LAV's and battle phones

[Bzzliteyr]

"Daddy?  What's a tank?" 
"It's something Canada once had.. big and majestic.. they could be used in all kinds of places.  We couldn't get them there so we decided to get rid of them instead of acquiring an ability to move them"

Sorry, the Marine quotes got my brain going...

I was just reading the rules of armour in the Tankers forum and it made me remember when we used to put as much (male) eye candy as we could find into the tank phone to make the Vandoos that much happier....

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Maybe I'm on to something.

 

[KevinB]

PRR...

With section on their own net - they can talk to "their LAV" and have it engage -- but the CC has a WAY better view of the "scenery" than the guy down below him...

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Of course the CC would have a better veiw, if he's looking in the right place.  The next question I have then is why on the tanks then?  I think if the CC is incapacitated and the gunner is down in the hatch a battle phoen would come in handy.  The cost shouldn't out way the benifits in my opinion.

 

[KevinB]

Well with the Tango C/S they are not infantry - I would hazard a guess that with either the Sect Comd or the 2I/C commanding the car he should be able to interact easier with the dismounted C/S than an Armoured type would  ;D

If I wanted to get a LAV firing somewhere in close -- I'd toss a Smoke or launch a 203 grenade at the tgt and say "hey genius - aim at the marker..."

One driver crush a Nalgene bottle of mine - and I must say they are more nimble than a LEO - so I would not want to be near the back door when it descided to jockey...

 

[vonGarvin]

PRR...

With section on their own net - they can talk to "their LAV" and have it engage -- but the CC has a WAY better view of the "scenery" than the guy down below him...

Failing having a phone on the back, the PRR is probably the best solution one could implement right now.  Of course, the ideal would be both.  In the past, what we've done is have the escape hatch open in the back after the dismount and a head set would be there, ready for the dismounts to either (a) talk on the net or (b) talk to the crew commander.  Granted the CC has a way better view of "things" up there, there are times when he or she cannot observe: many eyes are better than one sort of thing.  Also, if the CC has a better view, a PRR now or a PRR and a "tank telephone" would allow said crew commander to get the dismounts on target, or talk extensively if there is a "plan" to be implemented, or whatever. 
Someone else mentioned that there are radios everywhere: that isn't the problem. The problem is the radio spectrum is only so big and (stand by for another 'sandwich' analogy), but there is room for only so much meat on the Spectrum Sandwich (OK, if you all flame me, I deserve it for THAT one!).

 

[KevinB]

But remember I hate the LAV and all things armoured 

 

[vonGarvin]

But remember I hate the LAV and all things armoured 

That's ok.  I hate nothing more than
(a) people intolerant of other people's cultures; and
(b) the Dutch

(with apologies to Austin Powers)

 

[Red 6]

In the US Army they're called TI (tank-infantry) phones. These were standard equipment on US tanks from the M4 medium through the M60 series. When the M1 came out, the TI phone was omitted. I remember reading in Armor magazine back in the 80's that they couldn't figure out a way to shield the phone from the exhaust heat on the back  of the tanks. Apparently, they figured out a way, since the M1A2 has a TI kit available for it.

On Bradleys, we could use a TA1 field phone hooked into the hot loop connector on the right rear of the hull. You could attach the commo wire there and stick the TA1 in the right rear sponson box. It worked pretty good but we only did it a few times.