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TrpltJanie
Cast Member
Posts: 1661
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 02:47 AM
Just got an e-mail from a good freind of mine about how stressed she is about everything especially over her husband being deployed and not getting anything from him. Not even a short letter. I asked if she was worried about him fighting on the front lines and she said that he shouldn't to be on the front line because he's in charge of fuel and water.
I got confused but I didn't ask her to explain because she sounded so unhappy and I didn't want to add to her stress so if someone knows what she's talking about, I appreciate it if you could explain it to me since I'm a dunce when it comes to different functions in the military. Does it involve a platoon just for that aspect of the military? or it is just a few people? Do they follow the troops or go ahead of them?
Just wondering...
THANKS!
Janie
The Curb Kicker
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Francine
Super Moderator
Posts: 1309
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 06:21 AM
There are many different jobs in the military, Janie. Some go in ahead, some don't.
As for not knowing where her husband is, well, that is quite normal. They may be able to let their families know which area of the world they have been deployed to, but that is it about it. Your friend's husband may not have time to write right now.
I know someone who is on his third deployment. His family knows he is somewhere in Asia, and that is about it.
Francine
Come and visit my other home on the internet Our Laughing Place
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Ajax
Cast Member
Posts: 1032
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 09:03 AM
Hard to tell, Janie. Those guys at the front have to drink, & their vehicles require fuel. So he might be transporting both to forward areas. Or he might be at the point of origin in the rear, where the fuel & water is distributed to the trucks that transport it to the front.
There's danger everwhere- during Desert Storm, an Iraqi Scud destroyed a US barracks in Dhahran, killing 28 Pennsylvania National Guardsmen.
That was a true fluke. To give a crude example, if you launched a Scud from Jacksonville and aimed it at Spaceship Earth, it might land within a mile or two of it. Those poor soldiers were just out of luck that day.
Did you see me at EPCOT on New Years Eve? I was wearing a yellow poncho...
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Dab
Cast Member
Posts: 536
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 09:22 AM
My nephew was way far away from any fighting during the gulf war (of course we had no idea at the time). It sounds like fuel and water they would keep far away from any fighting. My nephew was in another country close by loading bombs. (when we found out later it was a woooooo this child use to fall down and have black eyes during his childhood, nowadays my sister would have been reported but he was clumsy and fell all the time! now he was loading bombs????)
edited to add that essentials are usually kept far away from the fighting. I bet he will be in Saudi, Kuwait or Turkey.
[Edited by Dab]
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Crank
Administrator
Posts: 1957
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 12:36 PM
quote:
Dab wrote:
My nephew was way far away from any fighting during the gulf war (of course we had no idea at the time). It sounds like fuel and water they would keep far away from any fighting. My nephew was in another country close by loading bombs. (when we found out later it was a woooooo this child use to fall down and have black eyes during his childhood, nowadays my sister would have been reported but he was clumsy and fell all the time! now he was loading bombs????)
edited to add that essentials are usually kept far away from the fighting. I bet he will be in Saudi, Kuwait or Turkey.
[Edited by Dab]
A "woooooo"?
Is he Chinese?
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
BOYCOTT FRENCH TOAST, GERMAN SAUSAGE AND BELGIAN CHOCOLATES
Crank-->
All Content is © the Poster and is to be considered Intellectual Property. All Rights Reserved. Though Brilliant, Breathtaking and Extrememly Well Written the Content contained herein is Opinion and Opinion only.
ib4cruzn at charter dot net
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Dab
Cast Member
Posts: 536
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 01:47 PM
quote:
Crank wrote:
A "woooooo"?
Is he Chinese?
Smart ass : )
That was a scared, we are shocked they allowed him to touch those things woooooooooo.
ps...we also found out he was one of the ones that left a few of those messages on the bombs that we saw on tv.
[Edited by Dab]
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Crank
Administrator
Posts: 1957
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 01:59 PM
quote:
Dab wrote:
ps...we also found out he was one of the ones that left a few of those messages on the bombs that we saw on tv.
Woooooo...
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
BOYCOTT FRENCH TOAST, GERMAN SAUSAGE AND BELGIAN CHOCOLATES
Crank-->
All Content is © the Poster and is to be considered Intellectual Property. All Rights Reserved. Though Brilliant, Breathtaking and Extrememly Well Written the Content contained herein is Opinion and Opinion only.
ib4cruzn at charter dot net
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LindaR
Cast Member
Posts: 72
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 02:58 PM
As a former member of the Air Force, it is my experience that he is most likely NOT on the front lines. Aircraft and most vehicles (things that consume fuel) are not kept on the front. They are USUALLY kept to the rear. Planes refuel in mid-air when running low so they can complete their mission. Unless he is driving a fuel truck as part of, say, a convoy of vehicles going from A to B.........
Most support positions are in "safe" areas.
There are no guarantees.
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Captain
Cast Member
Posts: 18
Registered: Nov 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 03:30 PM
quote:
Ajax wrote:
Hard to tell, Janie. Those guys at the front have to drink, & their vehicles require fuel. So he might be transporting both to forward areas. Or he might be at the point of origin in the rear, where the fuel & water is distributed to the trucks that transport it to the front.
There's danger everwhere- during Desert Storm, an Iraqi Scud destroyed a US barracks in Dhahran, killing 28 Pennsylvania National Guardsmen.
That was a true fluke. To give a crude example, if you launched a Scud from Jacksonville and aimed it at Spaceship Earth, it might land within a mile or two of it. Those poor soldiers were just out of luck that day.
"Amatures talk strategy, proffesional soldiers speak of logistics"- An Army General in World War II
Fuel and water are funtions of the Quartermaster Corps. These logisticians are not necessaryily infantrymen but thier tasks do take them to the front lines. Every Division has the capability to produce and purify water. Likewise every line Battalion has a support platoon of fuelers and cargo trucks (driven by logistics soldiers)to bring the gas and supplies forward to the trigger pullers. You would harldy expect an infantryman to leave the battle line to get a drink or a tank to drive back to get some gas. Indeed the largest Brigade of a Division is the Division Support Command.
Foward focused locistics is a principle of the US Army. If a tank breaks, you fix it on the line. If they run out of ammo you bring it up to them. Just because someone is a support soldier does not make him or her (yes her, women can not be infantrymen but they may very well bring them gas for their Bradleys) any more safe.
The reserve unit from Pennsylvania that lost 28 soldiers to that SCUD attack was the 14th Quartermaster Detachment, a water purification unit. After having been in Saudi Arabia for 6 days the unit sufferd an 81% casulty rate (killed or wounded) on February 25th 1991 when parts of a SCUD missle hit the warehouse where they were bilited. A casultiy rate unheard of since the Civil War. At their return to the United States only 23 (including 7 wounded) of the 69 deployed were in formation. A total of 29 soldiers were killed in that attack and another 99 wounded. 28 of those killed were from the 14th QM DET.
Because they represent a "soft target" logistics units are often the target of Artillery, Chemical and Special Forces attacks.
There is no "rear area" in battle.
[Edited by Captain]
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Francine
Super Moderator
Posts: 1309
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 03:47 PM
quote:
Captain wrote:
Because they represent a "soft target" logistics units are often the target of Artillery, Chemical and Special Forces attacks.
[Edited by Captain]
Which certainly explains why very little is said about where they are being deployed to.
Francine
Come and visit my other home on the internet Our Laughing Place
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Captain
Cast Member
Posts: 18
Registered: Nov 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 03:55 PM
quote:
Francine wrote:
Which certainly explains why very little is said about where they are being deployed to.
Francine
This is not unique of logistics units. Logistics units do not deploy by themselve for the fun of it. They are integral components of combat formations. If you have noticed, no unit has come up on the net and said "I am deploying here...". Locations and times of unit deployments are not openly discussed for obvious reasons.
[Edited by Captain]
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Ajax
Cast Member
Posts: 1032
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 04:02 PM
Captain wrote-
quote:
Locations and times of unit deployments are not openly discussed for obvious reasons.
Unless you're a CNN or NBC reporter. Then you can say anything you want to with impunity. Remember when they called ranges for the Iraqi missle crews during Desert Storm?
Did you see me at EPCOT on New Years Eve? I was wearing a yellow poncho...
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Crank
Administrator
Posts: 1957
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 02-07-03 04:16 PM
quote:
Ajax wrote:
Captain wrote-
Unless you're a CNN or NBC reporter. Then you can say anything you want to with impunity. Remember when they called ranges for the Iraqi missle crews during Desert Storm?
If ever in my life I wanted to jump through the TV, that was the time.
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
BOYCOTT FRENCH TOAST, GERMAN SAUSAGE AND BELGIAN CHOCOLATES
Crank-->
All Content is © the Poster and is to be considered Intellectual Property. All Rights Reserved. Though Brilliant, Breathtaking and Extrememly Well Written the Content contained herein is Opinion and Opinion only.
ib4cruzn at charter dot net
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