IamA javelin and TOW missile gunner AMA!

Can you cover my duty?

For a price

How do you train on those? Each one of those rounds cost a pretty penny I'm sure. They don't just give you a pallet-full and send you off to the range, do they?

We have simulators that we use in the school house and train with spent missile encasement's. Occasionally we will get a few missiles to take to a range. Alot of our time spent training is more focused on operating the sights/clu and employment and maintenance of the systems. Considering the javelin is fire and forget and the tow missile only requires you to keep the cross hairs on the target once fired there isn't really much of a need to train for what happens after the missile has been fired. When not training with missiles part of this mos is also being familiar with machine guns so we spend a lot of time training with those too.

Hey dude!

• How has being a missile gunner changed since the Syrian/Iraq war began? Obviously at the moment having security against SVBIEDs is really important. What techniques would you use to defend against such attacks?

• I imagine that you'll have seen a bunch of TOW-attack video from the Syrian war. What's the one mistake you see those guys making more than any other?

• How is Javelin as compared to TOW? Does the older system have any significant advantages?

First off i havent been to combat yet so this is just based on opinion - Well our primary role is to defeat tanks but given the fact that we haven't faced armored threats in recent years we are now used for softer targets and bunkers. As far as SVBIEDs machine gun fire should work just fine, a missile would be over kill but if it works why not (unless its against the armored versions that have been becoming popular then yeah high five that thing with a missile)

-The videos from Syria are mostly just vids of the missiles in flight and on impact but there are a few things that i see them doing. The main one is once you have fired that missile you leave a huge signature behind you from the back blast so as soon as you have impact you want to cut the wire and get the hell out of dodge. Other than that most the time they are getting good effects on target from with a pretty good amount of distance between them and the target especially considering that they are using an out dated TOW system.

-Javelin and Saber(TOW) systems are two completely different things. The javelin actually locks onto a target so once its fired you can just let it do its thing. The TOW missile is actually flown by the gunner via 2 wires which connect it to the system its fired from. The Javelin is also shoulder fired and can be carried by 1 person while the TOW has to be mounted on a vehicle or tripod. The saber system has much more powerful sights and the TOW missiles have a much farther range but you have to actually steer the missile to your target while with the javelin, once you fire you can just walk away and let it steer itself to the target.

Javelin- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BecUzACx9AA TOW w/ saber system- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPjQuuvpOPA

Why are you such a typical boot?

Probably wearing cowboy boots and a day pack on libo as we speak.

nah, i prefer my issued boots and a 9 line hoodie tucked in so people can see my tan belt

Any funny backblast stories?

not really any funny ones considering how the back blast of the missiles is not likely to end with the person walking away. I've only really seen one back blast incident and it was when a gunner in my platoon caught some of the blast from a tow missile and fucked his side up pretty bad, luckily he didn't take the brunt of the blast so he was fine aside from some burns and a bit of shrapnel from the diaphragm of the missile encasement.

Damn. Yeah I know how dangerous it could be but I was just seeing if there were some light-hearted experiences. I had a church-member who fired a rocket (I don't think it was a Javelin but the story was from years ago) in an urban setting and ended up knocking over some loose rubble behind him. The noise of it hitting the ground freaked him out and made him think there was someone coming up behind them. He always said that in the moment it was absolutely terrifying, but later his buddies told him how ridiculous he looked spinning around at essentially his own shadow so it made him look at it a bit differently.

I will say one funny story with a missile was when we were dealing with a hang fire, meaning the missile begins its pre flight functions but never actually fires. You have to wait 30 min for the thermal battery to die before moving the missile so the gunner was sitting there and about 15 min in there was a loud pop and it starting smoking. Its one of those things where its not really funny unless you were there but looking back at it watching him look at the missile with a confused/terrified look on his face was priceless.

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Declassified information shows that both Javelin and TOW are top-attack anti-armor weapons (no need to attack from sides/behind) with tandem warheads (to defeat ERA). Both will likely produce great effects on target, so long as it hits.

TOW has one top attack option that is never used. It is side attack but can penetrate 36 inches of reinforce steel. Javelin is top attack but has a direct shot option for thing with overhead cover and helocopters.

Actually if you're firing against any sort of armored Vehicle the fly over shoot down mode on the TOW is much more effective considering most armored targets have the least amount of armor on top of the vehicle. The direct attack for both the javelin and the TOW are used for mainly bunkers and targets with overhead cover.

When it comes to enemy armor the main thing to be able to identify what type of tank it is and some of the unique features of that tank that may or may not be exploited. Both missiles are top attack so aiming for certain parts of the tank isn't really necessary but if you were aiming a direct attack the flank would be the most desired shot.

Is firing that thing as much fun as I've always thought it must be?

Yes

What's the tightest shit you ever blew up?

Just some targets at ranges. Never actually fired at anything crazy before.

In your personal experience, do you think the javelin missile could hit an airborne helicopter? Maybe even a slow moving fixed wing aircraft?

Javelin could easily hit a helicopter so long as it isn't moving over 25 mph.

How did you end up with such a specific post? I don't know much about the military but did you end up working with missiles because you wanted to or did you learn to like them?

I was chosen to train in a weapons mos meaning i could be either a machine gunner, mortar man or anti tank missile man. Missiles appealed to me the most at the time, plus we get to cross train on machine guns so i got the best of both worlds.

Had any launch excursions yet? Broke any wires?

Hang fire, missfire, erratic missile and a dud. The erratic missile was caused by a wire breaking when it was caught on a bush. We also had a missile lawn dart and land about 10 feet from the launch tube.

Is battlefield 3 javelin as accurate as the real one ?

Im yet to see any depiction of a javelin in video games or movies that are anywhere near accurate. The main thing i see wrong is the missile locks on by itself. You actually have to set a box around your target with track gates and show the missile what you want it to lock on to.

How many helium balloons have you "launched" out of expended launchers? Say, to the nearest hundred.

Still yet to send a balloon down range.

So what are the Assualtmen (0351s) doing now, if 52s got the Javelin?

SMAW and breaching mainly, but they are being phased out.

What was your cutting score for E5, you dirty, filthy, fucking '52?

idk about e-5 but for cpl its like 1389. Hows terminal lance?

How fast can you mount your system on your vehicle? How many rounds have you personally fired? Which missiles were they? I fired a TOW2D.

well im lar so we do it in lav's meaning it takes much longer but we get it done in about 4 min. Ive only fired 2 but they were TOW2b. What the hell is a TOW2D?

Are you wearing raingear?

Yeah, this is back from itb, its the only real pic i had for proof. It was probably raining outside and we had just come in.

Tobies, the cave, or La mirage?

Only went to tobies once. Didnt go to the others.

How does it feel to operate a weapon system worth more than you'll make in a decade?

More like 2 decades. Feels pretty cool knowing im trusted with stuff worth more than my life.

Have you ever thrown a javelin?

no, cant say i have

How do you compare it with javelins from Battlefield? Are the guns in the game realistic?

Another USMC Javelin/TOW Gunner here. Both Weapons act NOTHING like they do in BF4. The Javelin is a fire and forget weapon. Meaning once you have a achieved a lock and pull the fire trigger yoy gtfo of dodge. Where as in BF4 you must maintain a lock the entire time. The TOW IRL has far more capabilities than its BF4 version. FLIR/Ranger finding/rtc TLDR; No, neither weapons are similar to BF4.

I've always wondered about the wires post shot? Was Eastern Europe in the never happened 1980s war just going to be covered by invisible wires draped around bushes and over obstacles? How hard are the wires to cut/break? Would they take your head off if you were on a motor cycle? Or a Jeep with no wire strike guard?

The wires are cut by two blocks in the missile encasement and in combat the wires would just be left there. On ranges thats a different story, and let me say rolling up thousands of meters of wire is not a very good time. The wires are very strong but at the same time break easily when they are fired. They would kill somebody who drove into them but im not sure about decapitation.

yup^

So I have looked into this, and apparently these missiles can go through dirt berms and still penetrate tanks according to a memoir of the Iraq war that I saw.

Do you think this is true? Could a TOW missile go through a dirt berm and let's say something like a t-62?

No the missile would blow up on impact with the berm, however with TOW missiles if there were a tank on the other side of the berm you could still hit it because they can fly over their target and shoot downward so as long as the berm isnt too much higher than the tank you would still hit it.

What unit are you with? Im 2/7 out here in 29 Palms.

3d lar

How many guns does the javelin and TOW missile have?

Im sorry could you try rewording that question, im confused as to what exactly you are asking.

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Javelins can lock onto pretty much anything to include people and buildings. Both missiles can be fired at helicopters so long as its in a hover or moving very slowly. TOW missiles do not lock onto anything, it is on the gunner to steer the missile to its target.