Surprizingly powerful, not like when it would take 4 hits to sink a battleship.......B5?.....Miss......G2?.....Hit!......B6?....Miss......G3?....Hit!.....
The Iraqi Navy actually had a decent sized navy at the start of the Persian gulf war in 91. Most of their ships were sunk, often with spectacular results at these. With torpedoes, cruise missiles, and laser guided bombs, it was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. I saw lots of LGB attack footage, these clips didn't make CNN. My first reaction was something like "Damn!", but later you think about the fact that dozens, if not hundreds of guys just got killed, defending their nation just like I was at the time.
I also saw LGB footage of tanks and trucks getting smoked, sometimes you could see the little black dots hauling ass for the trenches, but it didn't do them any good. Cluster bombs were the perfect efficient killing weapon in the desert.
The first gulf war was widely supported by the western world, mostly because the cause seemed just, civilians were spared, and western casualties were light. But Iraqi soldiers and sailors were just stuck out in the sand or sea to be slaughtered mercilessly, without the proper tech to defend themselves, and with Republican Guard heading off any possible retreat. The Iraqi front line often wasn't the best troops, they were often the Shia conscripts, led by Sunni officers. Which is why they surrendered to anything they could, when they got the chance. The ground war should have started sooner in 91, and went all the way to Baghdad. Damn risk averse strategy failed us then, just as it did in Somalia and Tora Bora.
Not that it was entirely our leaders fault, we did actually believe Iraq was capable to striking us back, especially after Iraq hit the Stark with an Exocet in the 80s.
We had one false alarm about 3 days into the air war. I was way up on the bow of the Ranger's flight deck (cat 1), there to troubleshoot an F-14 Tomcat, already engines turning, at night, waiting to launch, when I see everyone on the flight deck running aft. Well I can't hear shit over the jet, so I think it must be another fire (too many of those). After a minute or so, I still don't see a soul on the flight deck, so I'm thinking any fire must be under control. But aside from the jet turning maybe 10 feet away, the flight deck is just earily still. So I start jogging back to the island to see what's going on... I get maybe halfway to the island, and I hear "Abandon the flight deck! Abandon the flight deck!" over the ship's loudspeaker, directed pretty much at little ole me, since I'm about the only guy left (other than that F-14s aircrew, who stayed in that turning jet throughout this.) So I run for the catwalk, jump down, go through a 6-dog door in about 5 seconds, which was fully secured for general quarters, and enter my shop. My shop is just a compartment just below the flight deck, and very near the outer wall, where the guys from my squadron hang out with our test equipment, tools, and spare parts, between covering launches or fixing planes. As soon as I enter my shop, a gas mask is thrown at me (this was when we still believed Iraq had a credible air-launched chemical weapon threat.)
Well the Captain comes on the 1MC (loudspeaker), and says an Iraqi Mirage F1 (their best) was picked up on radar less than 200 miles out, and is inbound probably carrying Exocet missiles. Brace for shock. Then silence for maybe 10 minutes.
Well I'm thinking, its a big ship. A couple Exocets aren't taking out a carrier, unless we have a huge Forrest fire. (morbid carrier joke about the Forrestal) The missile probably won't hit me, and if it does, I'll probably never feel it. So I just wait, and check that I haven't lost any tools in my flight deck abandoning. Never thought to pray, guess with the adrenaline and all, I just wasn't seriously considering the threat.
Well after this 10 minutes or so, the Captain comes back, says the aircraft turned out to be an F-18 (not one of our carrier's) with his IFF off or not working. The F-14 aircrews on combat air patrol at the time later told me this F-18 was lit up by fire-control radar, coming from F-14s, Aegis destroyers, pretty much everything there, and the pilot was just in a panic screaming "Don't shoot!" in the radio. His first warning of a problem was his ECM alarm going insane.
Anyway, that was about my scariest "combat" moment in war. Soon after, we figured out we had complete air and sea superiority, and Iraq couldn't touch us. Then it was just a lot of damn work, flying the shit out of our planes. You got your taxdollars worth that month.
Anyway, no post traumatic stress from that, but every once in a while I think back on the time I damn near was chopped to pieces by the spinning prop at night of an E2-C Hawkeye, and my adrenaline gets pumping so hard I can't get to sleep for awhile. You can't even see those props spinning at night, and the E2-C engines are about the quietest thing on the flight deck.
I'm just rambling on... I'll save a story for another day.
No, true story. However, accidents on the carrier deck, during flight ops, at night, were far scarier than anything the Iraqis ever did to us. And I only went on one Westpac, no deaths. You should hear the stories from the lifers, talking about arresting cables snapping on landings, and cutting guys in half. Yuk.
There is a video out there of a guy getting sucked into the intake of an A-6 intruder at full military power (launch). That happened during my cruise. The guy fucking lived, luckiest bastard alive. Well I found it for you:
http://www.aviationexplorer.com/a6_engine_ingestion.htm
AWESOME story helldiver! Thank you for that.....you just energized the hell outta me! Going to be a good day now...and thank you for your service, proud to "know" you!
Military service (no matter what country you hail from) has one thing in common, across the board: you get your orders, you go, you do your job. You obviously did yours, and in spite of the wildly differing views I oppose with you, I sincerely commend you for going out there into a live theater of operations, and fulfilling your duty. Am I clear on this? I have made repeated posts on here, for a long time now, about how disgusted I am with U.S. deserters---NOT 'draft-dodgers'--- from the military who have sought a haven (i.e. a "free ride") in Canada, and about how they should be marched back to the border, and turned over to American M.P.'s or the S.P. (depending on their respective branch of service). Nothing worse than someone who volunteers to serve their nation and wear the uniform-----and then decides "Nope. I don't wanna play anymore! I'm taking an extended vacation", and then they become someone elses' problem. So I DO commend you for going out there, and having the guts to put yourself in harms way by choosing to volunteer in the first place. I say this about you; I say this about the Brits; I say this about the French (yup....they were there, too); and I say this about us as well, flying CAP's into Kuwait-proper. Kudos to all.
BUT......
being as how that conflict has been over, and most personnel involved have gone back to civvie-street....I am curious enough to ask you ONE question, as a civilian now:
Why do YOU PERSONALLY believe you were sent into that conflict?
Let me make clear here, that this is NOT a "set-up" or involve any ulterior motive on my part in an attempt to mock, ridicule or try to knock your argument down...ok?
I honestly would like to know why YOU think YOU were in the middle of those hostilities.
I am requesting that I NOT hear what you believe from a political-partisan-party-line point of view.......rather, I want to hear from the swabbie (if I may use that term) who was on the deck of that ship......out there, at that time.
Glad you made it back hellfire .
I was in your country trying to do some business. Boy are you guys freaked out ,election,stock market. My solution which I said before for your country has to help the manufacturing companies , not the banks.
You also have to charge import duties on all the asian stuff coming in ,it is killing jobs in your country and mine. Talk to anyone that can help us all.
CM - Boy you got that right. I think the political power in the US does not understand that a country has to make and sell things to make money. But none of the people making the decisions have ever had real jobs or really worked in their entire lives.
pacman, I am not sure about the exact construction of the A6 air intake, but from the looks of the plane the air path is not quite straight. He must have got stuck in the intake before hitting the engine fan, otherwise at least some parts of him would have gone missing.
The flames out of the back of the engine are likely caused by some of his gear and clothes going through the engine and the engine stalling due to him blocking the intake.
Canuck, at the time, being all of 20, I didn't know shit about politics. I knew Kuwait was invaded by Iraq, and the world seemed united in the idea that Iraq shouldn't be there.
I knew little of US support to Saddam for the Iran-Iraq war, Kuwait sideways drilling into Iraq, Kuwaiti propaganda about babies being pulled out of incubators, etc.
I did know Kuwait had been our ally for many years, with the US flagging of Kuwaiti oil tankers during the Iran-Iraq war. I did know UN resolutions had effectively told Iraq to be out by Jan. 15th (The Ranger hauled ass to get to the Persian gulf by the 15th, we started bombing Jan. 17th.) I did know Saddam didn't have a real reason to invade and occupy Kuwait, other than stealing land and wealth.
Had Iraq simply been crushed without mercy, I probably couldn't have supported that. 3 things clinched it for me, that it was the right thing to do, not that I had any say in the matter anyway. Iraq's bombing of Israel, which had nothing to do with it. Saddam's murder of Shia and Kurds after the war (Bush Sr. waited too long to set up the no fly zones). And the fact that Bush Sr. stopped all attacks as soon as Iraq's military was sufficiently degraded and out of Kuwait.
I still remember the captain coming over the 1MC, about 3 a.m., telling us how President Bush had ordered a ceasefire to begin at 8 a.m., and how we would bomb the living shit out of them up to 8 o'clock.
Bug is right. The A6 intake narrows as it reaches the compressor, its only designed for subsonic flight. The guy instinctively stuck his arm up over his head, and it got wedged, preventing his death. All his gear, float coat, cranial, all ripped off him, and sent through the jet, where it then blew flames (FOD'd the engine). The pilot was quickly instructed to kill power. No one yet knew the guy was in there. Then when the guy crawled out and fell to the deck, all was clear. His eyes were black and blue from the suction, and he couldn't inflate his lungs, until power was cut.
I am alternating between being excited and enthusiastic......and wanting to violently puke and have a truly and maginificently, agitated bowl movement.
Or just sit here.
And engage in both, as needed.
Well, one things's for sure: if I do THOSE...then.....
I'LL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN! AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, I WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN!!
Relax dude. Canada's banks are rated the top safest in the world, and the US banks rank 49th. You will be OK, and all the stronger when the US breaks up into little countries like Africa.
A dining room table, in a bungalow in the middle of a tropical setting.
Those present, around the table: Admiral A.K. Mitercut; a civilian local government agent known only as Mr. Chaz; Lt. Helldiver; and a uniformed intelligence officer who slowly walks around the room, named Col. A. Resface.
Admiral Miter (speaking to Lt. Helldiver): "Canuck1963 was one of the most outstanding posters Glumbert has ever produced. He had wit and charm, and a big mouth to go with it. He could make a valid point occasionally, but his methods.....his methods.....became increasingly....unsound. (pause) Unsound."
Col. Rseface (handing a black-and-white 8x10 to Lt. Helldiver): "This is the last-known picture we have of Canuck1963. He's wearing a Confederate Army officers uniform in an off-off-off-off-OFF Broadway stage play, somewhere in Northern Ontario, called 'Possum Pie Dreams'; he was known for the scathing reviews he received, for trying to play his Georgia-born character with a Bronx accent.....an accent HE believed was covered by "artistic licence".
Admiral Miter: "And he is STILL out there, in the field, doing plays....and making posts, and he has very obviously.....gone insane."
Col. Rseface: "Your mission, lieutenant, is to proceed up to Canada, and pick up C-1963's trail from there; follow it; learn what you can; what production he's doing; where he's posting from. Upon locating C-1963.....you are to.....terminate C-1963's performance. Permanently."
Lt. Helldiver (smiling): "Terminate.....Canuck?"
Admiral Mitercut: "He's out there, performing and posting, without any restraint or decency, whatsoever."
Mr. Chaz: "Terminate....with EXTREME prejudice.......and before any curtain-call."
(fade to black, as the lieutenant takes an offered cigarette from Mr. Chaz, and slowly lights it, muttering "finally".......)
I was on my mission... to terminate Canuck... but I didn't get any farther than Duluth. The kids kept making me stop at the aquarium, waterpark, playground, etc. I had to let Canuck live...
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