAMNED "AUTO-CORRECT" in this forum? It corrects things to things to INcorrect!

[pmskaar]

Very nice work on those Bradleys, Redleg! The American flag is a cool touch.

[redleg]

Thanks Fellas! No orange panels. I took the photos outside and I think I got some glare - it was too nice a day to say inside!

PG, you got me thinking about the dismount situation. Has the US ever had mech or armored infantry companies with 4 platoons?

[panzergator]

I will do a bit of research. There were "heavy" armor battalions in the early '50s with 4-platoon companies. We may have to go back to WWI and before to find out if there were EVER 4 maneuver platoons in an infantry company.

I do know that having enough infantry was a constant concern for WWII armored divisions. Reducing infantry squads from 11 in the days before Vietnam to today's six dismounts per track seems pretty drastic. I just can't accept that today's infantryman is that much more effective than his WWII counterpart. We shouldn't always let vehicle physical limitation dictate what we do. Now, I'm not an infantry guy, sohave no practical experience other than ROTC camp to judge from. We always used the 11-man squad broken into two fire teams for classwork and practical excercise, so what do I know? Even if we keep to three maneuver squads, mounting them in more than one vehicle, it seems 11 would be better than 6. The Bradley capacity is the reason for six, and we shouldn't let that drive our conversation. If 11 men are required for an effective infantry squad, we'd best figure out how to do that.

[panzergator]

Between 1917 and 1921, infantry companies had 4 rifle platoons. That was before mechanization, however. For more info, I have to get to the basement, which takes a bit of work, so that means some delay.


I believe that, as more company-level weapons became available, the 4th platoon became the weapons platoon - machine guns, mortars, etc.

[chrisswim]

Redleg,
Would that be 5 vehicles, 5 companies and/or 5 battalions during the Pentagon organization?