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Since MOOXE has decided to crawl back to his "Close Combat Series" website and delete his pics along with it I managed to retain them and will try posting a few here to give folks an idea of what they were.
M109 Shredding
- Thread starter MOOXE
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A few more.
FJAG
Army.ca Legend
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I wish that I hadn't opened this thread. It just makes me mad all over again that we are so short sighted that we get rid of perfectly serviceable weapons systems because we allegedly can't afford to maintain them.
It struck me at the time that we decided to retire them that they should have become a reserve force asset. A few maintained actively as training equipment and the rest put into long term preservation to be brought up as needed.
Sad to say I've had my years working on these guns and all that the young bulls these days will see is C3s and mortars and a very few M777s. I like the M777 but there is still a role for the M109. Some day someone will shoot back and you're really going to miss that armour.
Crap.
:'(
It struck me at the time that we decided to retire them that they should have become a reserve force asset. A few maintained actively as training equipment and the rest put into long term preservation to be brought up as needed.
Sad to say I've had my years working on these guns and all that the young bulls these days will see is C3s and mortars and a very few M777s. I like the M777 but there is still a role for the M109. Some day someone will shoot back and you're really going to miss that armour.
Crap.
:'(
George Wallace
Army.ca Dinosaur
- Reaction score
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MOOXE said:
That was childish.
Thank you Bruce, for resurrecting the photos; sad as they are.
George Wallace
Army.ca Dinosaur
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MilEME09 said:
Many of them are already out in the back 40 full of APDS-T, APFSDS-T, SH-T, etc. holes
I was in DLR when this happened, and although a large portion of the fleet was scrapped in this way, because of these pictures some were turned into monuments instead
Mostly as a cost saving measure, and to make space available at 202 workshop and DSAL in Montreal, the scrapping began in earnest about 2010. A small portion (<30) were designated for monument use, but the rest were to be scrapped.
Shortly after the scrapping began, those pictures began circulating, and there was quite an emotional response from some in the gunner community. I suspect this lead to a more earnest search being done for sponsors that were willing to fund conversion of some of these guns into monuments. By the summer of 2011 a large number of sponsors had been identified, and although I left DLR at that time I'm pretty sure many of these M109s did meet a better end. One was even supposed to be left in running condition for the museum in Gagetown; I'm not sure if they followed through with that, but I believe the museum in Shilo still has a running version.
I'll check and see how many made it to good homes as monuments, if you really want to know, but really it is all "down range now", their days of service are long gone
The notion these guns should've been kept in war stock, or possibly used in some Reserve units, was considered, but in the end an argument could not made to justify the costs associated with either option.
Incidentally, before this scrapping occurred, I did check with the Regt Major on any protocols that might be involved with the royal cypher. The barrel of any gun or howitzer being disposed because the whole gun is being scrapped, or simply because it's been shot out, does not get any particular special treatment.
Mostly as a cost saving measure, and to make space available at 202 workshop and DSAL in Montreal, the scrapping began in earnest about 2010. A small portion (<30) were designated for monument use, but the rest were to be scrapped.
Shortly after the scrapping began, those pictures began circulating, and there was quite an emotional response from some in the gunner community. I suspect this lead to a more earnest search being done for sponsors that were willing to fund conversion of some of these guns into monuments. By the summer of 2011 a large number of sponsors had been identified, and although I left DLR at that time I'm pretty sure many of these M109s did meet a better end. One was even supposed to be left in running condition for the museum in Gagetown; I'm not sure if they followed through with that, but I believe the museum in Shilo still has a running version.
I'll check and see how many made it to good homes as monuments, if you really want to know, but really it is all "down range now", their days of service are long gone
The notion these guns should've been kept in war stock, or possibly used in some Reserve units, was considered, but in the end an argument could not made to justify the costs associated with either option.
Incidentally, before this scrapping occurred, I did check with the Regt Major on any protocols that might be involved with the royal cypher. The barrel of any gun or howitzer being disposed because the whole gun is being scrapped, or simply because it's been shot out, does not get any particular special treatment.
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We have one in Kingston, hidden between the gym and the arena. Would have looked a lot better up at one of the gates.
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PuckChaser said:
The reason it is there is because it is by the building the ATWO course is run out of. The ATWO course used to be called the Master Gunner course (and the candidates still receive that title), so it is placed there to honour the course.
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dangerboy said:
That makes a lot more sense, it seemed an odd place for a monument like that and I've never seen signs there.
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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MOOXE said:
I wonder who the "grown men" are. I will say one thing,....it's not you MOOXE.
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sad to see! I did a tour in Germany with 1RCHA and served as a Driver for a year. Great experience as a young 21 yr old. I still remember my summer on the track team and you know what I mean annually changing the old US track pads before Diehl (German) track pads.
It was mentioned to make these a reserve resource and I think and by the decision it was not feasible.
Locally what Armouries can afford a space the size of the south Margerite in Lahr or a building like a aircraft hanger with a 12 foot by 12 foot opening and that's cutting it tight. or the driving on Canadian roads and hiways?
or if it was regional Shilo and Gagetown have the space but imagine the logistics of service during the week or year to have the toys ready for a hard week-end.
I think this was a Dollars and Cents decision.
as for the clopurs these can not be placed in a shadow box in a RHQ or museum and there are too many.
With the price of scrap metal the Aluminum would melt down to a lot of beveragge cans. And toss the steel into the vats at Stelco. Good quality steel use it for the hulls of the new ships. That would be a story.
It was mentioned to make these a reserve resource and I think and by the decision it was not feasible.
Locally what Armouries can afford a space the size of the south Margerite in Lahr or a building like a aircraft hanger with a 12 foot by 12 foot opening and that's cutting it tight. or the driving on Canadian roads and hiways?
or if it was regional Shilo and Gagetown have the space but imagine the logistics of service during the week or year to have the toys ready for a hard week-end.
I think this was a Dollars and Cents decision.
as for the clopurs these can not be placed in a shadow box in a RHQ or museum and there are too many.
With the price of scrap metal the Aluminum would melt down to a lot of beveragge cans. And toss the steel into the vats at Stelco. Good quality steel use it for the hulls of the new ships. That would be a story.
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