Desert Storm markings? Need specs..

[citizensoldier]

Ok making one truck "deuce" a Desert Storm truck named the "Sandbox Slayer".. Need some exact info on markings. Anybody have detailed pics? Is the inverted V a sticker or paint? specific measurments? Any cool units you guys think I should represent? I know there are some Desert Storm guys here.. Post em if you got em...Thanks ahead of time.

 

[maddawg308]

I have seen both paint and stickers (tape). The pic in the top, shows the inverted V too thick. The bottom pic shows the V's legs too long, going by ones I have seen before.

 

[emmado22]

Here are the sizes, there are a few different ones.

http://www.nightvisionsystems.com/prod/prodIndex.aspx?ID=30&p=2&from=9

Dont bother calling the company to buy any, it's expendsive and they wont sell to you.

 

[citizensoldier]

Ok now thats more like it. I forgot it was reflective tape .. Many sizes??.. What would be right for a deuce? Can a laymen get the tape anywhere and not re-morgage the house? Thanks emmado

 

[Sarge]

Emmado, I'm sure that the government had exact specifications on how to mark friendly vehicles during Desert Storm. Truth is, our unit never got anything other than a faxed message saying that we had to mark our doors with an inverted black 'V'. No size was given, no dimensions. When the fax added that a couple of our guys had been smoked by "friendly" fire, we all knew exactly what a gunship does to the bad guys. We rounded up all of the black paint we could find, CARC, rattlecans, whatever. Some trucks were painted with masking tape and rattlecans, some trucks were painted with CARC and brushes. The whole unit was painted in 3 hours. Still, everytime we saw a gunship, or any CAS (Close Air Support) we sucked seat cushion. Not so bad at night because of our uniforms. We always had a small square of glint tape on top of our boonie hats. Spectre used IR (so did the rotaries) so we were pretty safe. Just make sure the glint was pointing towards the flyboys.
-Sarge

 

[citizensoldier]

Hey Sarge! What unit were you in at this time? You have some good pics of the trucks and markings? Maybe I will represent your unit and just use rattle cans.. Did your guys name any of there trucks? If so whats the name.. Those A-10's fly over my house all the time.. I dont want them to think my yard is a hard target range!

 

[jasonjc]

I neve seen any glint tape untill I went to Hati and then they did not have enought to go round so they cut the little squares into 4 tiny square. As for the "V" on the doors never ever seen any thing other than paint brush or rattle can. Sort long fat skinny you name it. And if I remember right the green truck used tan/sand paint.

 

[Sarge]

Unit & photo's

Emmado, I was stationed with the 4th SOG under V corps, but for the duration of the Storm I was TDY with the 8th SOG. We were FACP's. Mostly turtleback fire support and softskins with GRC-206 pallets.
Funny story about that....
We had just converted from 151's to Humvee's. We used to just drive our 151's into CH-53's (Jolly Greens) and fly in at 20 feet. Awesome insertion's, very quick, very safe.
Ever tried squeezing a Humvee into a CH-53? Never happen.
So we had to sling the Humvee's under CH-47's (Chinooks) and insert at 250 feet.
Every moron with a bow and arrow was shooting at us. Not funny.
For some weird reason, the slung Humvee's took more rounds than the Chinooks!
Our FACP teams were two man, one enlisted and one pilot. The pilot was a team member because he was qualified to know the "Envelope" or characteristics of the attacking aircraft. My pilot was a young Captain who was dual qualified, A-10 and F-16, super good guy. He hated our helicopter insertions because he couldn't shoot back.
He showed me something very interesting....
When an F-16 pickles off 2,000 pounds, it leaps skyward, it cannot help it. Right up into the SAM's. The pilot has to fight it back down quickly.
When an A-10 pickles 2,000 pounds you hardly see any altitude change. Ho-hum.
You would not believe how many rounds an A-10 can survive.
I'm digressing again.
Photo's? One of my biggest regrets of my military career was not taking photo's. I have just a small number of 35mm photo's that I packed away in boxes 10 years ago. I hope that I didn't leave any of the boxes in Germany when I came back to the World.
One day I'll find the boxes, scan the photo's and share them.
One day.........
-Sarge

 

[skajm]

what is the box that looks like louvers(sp) on the tanks and truck over in the sandbox today? are a friend and foe thing??

Joe

 

[Sarge]

RE: Unit & photo

Oooops!
Yeah, I forgot.
Jason, you are correct, we used tan paint to paint the 'V' on the green trucks.
Again, just rattlecans or paintbrushes.
Another thing we did with paint that was strange.
We painted some trucks by dipping mops into 5 gallon paint cans and just mopping it on over the green and camo.
If the shade was wrong, we tossed handfuls of sand onto the wet paint job.
We were not trying to win any MVPA awards, we were trying to conceal our trucks.
-Sarge

 

[ida34]

RE: Unit & photo

We were already on the ground by the time it came to painting the V. We used a two inch paint brush and a can of white paint. Not pretty but when the A-10 s are cruising around they really can't see the brush markes. We also painted them white because our trucks were never painted tan. We had nato three color the whole time. I am going to have a magnetic white V made for the doors. We also used panel markers on the top of the trucks to ID us as friendly. I know everyone wants a pretty truck but paint on most of the trucks was sloppy to begin with and the V did not need to be perfect.

 

[ida34]

RE: Unit & photo

I forgot, if you really want an authentic look for it lightly sandblast the windows.

 

[maxim]

RE: Unit & photo

Ahhh yeaaa some A-10's flew over yesterday. While I was out measuring my inverted "V" for Cit....At least they did not let go with a burst...

 

[ida34]

RE: Unit & photo

They were probably checking out a suspected military vehicle and syrup cache in the area. Maybe Lane's neighbor dimed him out.

 

[Jones]

Joe, the 'louvers' are aluminum panels that show up as a cold (black) square to IR gear.

 

[citizensoldier]

Re: RE: Unit & photo

They were probably checking out a suspected military vehicle and syrup cache in the area. Maybe Lane's neighbor dimed him out.

I need to get the frequency for them flyboys! I have a great straifing run for them down on the lake.. Speeking of jets. I had some F-16's about take the tree tops off yesterday.. I could see the pilots clear as day.. They were loaded to the max on both wings and a single drop tank in the middle..I better get some inverted "V"'s on fast.. Or maybe some of them hunter orange flags for the cab tops.. FREINDLY! FREINDLY!! Dont shoot..

Ok back to the Desert Storm trucks.. I have done some internet searches and cant come up with any close up detailed photos yet. Anybody have some good shots from in theater? I am looking for a truck to model this one after maybe even print the picture and put it next to the truck at shows..

 

[jasonjc]

RE: Re: RE: Unit & photo

I looked thought all my pics and could not find any thing better than the one at the start of this. I did see that trucks like M109's and ones with the selters on back, had a "v" on the back of them along with the ones on the doors.

 

[citizensoldier]

Here is a cool one that I had.. Wrong type of deuce but I sure love this shot..

 

[PhilM]

You can buy inverted V tapes in various sizes from these guys:

http://www.awsin.com/products.asp?id=187