www.geocities.com/Pentagon/5265/atb.htm
However, it proved the ease which parachute delivery can be used to deliver ATBs. Grenadier/scout LT Jeffrey Schram and Combat Medical Specialist, SF 18D SSG Ernest Hoppe followed their non-folding AT bikes and ATAC on a palletized bundle (Kudos 16 Rigger SGT Ken Potter) on the first pass to demonstrate this technique. On the second 17 C-212 pass, Team Leader, LT Michael Sparks jumped with the folded bike over the 18 rear ramp in its airdrop bag as a lowering line load. All 1st TSG members wore complete combat equipment, LBE, and weapons in M1950 cases. The entire operation captured on video by freefall legend, USAF CCT Dave Lilico (Retired) from the air, and later on the ground. On the ground, Team Leader LT Sparks, though jumping later was able to derig, unfold and cycle back to his men who were still de-rigging their Human Powered Vehicles (HPVs). From there, they moved as a unit to rescue a mock hostage from an enemy camp, briefed the SF Command Observers, then took the hostage mannequin on ATAC in tow 35+ miles under their own power back to Fort Bragg, NC. As way of comparison, zccording to Gerard Devlin's book 19 Paratrooper! The HPV-mobile 1st TSG team got to Fort Bragg later that afternoon after a 2pm departure. A/ETBs give Airborne Infantry SPEEED Container Delivery System bundles can also be used to deliver folded A/ETBs to paratroopers who jump seperately and return to the bundles on the ground later CDS bundles over the rear ramp or even through the jump doors themselves as a 'Squad Accompanying Load' HEIGHT= Use CDS bundles to airdrop oversized items like A/ETBs and ATACs so heavy "fire and forget" missiles like Javelin 20 ATGMs or "AGTMs" can be delivered to Paratroopers, who are then mobile to use them effectively. Jump the folded ATB in airdrop bag attached to the Paratrooper; Large Side jump doors of C-17s Obviously, jumping the ATB folded/attached to the Pararooper will require a major "gut check" of those involved, but the pay-off of 10-25 mph mobility on the ground afterwards is definately worth it. The rear ramp jump provide undisturbed air for a majority of the parachute opening sequence, so should not be a major mental obstacle to overcome. SOF routinely jumps TacSATs and loads almost as large routinely over the rear ramp of C-130 type aircraft today. Door bundle A-7A strap or A-21 cargo bag loads into the personnel drop zone b. Rear ramp CDS A-22 loads into the equipment drop zone (Paratroopers must run to, identify their bundles and de-rig) In another OPERATION PROVE BATTLE MOBILITY a bicycle assault exercise at Fort Bragg, NC videotaped by a NBC correspondant, Alan Covey the 1st TSG team composed of Combat Medical Specialist LT David Tran, Grenadier/Scout SGT Paul Latham and Team Leader LT Mike Sparks moved rapidly from a simulated airdrop in fully ghillie strip camouflaged-ATBs to assault positions through woods where there was no pre-existing trails. Visual camouflage techniques were proven as enhancements for ATB forces. The first myth that has to be busted is that light infantry has to take a 23 rucksack to the field at all if you implement all the techniques described in detail in our 24 Airborne Equipment Shop web site. The only thing that needs to be carried in the rucksack is 25 bulk water, food (MREs) and ammunition. If local water is nearby, it can be 26 collected and purified, instead of being carried thus, saving weight. These things are generic and thus every Soldier's 27 rucksack should be uniform so they can be collected en masse, taken to the rear, refilled and air-delivered back to the unit as a LOGPACK. All field-living-SERE 28 (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) equipments need to be and can be on the 29 Soldier at all times for the normal temperature/weather range from 20 degrees to 90 degrees. Only in extremely cold weather is a rucksack with survival clothing/tentage required, in extreme hot weather (deserts) bulk water. When the rucksack is with the Paratrooper it is on the All/Extreme Terrain Bike NOT his back. Even when the A/ETB cannot be riden, it can be pushed/towed (retractable outrigger wheels and a towbar at the front wheels) as a cart with the Soldier hands-free. WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT FOOT RUCK MARCHES THAT TAKE ALL DAY? Light Bicycle Infantryman: self-contained, zero-logistics weapon system Get to point B from A in a bike in an hour, get off the bikes and into attack position. Walking at a turtle's pace for hours exposes the infantry force to all kinds of air/ground observation, artillery, mortar, small arms fires. Being able to move through terrain several 1,000 meter grid squares at a time is a form of protection called SPEED. When the LBI force moves it has security front, rear and flank to contact any enemies before they can reach the main body. When contact is expected, LBI teams move by bounding overwatch, one team aimed in on likely enemy ambush points as the other moves ahead--just like armored vehicles do. When it is certain the enemy is ahead, they dismount their A/ETBs and begin fire/maneuver on the enemy. This is more tactical then riding in back of a noisy, unarmed or armored truck. With a 30 Weapons Gun Shield (WGS) on the end of their shoulder weapons, Paratroopers move forward from cover to cover behind the WGS in the prone, so even if the enemy returns fire, they can survive it to complete the mission----and regain fire superiority with their own weapons. Details of how the "bullet-sponge" paradigm can be defeated is enclosed in the future infantry squad web page link here; Sparks, "Thank you for your input regarding 32 ballistic shields for Soldiers in a MOUT environment. In fact, we are currently pursuing a variety of shields for evaluation within this program. This can be Fast Rope Insertion/Extraction ( 34 FRIES), Special Patrol Insertion-Extraction System (SPIES) or rappel from a hovering helicopter, 35 airland or with the padded airdrop bag, parachuting. The Japanese Army of just 3 divisions defeated the entire British Army in Malaya and 39 Singapore. Their "secret weapon": bicycle jungle infiltration tactics created by a "Studies Group" "Early in 1941 40 Colonel Masanobu Tsuji, (scroll down after clicking link) a veteran of the China campaign. Tsuji was given a report drawn up by two senior Japanese army officers, who had visited Malaya in September 1940. They advised that any attack on Singapore would have to come from the north and reported that the British Air force in Malaya was understrength and its planes obsolete. Tsuji appreciated, as Percival and Dobbie had pointed out, that a frontal attack on Singapore was scarcely feasible but her back door stood open, and he realized that British propaganda was deluding only her own people. The challenge was enormous, for the Japanese Army had no experience of fighting jungle warfare. Soldiers accustomed to cold weather fighting had to be trained to face tropical conditions, and cavalry, which was used in China, had to be abandoned in favour of bicycles. The 25th Japanese Army, which was hurriedly assembled for the invasion of Malaya, was put under the command of Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita, probably Japan's most able general. The son of a humble village doctor, Yamashita was then fifty-six years old and was Tojo 's contemporary and rival. He had headed the Japanese military mission to Germany and Italy in 1940 and served in Korea and North China, until November 1941 when he was summoned from Manchuria to command the attack on Singapore. Yamashita was offered five divisions but decided to employ only three, knowing that this was the maximum force which could be fed and maintained as his supply lines became extended south. The 25th Army comprised the Imperial Guards, the seasoned 18th Division and the highly experienced crack 25th Division, which was one of the best in the Japanese Army. The Japanese secret weapon was the bicycle and it gave them speed and mobility in the advance down the Malay peninsula Light Bicycle Infantry=operational maneuver to victory The Japanese swept down the Malay peninsula, carried forward by audacious planning, good fortune and the exhilaration bred by success. T...
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