Can someone in the military give me a rundown of what exactly

>>33284454
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/

What do soldiers do?

Beer and fat chicks

>>33284470
>http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/
jesus christ that's a lot of info, thank you

What should I focus on? Can't read all of this

>>33284454
I'm not American so i can't answer your question.

>>33284454

US Army hurr

>Patrols
You go out in formations like a wedge, column, file, etc. The wedge is really your primary formation and is fireteam based. You can find basic diagrams online.

>Roles
A fireteam has a Team Leader (who has an M4), a automatic rifleman (equipped with an M249), a grenadier (who has an M4 equipped with either a 203 or 320), and a rifleman (has an M4, is usually the most junior soldier on the team). The roles are relatively interchangeable, you get instruction on all those weapons in basic, though you primarily train on one role as a member of your team.

>Overwatch
You move as a team. Some guys take a strong position with maximum visibility of the area, and they watch/provide security for another element that is maneuvering. If the maneuver element is in trouble, the overwatch is in a position to back them up with firepower.

>Bounding overwatch
Typically done at the squad level. The teams take turns covering each other and moving. When the moving team reaches a certain point, they set up there and provide cover as the other team moves to a new location.

>Establishing fire superiority
Volume of fire allows you to overwhelm the enemy by inflicting casualties and restricting their ability to move. You put out more firepower than them, you have the advantage.

>Medics
Medics technically aren't supposed to carry weapons under the Laws of War, but our adversaries don't really give a shit so the medics go out armed. If the medic gets shot, you usually have a couple guys as "CLS" (Combat Lifesavers). These are soldiers who've gone through a basic course on emergency medical procedures and can generally perform the basic steps to address/stabilize the most common types of casualties. CLS treats the medic until he can be evacuated.

>>33284529
any nationalities welcome just thought it would be predominantly american in military

File: 1485147219095.jpg (862KB, 1597x2188px) Image search: [Google]

862KB, 1597x2188px

>>33284454
>When you go on patrol do you have certain formations you stick to or certain tactics that you train in?
FM 3-21.8 + modify those tactics to the local area and any equipment you or the enemy are using.

>Do you have different roles with different weapons?
Yes.

>What are they?
Assault rifle = Basic shooty killy.
Grenade launcher = explosive shooty killy.
SAW = suppressive shooty killy.
GPMG= Xtreme suppressive shooty killy.

>do you learn to become that role after you join the military or do people switch roles?
Yes to both.

>I heard things like 'establish overwatch' 'bounding overwatch' and 'establishing fire superiority' - what are those?
FM 3-21.8

>Do medics also have weapons?
Yes.

>What happens if your medic gets shot?
That sucks. You either run around in circles screaming or you apply basic first aid and call in CASEVAC. Either/or.

>What's the difference between a SAW gunner and an AW gunner and what are their roles?
AW= Assistant gunner. Carries shit, but doesn't carry the SAW.

>Do you have to record your kills?
Lolno.

>Do you get to choose your weapons and / or gear?
Mostly no, sometimes yes. Lot of nuance, but it's not freeform Call of Duty character creation.

File: k.png (67KB, 1452x855px) Image search: [Google]

67KB, 1452x855px

>>33284454
not long

>Do you have to record your kills?
Yes. When you join up, the army hands you a scorecard and you get paid based on how high your score is.

>>33284454
>When you go on patrol do you have certain formations you stick to or certain tactics that you train in?
terrain dictates, so you adjust on the fly
>Do you have different roles with different weapons?
yes
>Do medics also have weapons? What happens if your medic gets shot?
yes, usually a pistol, sometimes a M4, if he gets shot you treat him and you get him evacuated
>Do you have to record your kills?
yes, you do it by etching tic marks on your rifle....no, anyone tells you it's in their records is a liar. even snipers with "confirmed kills" that is only done at the unit level, and at most might be mentioned in a award, it doesn't go on your discharge or you personnel record called a 201 file in the Army
>Do you get to choose your weapons and / or gear?
no...but sorta yes. you have issued gear like a helmet and body armor, no choice there unless you are SF. I bought some MOLLE pouches at a surplus store before I deployed. As far as weapons go, you get what you are assigned by the unit. but you could always say "I don't think my life as a grunt sucks enough, hey Sgt, I WANT to carry the 240."

>Do you get to choose your weapons and / or gear?
Yeah, after basic they tun you loose at a local Walmart with 5k to spend tax-free

>>33284454

>SAW gunner
The squad automatic weapon is, doctrinally, the most casualty inflicting weapon in the squad. The M249 is relatively heavy and unwieldy but when properly emplaced can put out more firepower than the rest of the weapons of the team combined (the sustained rate of fire for an M4/M16 is 12-15 rounds per minute; times 3 is 36-45 rounds per minute. The M249 does at least 100 RPM sustained). The SAW gunner's job is to act as the base of fire for the squad, going back to our early concept regarding overwatch and bounding, he works best from a static position. If you fix him in a position, he can spit out fire and pin the enemy down (or kill them if they're too fucking stupid to take cover) while your other troops move into position to get around their cover and take them out. Not sure what you mean by "AW" gunner.

A SAW slightly differs from an LMG since the SAW can be operated by a single soldier and is designed to move around at the squad level. An LMG needs a 2-3 man crew, but can used on larger targets and at longer ranges.

>Record kills
You're lucky if you can even see them, let alone know who killed who. Everyone in the squad is going to generally be firing at the direction that the enemy is in, rather than attempting to individually pick off enemy soldiers. You'll have those times where you see them, but you're one of many people shooting at them.

>Choose weapons
Nope. You get issues weapons/equipment. There are times where you may choose to buy certain personal items (like better pouches on your load bearing equipment, or a new stock), but any major accountable items (weapons or body armor) are issued to you and you use them accordingly. There's a bit of a grey area when it comes to things like optics and magazines, since they're accountable items, but a commander can sign off on you bringing your own personal stuff. The commander's discretion varies wildly.

>>33284690
>no...but sorta yes. you have issued gear like a helmet and body armor, no choice there unless you are SF. I bought some MOLLE pouches at a surplus store before I deployed. As far as weapons go, you get what you are assigned by the unit. but you could always say "I don't think my life as a grunt sucks enough, hey Sgt, I WANT to carry the 240."

For the "no...but sorta yes" thing when it comes to armor, my unit was allowed to get personal plate carriers for Afghanistan provided it was from an approved list of not shit companies, it was multicam or coyote, and that we could all carry sideplates (as per SOP).

We never had dudes switch out roles of weapons, but we did have a couple of guys add tacticool RMRs to their issued ACOG rifles and one guy add a sideflip to an Aimpoint. A team in a truck added an M79 to it's turret loadout because we had one in the deployment armory.

>>33284616
So how is a Muhreen fireteam different? Where do designated marksmen come in, when you need to pop someone more than 200m out?

>>33284454
>When you go on patrol do you have certain formations you stick to or certain tactics that you train in?
you all hold hands in one big extended line
>Do you have different roles with different weapons? What are they and do you learn to become that role after you join the military or do people switch roles?
you have different roles like kneeling man, standing man, prone man. When the IC or 2IC shouts "TERRY TALIBAN" you all go into your roles position, much like musical chairs.
>I heard things like 'establish overwatch' 'bounding overwatch' and 'establishing fire superiority' - what are those?
Whoever shouts the loudest wins
>Do medics also have weapons? What happens if your medic gets shot?
If you've seen Hacksaw Ridge you'll know every medic refuses to carry a weapon, if they get shot you have to take all his medikits then you become the medic and have to carry no weapon.
>What's the difference between a SAW gunner and an AW gunner and what are their roles?
one gunner saws the other aws
>Do you have to record your kills?
yes, keep count with your hands ask a mate to hold your rifle if you go over 5 kills as you'll need both hands to count.
>Do you get to choose your weapons and / or gear?
you form a big line at the armoury then the armourer gets to play eeny meeny miny moe

File: m79_loading_vietnam_375.jpg (34KB, 270x347px) Image search: [Google]

34KB, 270x347px

>>33284726
>added an M79 to it's turret loadout because we had one in the deployment armory.
ywn get to pull out a M79, flip it open with a flick of the wrist and slide in a HE round and lobe it onto some gook screaming "FUCK YOU GI!" from under a bunch of dead bodies on the perimeter.

>>33284736
>So how is a Muhreen fireteam different?
Slightly different layout, but same concept. Read a book shit.

>Where do designated marksmen come in, when you need to pop someone more than 200m out?

>200m and out
Nigga, we got ACOGs and shit these days. DMs are for point targets past 500-800m depending on conditions.

Theater specific addition to the platoon. Or they exist in recon platoons in normal TO&E.

>>33284736

>Muhreens
The structure of a fireteam is pretty similar, though their squads have three fireteams rather than the two that an Army squad would have.

>Designated marksman
Depends if the unit has DMRs or not. If so, the DMs are at the platoon level rather than squad level. Also, 200 meters is well within range for standard infantry rifles.

If you don't have a DM and they're 400+ meters out, the go-to weapon is usually the SAW (effective range is 800 meters although that depends on a bunch of factors), or LMG if they're REALLY far out.

>Platoon
Basic platoon equals
3 rifle squads
1 weapons squad (LMGs, anti-armor weapons, DM if you got one)
Platoon HQ

File: 1467821780843.jpg (92KB, 1200x337px) Image search: [Google]

92KB, 1200x337px

>>33284773
No shit dude, we had one. It was a capture by a previous unit and as it turns out replacement M79 parts are still in inventory, so they just ordered a bunch of shit and fixed it up.

Speaking of Gooks, pic related was my story.

>>33284616
great post thanks

>>33284646
informative thanks.

>>33284690
cool

>>33284701
thanks

>>33284764
lmao

>>33284509
>The Infantry Rifle Platoon And Squad

ctrl+f

File: FG-M16-1.jpg (130KB, 1307x554px) Image search: [Google]

130KB, 1307x554px

>what exactly soldiers actually do?
Whatever the Sergeant tells you to do.

>>33284804
Story time for the M79?
Where and how did you get?

File: 1473466742872.jpg (84KB, 600x828px) Image search: [Google]

84KB, 600x828px

>>33284454
>asks what soldiers do

>post Marines

DONT YOU EVER CONFUES MUH MUHREENS WITH SOLDIERS YOU FUCKING NON MUHNREEN YOU NEVER BEEN TO NO BOOT CAMP AT SAN DIEGO OR PARRIS ISLAND

>>33284454
>give me a rundown of what exactly soldiers actually do?I'm talking specifically in terms of infantry,


Smoke lots of cigarettes, draw lots of dicks, clean lots of toilets.

>>33287783
you forgot
>pick up trash from the parking lot twice a day
>cut grass
>get yelled at
>hide in the barracks playing video games
>piss away entire paycheck in one long weekend because no rent/utilities/food bill

>>33284454
Former Army medic here.

To be honest, what a solider does is wake up super early, hate their lives as they go to the company/battalion to do worthless PT that some idiot Sergeant made up 5 minutes before he got to formation that will most likely cause someone to get hurt, instead of just going to the gym on post and having people work on what areas they need to improve.
Then you walk your sweaty ass to the DFAC and wait in a super long line to eat shitty food that you pay 300 bucks a month for, whether you eat it or not, and then go and shower and get ready to either work in the motorpool on vehicles that don't run, never have run, and never will run, which you won't take to the field for training and never, ever will deploy with. If you're lucky enough to not, you will sit in your company on your cell phone all day, doing nothing, until your platoon sergeant or 1st sergeant tells you they need "5 joes to go police up the parking lot", meaning go pick up cigarette butts for hours until you get released to go home at 1900. Then you go back to your barracks room and drink whiskey and beer while masturbating.
Rinse and repeat, every single day for 4 years. Unless you go to the field, in which case you will just be sitting around, doing nothing while waiting for ammo, waiting for the range to go hot, or picking up trash and masturbating in porta-potties completely full of shit that haven't been cleaned in months.
And forget about deploying. There are no more deployments, only NATO rotations in Europe and NTC/JRTC rotations, which deserve a thread all their own

>>33289239
When you go to the field, you will just sit around, and do nothing. Mostly just sit there while some idiot NCO talks about how great they are, and how much better they are then everyone else, while chain smoking and spitting dip spit into a soda bottle. Then after waking up at 0300 to be at company at 0400 and then finally leaving at 0900, you will wait around all day in full kit, in the sun or cold, never in comfortable weather because army, for ammo to arrive at 1700. But the range has a mandatory checkfire at 1800, so you only have one hour to shoot and do whatever you planned to do. That isn't enough time, so you all stay overnight and shoot the rest the next day. But you told your wife and kids you'll only be gone one day, not two, so now they're mad. And even though you're just at a range, you still have to do fireguard, radio guard, and whatever else guard the retard NCO from earlier came up with, while he of course won't be pulling any guard. You wake up at 0500 the next morning even though chow isn't even there yet, and the range can't go hot until 0830 anyway, but fuck logic. Then you shoot and shoot and shoot but Pv2 Carl can't shoot to save his life, so you all have to stay until he finally gets it. Then you spend hours picking up every single piece of brass ever made. Then you sit around for 4 more hours before the LMTV can take you all back, but it can't fit everyone so it takes trips, but the range is 1 hour away from post, so it's not until night that you're back. Then you gotta clean weapons, and have a formation to be released.
Then it's back to waking up early for PT and working in the motorpool, all day, every day until the next time you go to the field and do it all over again.

>>33289310
im shocked they didnt offer a recruiter position to you

>>33289310
And don't get me started on gunnery, if you're in a mounted or armor unit. That's a month straight of being in the field, never showering for a month straight or changing your uniform. If you're assigned to a vehicle, you get to at least sleep and hang out in it, otherwise it's just shitty camping for a month straight with none of the things that makes camping fun. If you're a dismounted squad, you won't be shooting or doing anything vehicle related until the very end, for table 12, but nope, your ass is staying out there the entire time. Because why let people go back and spend time with their families when they could be sitting around for a month straight doing absolutely nothing?
If you are in a mounted squad, you'll at least get to shoot and do vehicle shit...once a day. You just sit around and wait all day for hours and hours for one turn to do it, that's over in 20 minutes. But fuck sleep, you gotta do that shit again at night. All this for a months straight.
Just remember, that you will never, EVER deploy with your vehicles, and all the training you do is irrelevant and will never actually be done. But you do it anyway, every few months, because hoorah!
But at least you know, when it's over, you'll spend the next month in the motorpool fixing shit and doing layouts and inventories and pulling guard on shit. But not before waking up at 0500 for PT, of course.

Just think, only 20 years of that and you can retire!

>>33289310
Career E-4 perspective here, in a pog unit. Best way to avoid this type of experience is volunteer for special operations or at least airborne, and do your best to make rank.

>>33289413
Wasn't a pog unit, it was a combat arms battalion. Two infantry companies with Brads and 2 tank companies with Abrams.
I was a line medic attached to one of the infantry companies for years, while also serving as the recon platoon medic for a while.

>>33289435
So, did you ever conduct medical operations? Ever save a soldiers life? Or were you just a shitbag with a bad attitude?

Rake dirt. Empty latrines. Play pretend in the woods with guns.

>>33289467
>being forced to waste your time for days, weeks, months and even years at a time, with less than minimum wage, while getting treated like a toddler by an officer who has done less than nothing in his career, despite you having been in for years and deployed, having every relationship and marriage you've had fall apart, while developing an alcohol addiction because it's the only way to cope with your shitty life, is "having a bad attitude"
Why do faggots like you do this? You know, I bet you are that asshole NCO who just talks about how they're god's gift to the army, while you treat joe like shit for no reason other than you're insecure and have marriage issues of your own so you take it out on everyone else.

The Army's motto is literally "The beatings will continue until morale increases"

>most of you Americans know about or have been in the military
Maybe here on /k/, but the average American hasn't been in the military nor do they know anything about it other than "they kill sandniggers", we don't have any kind of conscription and I don't think most people would want to join.

File: 2012-09-02-you_decide.jpg (92KB, 960x720px) Image search: [Google]

92KB, 960x720px

>>33284454
infantry?
>MUH BLUE CORD!
>do retarded shit constantly, resulting in safety briefings
>mop floors
>wax floors
>clean bathrooms
>police cigarette butts
>mow grass
>do bullshit online classes
>go train constantly shooting
>run their mouth to "POGS"
>get ass stomped by "pog" 1SGT
>do SSD1
>go to gym and gain nothing from it
>abduct teen girls and bring them on post in your trunk at 4am (rakasans)
>run a lot
>run mouth a lot
>keep cracked out hooker in baracks for months so platoon can pass her around
>generally act like a bad as all the time
>have napoleon syndrome
>get out
>work minimum wage
>act like everyone in the world owes you something
>yell at veterans who are "POGS!!!11!!1!"
>work more dead end jobs
>wear grunt style shirts
>wear "insert conflict here" hats
>yell at cnn on tv because they said something about the military


$10 says ill trigger an 11B and he will reply.

>>33284454
Mowing the lawn and cleaning streets.

>>33287859
>>cut grass
Not where I was. They hired a civilian lawn care company on my base way back after someone lost a toe cutting the grass. Since then we weren't trusted with anything more than a weedwacker.

>>33290025
Fucking kek

>>33284509
you should focus in nurturing your reading skills, so you can develop a great body of knowledge about your interests and hobbys.

File: 61e8f0be2f61d7cd8aaf345a89473cda.jpg (123KB, 800x529px) Image search: [Google]

123KB, 800x529px

>>33284454
In war time you spend 6-12 months stomping through some shit hole, getting shot at and killing people. Will generally be the most intense and stressful yet exciting period of your life assuming you live through it in one piece.

In peace time you sit around in barracks all day getting stabbed for shit taskings, not do any valuable training, get charged and put on restrictions for minor bullshit infractions, GUARD DUTY, courses, field exercises, do recall exercises where they call you in on Saturday night and make you sleep on the parade ground before sending you home at 5pm on sunday just because, chase after civilian jobs and generally lose all hope and motivation to want to continue on with your career.

Hope this helps mate.

>>33290218
And FTR yes I am in the Artillery.

>>33284454
Get injured
Wank a lot
Do PT
Eat bad food

1% of what we do is gangster shit

>>33284454
>what exactly soldiers actually do?

Sustain back injuries.

>>33284454
Rock up to work at 4am, sit around in TBAS and not do any work until 3pm. Get a late knock off and get called a fuck wit by an NCO.

>>33284454
Sit around all day doing nothing.

Come 1530 get told there are 8 online courses you need to do prior to close of business that day or you get charged.

There are only 4 computers in your battery/company/squadron and 70 odd cunts who need to use them.

Get the picture?

>>33284454
>Do you get to choose your weapons and / or gear

FUCK no! You are issued what you are told you need.

>>33290236
>guns and ammunition are lighter
>body armor is lighter
>soldiers carry more weight today than hey did fucking 100 years ago

>>33290264
>Printout/screenshots of all the answers
>remaining 66 dudes can now pass the course

Our btry only had 2 spare comouters.
Fuck us, right?

>>33290462

120 pounds of lightweight gear is still 120 pounds.

>>33284804
Shitty situation but got a pretty good laugh out of this

>>33290462

100 years ago soldiers didn't wear body armor, they had only just got steel helmets instead of cloth / leather hats.

The army sucks