Tired Of Walking
Well, my brother got his preferred MOS out at Pendleton’s School of Infantry this week, 0352, TOW Gunner. Congratulations, Seth. The consensus among former Marine Corps types has been, “Aw, lucky him” while the general reaction from former Army types has been, “Are you kidding me, the Marine Corps still uses that piece of shit?” Seeing as how Marines racing around in Humvees shooting half century old missiles at tanks hasn’t been on the menu for some time my simple POG mind is left to wonder what it is TOW guys do in 2012. Opinion seems evenly split between heavy QRF, IED magnets and “nothing”.
Any 0352s out there?
Category: Marine Corps
yer bro *obviously* isn’t a Terminal Lance reader, or he would have known better…
http://terminallance.com/2012/01/20/terminal-lance-173-oh-three-fifty-two/
but can Marines really read? (a mystery of the ages %-)
red,
who was an 11H back when Reagan was CinC
Got out in Feb 11. Did 4 years and 2 deployments as a 0352 attached to a tank Bn. Both deployments spent as a CAAT team with a healthy mix of walking in Afghanistan. Spent maybe 2 months on a Tow/Saber (not including AIT) my whole enlistment. Nothing that a SMAW or AT4 cant do better until we start fighting tanks again. So if his enlistment goes anything like mine did. Better forget that Tow knowledge and start learning from the 31’s. And enjoy the ridiculously low cutting score.
but can Marines really read? (a mystery of the ages %-)
Well we can as long as we’re allowed to move our lips to the words and the pictures can explain what’s going on.
When I was in Kunar in 2010 on our OP 173rd was there for a couple months before they got moved and I saw them shoot a TOW off an 1151 at durkas. So yes they are still used
I can’t speak for the Marines, but the TOW ITAS is still in use in RSTAs. The (relatively) new ITAS functions well as a surveillance system with a direct fire weapon. And the TOW2Bs work well for taking out buildings.
“Seeing as how Marines racing around in Humvees shooting half century old missiles at tanks” – At least the Humvees are probably less than 10 years old. With the Air Force, it’s flying around in 50 year old B-52s dropping modern weaponry…
When I was light Cav (as opposed to heavy), we still had TOW’s on humvees. We didn’t really figure on using them except in an extreme emergency. Mostly we relied on the optics. I was never a TOW gunner but I seem to recall we had thermals on them as well.
French-So you’re claiming to be a Marine and you went to AIT? Since when is fuckin SOI referred to as AIT?
Who needs TOW when you’ve got Javelins?
Maybe he’ll get unlucky and attach to LAR. Enjoy cranking the hammerhead.