ACR thread, as suggested by Redleg

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:50 pm

You Cav guys and all your hats and spurs and stuff! We never did any of that stuff in the BRT and that's as Cav as I ever got!

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:10 pm

I was going through some boxes in my office the other day and found my certificate awarding me the order of the spur. Promptly hung it on my "I Love Me" wall.

Now if I could just find my actual spurs.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Sat Apr 13, 2019 7:20 pm

Hey Cav Dog, when you were flying with the .50 cal and the rocket pod on your Kiowas, did it make any difference which side has the machine gun and which side had the rockets?

I'm going to try to mount a .50 cal and a rocket pod on O troop. Partly for variety and partly so I can tell the troops apart!

It's still a way off, but I will need to figure out what to put on P troop too. I thought I'd just do a minigun for the squadron commander.

Cav Dog · Post by **Cav Dog** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 1:30 am

Redleg,

I never flew the armed warriors - I retired before they became standard cav issue. But from discussions with buddies who did, it was really driven by the mission and SOP more than anything else. The aircraft has a pylon on each side which can accommodate either 2 Hellfire missiles, 2 air to air stingers, a 2.75" rocket pod or the .50 cal gun pod, although the .50 cal can only be carried on the left side. Unfortunately the minigun was not standardized for the 58Ds, probably due to ammo constraints.

You typically see the 50 cal and rocket pods in pictures because that was what was needed for the threat in Afghanistan and Iraq. There weren't massed armor attacks to deal with and there was no air to air threat so no need for Hellfires or Stingers.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military ... fig6-7.gif

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:22 am

Thanks for the info, Cav Dog! I will be sure I put the .50 cal on the left side! Maybe for the third troop we'll go with Hellfires on one side and rockets on the other side. The troops will be easier to tell apart if they have different armaments.

Right now due to budget concerns we are using some older aircraft until newer, more modern airframes can be obtained. 4th Squadron HHT now has four UH-1H Hueys in its inventory - three are in the C2 role and the fourth is the squadron commander's bird. The C2 aircraft will be replaced with Blackhawks at some point and the squadron commander's will be replaced with an OH-58D.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:34 am

You could always paint a stripe on the empennage to tell troops apart - red for alpha, white for bravo, blue for charlie, or whatever your lettered troops are. That's what we did in tank battalions - not on the empennage, if course.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:20 am

A little assistance, please. Neither my memory nor my references assist me in determining the ground surveillance radar allocation and vehicles for divcav and ACR troops and tank battalions, circa 1975-1980. I seem to recall 2 in troops mounted in M113s, and 3 in the tank bn combat support company. Pretty sure I read about the troops in a Vietnam book, but have a number of those.

mike robel · Post by **mike robel** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:27 am

We had two mounted in one APC. Were supposed to have two APCs.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:28 am

Troop or squadron?

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 8:00 am

I have a nagging feeling this has been discussed on this forum before.

mike robel · Post by **mike robel** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:09 am

Sorry, 2 per troop. None in the tank company.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 9:15 am

Thanks, Mike. I THINK the divcav might have had 3 at squadron level. My student text circa 1979 doesn't list them. I will have to keep looking. I know our tank bn had them because I can still hear Woody Aurentz, the CSC commander, talking about them. Yep, hear voices from that long ago. Can still hear the bn cdr and bn xo chewing my butt, too. Going mental, getting old.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:25 am

I just got 4 more packs of OH-58Ds in the mail yesterday! I've been kinda slow with my micro armor lately, but I'm hoping to get O Troop up and running in about a week. I'm going to put my mediocre modeling skills to the test by attempting a .50 cal / rocket pod combo on this troop.

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Sat May 18, 2019 12:49 am

Now that I'm getting settled into the new house I'm able to dig my micro armor out and get back to the serious business of The Regiment! Right now I'm working on the second OH-58D troop, and the regimental HHT.

This one helicopter in particular is responsible for most of my alcohol consumption over the past few days. I was having a lot of trouble with it and I wasn't too happy with the rocket pod and .50 cal mount, but I finally decided that it was good enough. I was walking over to the table to take a picture of it to post, and I dropped it on the tile floor. More cursing, gluing, painting, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Hopefully the next 7 helicopters for this troop will turn out better. I'm thinking the next troop may just be without any weapons on them!

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Sat May 18, 2019 12:51 am

Here is a scout platoon from Grizzly Troop / 9th ACR conducting an area reconnaissance. They are trying to locate the Gator State!