M109 History

[AOD_bigjeff3]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIA-x1vZYvQ
Figure I post something sense I haven't posted in a while, so have fun!

[AOD_Mustang99]

You're not my supervisor

[AOD_Corinlee]

got an interesting childhood story to tell. Well, not really "childhood", more towards my early teen years. I got to ride in the M109A1 "Paladin" (at the time i thought it was the Abrams Tank, but i was mistaken when i saw it next year) at a 4th of July Parade when my father was still in the National Guard for Wisconsin. Now, usually they dont allow anyone to ride in a multi-million dollar piece of freedom-dispensing equipment like that, but since me and a bunch of other kids (there were 6 of us in total) got to ride in the back of the M109A1, the crew's TC told us how the Gun fires, where they stored the rounds, and how they communicate inside the tank when in transit or engagements. The TC would tell the gunner where to aim, and the Loader what shell to load into the gun, and after setting up the round with the explosive charge, they would close the breach and take a single 5.56x45 NATO and put it into a small hole in the center of the breach before closing that hole and linking it to a string to fire the gun on command. Where we stood in the back of the tank, us kids being taken along for the ride, the TC explained that they stored their ammunition there, but since they werent doing any field training after the parade, they didnt load any shells into the M109A1, though we did get to see them before hand. I still remember just how heavy those shells are to this day, and im glad that the U.S. Military (Well, the Army at least) has a standard exercise to keep troops in shape. Needless to say, its the M109A1 that spurred my interest in Tanks as a whole, because i thought it was the most beautiful thing i had ever seen. I didnt get to ride in the M109A1 the following year due to the tank having stability issues (it was running, and made it into the parade, but something was wrong with it and it would lurch every time the tank stopped)