Defence Forces troops to be deployed to UNDOF

Local-womanizer

He wasn't out of the hatch but was thrown against the interior if the hatch when they hit the mine and he suffered back injuries as a result.

Morpheus

Cheers thanks for clearing that one up for me. the way the article is written it sounds like it was open which didnt sound right. heard he was back to work pretty soon afterwards, glad everyone walked away from it.

Michael O Toole

sparky42 wrote: »

I love how this is being covered by crime reporters on RTE and the papers.

There has long been a tradition that crime reporters cover military affairs. I think it goes back to the start of the troubles when most of the DF activity was related to that. We all cover defence.

Michael O Toole

Morpheus wrote: »

Cheers thanks for clearing that one up for me. the way the article is written it sounds like it was open which didnt sound right. heard he was back to work pretty soon afterwards, glad everyone walked away from it.

In part of the footage we didn't run, you can see a soldier standing in the hatch of the MOWAG that is filming the incidennt.

Reggie.

Michael O Toole wrote: »

In part of the footage we didn't run, you can see a soldier standing in the hatch of the MOWAG that is filming the incidennt.

That's because the mowag filming is a CRV not a troop carrier and has no turret only two hatches. So a crew man was probably using the good old MK1 eyeball to look for threats.

Morpheus

It has a remote weapon system. surely he should have been scanning for targets using the RWS's optics?

Reggie.

Morpheus wrote: »

It has a remote weapon system. surely he should have been scanning for targets using the RWS's optics?

True but when you zoom in you lose situational awareness. Ya can beat the eyeball for over watch and zoom in on something then

sparky42

Michael O Toole wrote: »

There has long been a tradition that crime reporters cover military affairs. I think it goes back to the start of the troubles when most of the DF activity was related to that. We all cover defence.

I didn't actually know that, Cheers.

Wicklowrider

Morpheus wrote: »

It has a remote weapon system. surely he should have been scanning for targets using the RWS's optics?

Hi, I was gone before those apc's were deployed. What are the 2 optics?
Is the large one an optical sight? Is the sight digital?
I presume one is where that video posted by Mak was filmed?
Thanks

Manic Moran

Reggie. wrote: »

True but when you zoom in you lose situational awareness. Ya can beat the eyeball for over watch and zoom in on something then

Disagree. The MkI eyeball is nowhere as good as a modern RWS for scanning.

There is a very common misconception that the contrast/sensitivity/brightness mix should turn the terrain in FLIR/Thermals into basically black-and-white TV (even amongst vehicle crewmen, who should know better). This is incorrect. You set it for hot spots, particularly in daytime. You may not be able to see much of anything that's not alive, but tune it in before you go on patrol so that a human body (or warmer) is bright and shiny, and most everything else is dark. Scan with this, and quickly, people (and critters) will jump out at you. When a hot spot is identified, flip to visual (daylight) mode to figure out what it is you've just spotted. This is why night vision is listed in the manual for us as the preferred scanning mode, even in daylight.

Even if you're scanning in daylight mode, your Mk1 eyeball is not stabilized like an RWS (Which, again, seems disabled on that video). If the vehicle moves, that's the end of your effective scanning barring something really bloody obvious like a missile.

Finally, the gunner scanning the RWS does not preclude the TC or even a passenger from sticking his head out the hatch for the Mk1 scan in addition.

I was considering the possibility that the vehicle was filmed from an ICV, not a CRV, and I'm not familiar with the turret capabilities of the ICV but the position of the .50 cal in the max zoom-out indicated it was an RWS-equipped vehicle, not a turreted one. I'm not even sure how easy it is for a CRV gunner to get from his controls to a hatch.

Is the large one an optical sight? Is the sight digital?

If memory serves, small one up top is daylight/visual, the larger one is the thermal.

explain to me what the commander would be doing in an open hatch or with an open hatch, when the convoy had already received and returned fire prior to the IED?

Only in times of the greatest threat did I ever close my hatch (Usually indirect fire), and even then only to open protected. Most firefights, I left my hatch open, easier to stick my head out for scanning as required and if I felt safe enough to do so. Indeed, the only time I buttoned up at all not under indirect fire was in Yarmouk Traffic Circle in Mosul, a notorious sniper hotspot.

Manic Moran

Michael O Toole wrote: »

There has long been a tradition that crime reporters cover military affairs. I think it goes back to the start of the troubles when most of the DF activity was related to that. We all cover defence.

In fairness, I can't imagine there's enough business to justify keeping a dedicated military reporter on staff.