What military equipment have you actually seen?

Steelbird just reminded me: I completely forgotten about the two military training I had in high school and in university.

The training in high school was conducted in a HQ-2 (SA-2 copy) SAM Battalion about 100km away from my hometown. I stayed in the base for three weeks and spent most my spare time watching the missile site. We were allowed to see inside the command & control centre of the battalion inside several truck-mounted shelters. The unit did a demonstration of loading a HQ-2 from the tranportaion truck into the fixed launcher. The officer of the unit told us that it should take only no more than five minutes under the training standard, but the the actual process took about 15 minutes .

My training in my university was conducted in a Chemical Defence Regiment near Beijing. They did not have any equipment for me to watch apart from few old trucks. However, one day we were allowed to visit an underground nuclear-protection shelter nearby. The unit officer told us that the shelter would be used by the government and party officials during a nuclear war. The part opened to us was only a small part. In fact, a whole mountain was emptied to build these facilities. The part we visited looks pretty like a hotel with corridors and empty rooms. I remember the room number was something like 501, 502, 503, suggesting that there were at least five stories in the facility.

OK, finally found the photos that I had them taken inside the ex-South Vietnam President House.

The overall view of the President House. The flag is a current flag of the Republic Society of Vietnam. Of course before April 30, 1975 it wasn't that flag.


The tank (pls identify its model) is said to be the one that hit the gate of the President House on April 30, 1975 23:30 marked down the liberation hour of the South Vietnam.


The F-5E that is said that bombed onto the helo stern of the President House.

I`ve fire glock, mp5, g3, mg3, m2 50cal, Sig3000 sniper rifle, open a doors with remington 870 and another nameless shotgun.
Since i am in the reserves i have a G3 under my bed.
I`ve handled without shooting M4, Minimi, Barrett 82, M72, Carl Gustav 84mm

I`ve been shown around inside Foxtrot, kobben and Ula subs, Hauk facs, E-3, C17, Sea King, Oslo ffg, One of the triple turret from Gneisenau (coastal fort), NASAMS, Leo 1 and M48.

I`ve seen F5, f15, f16, F18, Su27,Mig29, Torn ado, Hawk, C5, An124,and a lot of other aircraft in airshows
Also leo2,cv90, m113,Tows, Mistral, RBS70, NOAH etc
And a lot of ww2 stuff (museum)

Coolest moment was when i was in a trench just off the strip as a An124 took off on full power. The earth shook. (it landed in Trondheim with a DSRV in connection with the Kursk accident)

Originally Posted by MrClean

When I was in 5th grade my class took a field trip to the Pima County Air and Space Museum, and there you could see everything from the best of what the US has to MiGS and every other mentionable plane in US history.

MrClean: I was at D-M from 1973 to 1977, working at the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing public affairs office, then at the 12th Air Division public affairs office until TAC took over the base from SAC. Working with the 355th, I got tied into the "aircraft spotters" and "tail number collectors" network, taking visitors out on the ramp and alongside the runway for photographs. I also had free rein on taking visitors through the "boneyard," so I was a favorite contact for many of our international visitors. Of course, this also got me tied into what was then the Pima County Air Museum, so I got to see many of the things that were still "not ready for prime-time." Among the cooler things I got to do was sit in the dust-filled cockpit of the XF-107, the F-100 derivative that competed with the XF-105 Thunderchief, where I could see for myself the joys of having that intake right behind and above the canopy. Had one's canopy failed at power, that pilot would have been in extreme trouble! Of course, after the combined wind-blast and intake suction ripped the helmet off, hopefully without taking one's head with it, the engine would have stopped, having gone through catastrophic failure from swallowing the helmet! I also got to clamber around inside things like the Indian Air Force B-24 Liberator, the Martin Mars flying boat, etc. For someone trained as a historian, the Pima County Air Museum and the "boneyard" qualified as sheer bliss. You were lucky to grow up where you did, because few kids ever get to see things like you did up close!

I'm in Hawaii for two weeks, so I saw a flight of F/A-18s over the International Airport in Honolulu doing some impressive manuvers, and taxing to the runway the plane passed 3 F-15s in their shelters about 100 yards away. I also saw 3 Perry class frigates. However I did not get into Pearl Harbor (yet) so I have not seen a lot of the other "good stuff" although the F/A-18s in formation flight then breaking right at about 2000 feet was very cool.

In addition there were quite a lot C-17s and other transport aircraft at the airport.

I've fired the M-16 A2, FN Minimi LMG, FN MAG GPMG, Browning M-2 HMG, and M-72 LAW (fired at an old Kangaroo tank). Fired M-19 60mm mortar in hand-held (light) role with training inserts (not live rounds, and aimed at a pair of old tanks no less - a Sherman and a Centurion with a Bren Carrier nearby.)

Been in M-113 APC, and rode in LAV-1 Grizzly wheeled APC (a loathsome experience) and LAV-25 Bison wheeled APC (very comfy, until you start going at higher speeds).

Trained on but not fired the M-2 Carl Gustav RR, Claymore remote-detonated mine, Elsie landmine, and stripped and cleaned (but not trained on because it had been replaced in service by FN MAG) Browning M-1919 A4 MMG. Also handled Browning Hi-Power 9mmm pistol.

Handled but not fired Bren LMG (my Regiment kept a lot of old friendly and captured enemy weapons and equipment in its two museums - Regimental HQ had a big one one and my battalion had a small one of its own as well), FN FAL (SLR), Lee-Enfield, Ross rifle. Seen and touched M-4 and M-4 A3E8 Sherman and Sherman Firefly, and seen (and nearly touched with a mortar training round) a Centurion MK 3 or 5. Also seen an in-service Leopard 1 (but not touched, it was roaring its way up a little distance behind us as I was riding in the back of a deuce-and-a-half).

Seen (but not touched) AK-47/AKM, SVD Dragunov, possibly RPD and RPK and PK (my memory is growing a little fuzzy now), PIAT, 3.5" Rocket Launcher, and a T-55 sitting out front of some guy's surplus store in Kitchener, Ontario, M-101 105mm howitzer, M-109 155mm SPH, 40mm Bofors AAG, 25 pdr, 17 pdr, 6 pdr.

Been on a then in-service Navy destroyer, HMCS Saguenay (I think its a man-made reef off the West Coast now), and WWII destroyer and museum ship HMCS Haida.

Flown in C-130, CH-47, and UH-1N Twin Huey.

Seen F-4, F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, B-52, B-1, B-52 (and touched!), maybe F-5 (I don't remember for sure), A-10, I think Tornado, C-5, C-141, E-3 AWACS, etc.

Probably a bunch of other stuff, but my memory is grower dimmer these days.

i've seen F-16 n Flanker, n really want to see Foxhound n Yak-130.

The only vehicles I can remember seeing is a Stuart light tank on Kinmen and some other old ROC vehicles and artillery.

Though I have seen P-3s flying around Brunswick in Maine. Shame about what's happening to the Naval base.

Been in Singapore military many years back. There I have seen and play with the M16S1 rifle, hand grenades and had seen our SM10 (I think that is what that tank is called), M113 Ultra and Bionix APC/IFV. Seen alot of Light Attack Vehicle (LAV) too.

I've seen so many U.S. planes from all eras at museums and air shows. The local Air National Guard flies their F-16s often and create sonic booms that can be heard all over town. I've not seen too many military guns except for M-16, M-1 Garand, M-60, and probably more a few others from museums.

When I was in Boy Scouts for our Summer trip we went to the Carolinas and Virginia. For some reason I remember little from that trip but I remember visiting the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia. All I really remember is touring a docked frigate (I think it was a frigate)and looking off the port side of the ship and seeing a parked Aircraft Carrier. I remember it being HUGE. However I can't recall what the names of the ships were. It seems like a long time ago to me but I was probably about 13 and I'm 21 now so I suppose it wasn't so long ago.

I want to see more Soviet military equipment someday, like a Mi-24, Tu-95, or any Warsaw-Pact tank.

Well museums sure are nice places to see military hardware. Now that I go back to thwe memorylane, there are ofcourse quite nice stuff that I've seen in museums (atop of the stuff that I've listed earlier). In my hometown there is a artillery museum and near by a armourmuseum. In there I've seen basicly all the artillery pieces that have ever been operated by our army and of course all the tanks from Vickers and T-26 to Leopard II and all in the between.
One of the fanciest stuff was FROG-7 artillery rocket, ex-NVA piece that was displayed in both of the museums (got a good luck to see it in both occasions)

Popeye, although you were smiling in your photograph, you looked just a bit tired before you went up for the FOD walkdown. I think you were on the Kennedy the same time I was on the Oriskany, although being a modified Essex class carrier the largest fighter we could carry was the F-8J Crusader. While in the Tonkin Gulf we also had the A-7A Corsair, SH-3 Sea King, EKA-3 Skywarrior & E1B Tracers. Ironically I didn't work on a flight(helo)deck until I served on board the George Philip FFG-12. I have to admit it was a bit of a rush being an LSE during heavy seas while bracing against the rotor down-wash of the SH-2 Seasprite. Like yourself, I've seen just about everthing in the USN/ USMC inventory. Regretfully however, I was too tall to serve onboard submarines.
While in the Beachmasters at Coronado, we worked hand in hand with the Amphibious Seabees, Amphibious Craft Unit-1 with their LCU-1616 class & ACU-5 headquartered at Camp Pendleton with their LCAC's. While in the Beachmasters 91-94 as we worked closely with the Marines Landing Shore Battalion, we went through school of infantry training at Pendleton and became proficient with the M-60, M203, M-16 and M-2. Thankfully our unit kept our match grade 45's as our side-arms.
While conducting joint "humanitarian" operations with the Russian Navy at their operation areas around Vladivostok, I was lucky enough to tour and practice loading several Ropucha class LST's with both USMC & Russian Naval Infantry equipment. I'm going to have to scan some of those photo's for you. Back in port at Vladivostok I was lucky to be invited to tour on several Udaloy class destroyers. A very interesting vessel.
While stationed aboard the USS Blue Ridge, we were invited by the PLAN to visit the port and city of Qingdao as well as tour several destroyers and frigates. Of special interest to me was the Qingdao DDG-113 and the Jaingwei class frigate. The Qingdao was spotless although curiously I noticed that "she" had false overheads (ceilings) covering the cable-runs and pipes normally exposed for damage control purposes in USN vessels. That being said, I was impressed by the professionalism of the PLAN sailor and the pride and care they took in their ships.
Ship's I would like to see in person is the PLAN type 71 LPD, the Japanese "DDH" 145 and the Osumi LST 4001. My last five years and some months of active duty 1994-2000 was spent being home ported in Japan, primarily Yokosuka at Port Operations and the Blue Ridge. That gave me the oportunity of also getting to know the ships and aircraft of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force,

I saw the Ronald Reagan and the Nimitz a couple weeks ago.

BOSUN, my son who served on active duty for nine years and is now a drilling reservist. His first ship, USS Paul F Foster, visited Qingdao in 2002. He said it was the best port of the deployment. And he echoed what you stated.

I too served on a modified Essex class. The USS Hancock CVA-19 in '74 & '75.