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When were you in? I got out right as a whole bunch of new gear and equipment was coming in. We were still issued the M16-A2. I wanted the A3 with that swoopy eye piece, but never had a chance to try one. The A2 was probably the best rifle I've ever fired, as long as you kept it clean (not always easy in the field). They were in the process of phasing out the UH-1H (Huey) when I left, in favor of the Blackhawk. My CO hated the Blackhawks and said he could put 10 Hueys in the air for the price of one Blackhawk.
09-15. I had an A2 and an A4. As an owner of AKs, I may have been spoiled but I found the M16s to be truly awful in terms of the cleaning maintenance. To be fair my sloppy ass A2 was more forgiving than the A4. The A4 was nice and accurate in garrison but downrange I talked my armorer into getting me my A2 back. The dust was too much for the A4 to handle.
I was a Forward Observer but was put in an aviation unit for some reason so I spent a good amount of time RTOing adjacent to various helis. I can say without a doubt that we had helis down for maintenance every day, sometimes for multiple days at a time.
This all circles back around to "the older the better" theme from my previous comment. Chinooks are an ancient platform but they're super reliable and nearly never broke down outside of schedule. The M16A2 I had did have like 1/8" of play in it between upper and lower receiver but I did keep it working. God knows how many rounds went through that thing. But both of those things are what, like 'Nam era? All the truly durable stuff is old school. I'm just saying the new stuff is garbage.
That's unfortunate to hear about the new stuff. I was really hoping to check out some of the new gear before my ETS, but it never happened. I guess I didn't miss anything.
You were 13F? Wild, man! I went to basic at Ft. Sill where you would have done your AIT. I was thinking about re-classing as 13F at one point, since y'all were harder than woodpecker lips. Did you go to Rucker when you got attached to an aviation unit?
Yeah I was 13F. Even got through JFO school at one point. It was a cool job and other 13Fs were pretty legit just about across the board. The tricky bit they don't tell you is that you get attached to infantry and usually by yourself so you're the only guy in the room that can count higher than 4.
I went to Riley. Kansas sucks to drive through but it wasn't a bad place to live. Stayed there for about 3 years and went off to the next place.
What was your MOS? I'm guessing 13 series?
67N, helicopter mechanic and crew member. I really wanted to go airborne, but my unit wouldn't pay for it. I should have got it in my contract when enlisting, then I could have gone right after AIT. That's when you're at the height of fitness anyways, after six months straight of training, so airborne school wouldn't be quite as hard. I petitioned my unit several times during AIT, but the answer was always no. Oh well! Not going probably saved my knees. Did you see any combat? I was too young for the 1st Iraq war, and got out right before 9/11, so I never went to war.