Captured Vehicles & Battlefield Recognition Symbols

[swaghauler]

I follow the example of Skills in T2k13 for my Skills System. The Wheeled and Tracked Vehicle skills include both automatic and manual transmissions up to 5-Tons in Wheeled and 10-Tons in Tracked. I could teach ANYONE in this forum to drive an M939 5-Ton in about an hour. For vehicles weighing OVER 5 Tons (or 10 Tons for Tracked), the player must buy a Heavy Wheeled (or Tracked) Vehicle Qualification. This is essentially "a skill within a skill." You must buy it to drive the bigger vehicles. It gives you the skill to negotiate terrain with the longer and heavier vehicle as well as the ability to drive more sophisticated transmissions such as 8,9,10,13,15,18 and 20 speed "ranged" and "split" unsynchronized transmissions. I do the same for boating and piloting skills (Multi-engine, Heavy).
A Qualification is bought exactly the same as the driving skill, but THE QUALIFICATION CANNOT BE HIGHER THAN THE DRIVING SKILL IT IS LINKED TO. Whenever a Qualification is used, BOTH the Qualification AND the Driving Skill gain Experience (I use "Skill-Specific" Experience points). If ONLY the Driving Skill is used, The Qualification DOES NOT gain any experience. I allow my players to select a number of vehicles equal to their "Raw (non-asset) Skill" as vehicles they have personal experience with. They must pick HALF of these from their own Army's vehicle list. This also applies to any Vehicle Qualifications as well. I then give the character a small bonus during game play when they driving a vehicle he or she has prior knowledge of.

I give modifications to tasks during game play for driving a "stick" or an "automatic." An automatic will allow an automatic success in an acceleration under enemy fire. A "Stick" will require a roll. A "stick" will give you a bonus driving "off-road" because of the greater control it imparts. My players seem to agree with the way my Skill System works.

[CDAT]

The Army went all Automatic in 1983. They finally got it done in the early 90's. The M939, M931 tractor, HEMMETT, and Hummer were all automatic with Central Tire Inflation System and Self Leveling Suspension for the big trucks. The Hummer graduated from the naturally aspirated 6.3L Diesel found in Chevy pickups to the larger 6.5L Diesel to the "High Output" Turbo Diesel (pre- Duramax) that was chipped. These "High Outputs" would NOT have survived the Exchange (EMP). The newer "eco-friendly" 5-Tons and 10-Tons bought after the First Gulf War were "chipped" too. I'm guessing the US would have lost half its logistics support in the Exchange. They would have had a lot of "parts trucks" to cannibalize from though....

That may have been the official stance, but it is not true. I joined in 1993 right out of OSUT I got sent to HHC for a tank battalion, all of our 2 1/2 tons, and 5 tons were manual, we still had some jeeps (again manual), I forgot about the HEMMETT but yes they were also automatic. The hummers we had did not have the tire inflation system, I do not know about eh HEMMETT's as did not ever use them. Heck when I deployed in 2003 all of our 5 tons were still manual. The first time I was in a unit with out a manual transmission was when I reclassed to EOD in 2005.

[Targan]

I'M RIGHT BEHIND (BESIDE) YOU! Just came back from out West and jumped out of my 18 speed PETE with both a ranger and a splitter. I was going to climb on the bike but we still have goddamned snow on the ground in northern PA! There is no ground vehicle I am not licensed to drive (CDL A with HAZMAT, Passenger, tanker, doubles, and triples, and a motorcycle endorsement too). I'm also licensed to "bare boat" both sailboats and powerboats (US Sailing Academy and the Power Squadrons). I have started the booklet for my ground school for Fixed Wing, but I have to get my physical for actual flight training. That requires seeing a doctor with a 3-month waiting list. I WILL be flying before I'm 50.

Ooh, that's cool! Aircraft isn't something I've attempted. That'll be an exciting new phase in your life I'm sure . I can sail, and competently operate small to medium-sized watercraft, dinghys, inflatables, fishing trawlers.

[Targan]

I follow the example of Skills in T2k13 for my Skills System. The Wheeled and Tracked Vehicle skills include both automatic and manual transmissions up to 5-Tons in Wheeled and 10-Tons in Tracked. I could teach ANYONE in this forum to drive an M939 5-Ton in about an hour. For vehicles weighing OVER 5 Tons (or 10 Tons for Tracked), the player must buy a Heavy Wheeled (or Tracked) Vehicle Qualification. This is essentially "a skill within a skill." You must buy it to drive the bigger vehicles. It gives you the skill to negotiate terrain with the longer and heavier vehicle as well as the ability to drive more sophisticated transmissions such as 8,9,10,13,15,18 and 20 speed "ranged" and "split" unsynchronized transmissions. I do the same for boating and piloting skills (Multi-engine, Heavy).
A Qualification is bought exactly the same as the driving skill, but THE QUALIFICATION CANNOT BE HIGHER THAN THE DRIVING SKILL IT IS LINKED TO. Whenever a Qualification is used, BOTH the Qualification AND the Driving Skill gain Experience (I use "Skill-Specific" Experience points). If ONLY the Driving Skill is used, The Qualification DOES NOT gain any experience. I allow my players to select a number of vehicles equal to their "Raw (non-asset) Skill" as vehicles they have personal experience with. They must pick HALF of these from their own Army's vehicle list. This also applies to any Vehicle Qualifications as well. I then give the character a small bonus during game play when they driving a vehicle he or she has prior knowledge of.

I give modifications to tasks during game play for driving a "stick" or an "automatic." An automatic will allow an automatic success in an acceleration under enemy fire. A "Stick" will require a roll. A "stick" will give you a bonus driving "off-road" because of the greater control it imparts. My players seem to agree with the way my Skill System works.

I used a very similar system in my Gunmaster: 2000 conversion.

[Raellus]

Recent Examples

I've been thinking more about this recently, as the PCs in my 1e timeline/4e rules solo campaign are rolling around Poland in a former Polish army OT-64 SKOT seconded to the US Army.

The war in Ukraine is an interesting case study in vehicle recognition practices. Both sides use a lot of Soviet-era AFVs. Very few of the Russian AFVs I've seen bear any sort of national markings. By this point in the war, they seem to have semi-officially adopted the Z symbol (painted in white) for most of their AFVs, even though it was originally used by Russian troops in only one particular area during the initial invasion.

The Ukrainians, on the other hand, do make use of some roundels in national colors. Some vehicle don't use blue and yellow markings, and instead use a simple white cross (often spray-painted on). I've seen some UAF AFVs with both blue and yellow roundels, and the white cross symbol.

We know from canon (Plate G2 in the Soviet Vehicle Guide) that the US used captured Soviet AFVs, as did various marauder groups (Plate H2 in the SVG). It's common sense that, by 2000, with functioning AFVs of all types in extremely short supply, that both combatants would be making use of captured enemy AFVs. IMHO, a white or black star (US), and a red star (USSR) just wouldn't cut it for battlefield recognition. Surely, other symbols were used to ID and differentiate.

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