Am I opening a can of worms here? I think I am...M113...

[cavtroop]

*sigh* all this M113/variant bashing hurts me to my core I spent roughly 8 years on different M113 variants - M577, M113, M113A3, TC'd a M901. I have a soft spot for them.

They're not nearly as bad as the rap they're getting - they just can't be used as a direct replacement for a M2 or any other IFV - an IFV they're not.

I still think that we'd get 80% of the mission capability of the Stryker for 25% of the cost with the M113. But the added loss of life (getting to that in a sec) wouldn't be worth it - the biggest issue with them nowadays is the IED. There's no way to retrofit a V-shaped hull on the M113 (like they're doing rather successfully with the Stryker), so in a counterinsurgency, they'd be a death box.

Regardless, I love them even if they are flawed, so please take it easy on my memories :-D

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Despite my attack against the guy who wants everybody to call the M113 the Gavin (and believes that it's a light tank), I actually do like the boxy little bastard. For me it's one of the iconic vehicles of the Cold War era just as much as the Chieftain, M60 & T-62 MBTs, the BMP-1 & Marder and the BTR-60 and so on.
I have fond memories of standing in the rear hatch with an SLR in one hand and hanging on for dear life with the other as we ploughed through the scrub at a great rate of knots.


And just for the hell of it, how's this for an interesting M113 variant - be a real bitch to reload the .50 cals under fire!

[Targan]

I have fond memories of standing in the rear hatch with an SLR in one hand and hanging on for dear life with the other as we ploughed through the scrub at a great rate of knots.

10th Light Horse Or the Regs

[Graebarde]

That sounds like when I moved with my family from Hawaii to Texarkana TX (not my idea, I was a dependent and my stepmonster was taking over as the active duty First Sgt of a reserve unit) and everyone told me I had an accent! No, you all have an accent!

LOL... I've lived in Texas for about the last 25 years... I went back to NoDak a while back and everyone laughed at my accent... but to the natives here in Texas I still have an Northern Accent.. esp with a Norsk influence... uffda ya'll..

FB

[StainlessSteelCynic]

10th Light Horse Or the Regs

Originally with 1/15 RNSWL and 2 Cav (back when 2 Cav had tracks and not wheels) and then later with 10 Little Ponies.

[Targan]

Originally with 1/15 RNSWL and 2 Cav (back when 2 Cav had tracks and not wheels) and then later with 10 Little Ponies.

I never got to go bush in a 113, in 11/28th we would get trucked someplace and then do a lot of walking. One of the players in my long-running Gunmaster T2K campaign was with 2 Cav about the time they were first getting their ASLAVs. Had you left 2 Cav by then

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Well, the question isn't liking; the question is being goddamn insane about it and thinking it's the omni-vehicle that it in fact is not. In the roles it has to serve, it does pretty well. I would just rather have an M1 where an M1 was needed, not some unstable internet creep's whacked out sci-fi idea that a tracked aluminum box is the solution to all problems.

[ArmySGT.]

And just for the hell of it, how's this for an interesting M113 variant - be a real bitch to reload the .50 cals under fire!

I just discovered what love is.................

That would make the living greatest Infantry support vehicle. Can you imagine the African Plains. Sitting up high where you can see.

Can you put a FLIR on it. .................................

*drools*

[HorseSoldier]

You can put a FLIR on most anything these days. If nothing else, I'm sure something with a PAS-13 could be sorted out.

[dragoon500ly]

I just discovered what love is.................

That would make the living greatest Infantry support vehicle. Can you imagine the African Plains. Sitting up high where you can see.

Can you put a FLIR on it. .................................

*drools*

One can almost see Burt (from the Tremors trilogy) having one in his garage....

I can also see the Mississippi Highway Patrol having one of these set up at there next license inspection checkpoint!

[pmulcahy11b]

Whose 113 is that What's the designation It's definitely stat-worthy!

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Warning - Image heavy

@ Targan - I didn't actually serve with 2 Cav, just rode in their battle taxis once in a while and I was back in W.A. for some time when they got the AUSLAVs.

@ ArmySGT and Paul - I did some more searching because the site I pilfered the "Quad 50 M113" from didn't mention anything about its ownership. I found this forum states that it's a Turkish modification http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.phptopic=18699.105
And they have a far better copy of the pic I posted as well.
I've since found that "apparently" it's called the M113A2T2 ZPT (still not certain though) and it's made on the Turkish base model M113 (the M113A2T2) and here's some more pics of it: -




For some more images (with better detail) although of a model kit, try this link http://m113.blog.cz/1004/m113-a2t2-ztp

And here's another interesting M113 from the What If modelling site I posted above - apparently was an experiment with the turret from the M24 Chaffee by Taiwan. Although they linked to a Taiwanese forum for the pic, they didn't add the second pic



And because I seem to have the Google-fu today, here's another Quad 50 M113 variant - the M548 (apparently it was a field mod and had some sort of armour as well).


Also, if you can ever find a copy of "Vietnam Tracks - Armor In Battle 1945-75" there's a few M113 mods to be found between its covers. Unfortunately some of the photos don't show a lot of detail but you can find one pic with a mostly obscured M113 mounting the turret from the M8 Greyhound (page 42). The M113 is behind a Ford scout car so you can't see a whole lot of the body but you can see enough to see that it is an M113.

Vietnam Tracks
Armor In Battle 1945-75
Simon Dunston
Osprey Publishing Ltd
ISBN 0 85045 472 7
Published 1982
Reprinted 1984

An Israeli urban combat mod for the M113


To finish off, how about an IFV based on the M113 sporting a BMP3 turret - the Turkish ACV-SW. I believe the manufacturer is FNSS Savunma Sistemleri

[StainlessSteelCynic]

And I found another one and boy is it ugly!
Image: A Bahraini Army M548 APC guards the main entrance to Budaiya, west of Manama, March 25, 2011. (REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)


Found it on this blog 'Military In the Middle East'

http://milinme.wordpress.com/

[cavtroop]

I...I...my eyes, they are burning:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fikays/5ton113-2.jpg

I dont know if this...abomination...belongs here or in the 'gun trucks' thread...

Found that gem in this old thread on militaryphotos.net: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...3-and-variants

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I...I...my eyes, they are burning:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/fikays/5ton113-2.jpg

Holy crap a T2k original there.

I wonder if that's doable with like an M2 (complete with turret) as a "cab-over"