O/T The immigrant notes

[Philcott]

Iskander,

 

It is good to hear your stories. I look forward to the next installment.

 

Phil

[Lars Christensen]

Iskander, I need Part 3, I need Part 3

This is a great story,

 

Midnite oil,

Not a citizen yet, that will be next step, to become a dual citizen. Can't get myself to give up my danish passport.

 

Lars

 

[ 11-16-2003, 07:58 AM: Message edited by: Lars ]

[mikhael gutman]

Hi , Iskander !

Was in the soviet army service from 1976-1979 . Truly I had totally different experience.

I served as a sergeant too .

First “they” sent me(not only me ,was 5000 guys ) so far from home – 10000km.

Was good , so-so or bad ,

Was different people ( like every where and always ) .

But not so bad as you say.(this is my personal story).

I was radio station commander . To learn this stuff from scratch for 2 month we worked 12-16 hours a day( no weekends) but it was necessary – you know.

After school real army , and real work, work , work. On our ”point” was 20 mans and we leaved like a family . Our locators followed any aircraft and another stuff on our part of border with Iran etc .

And I think Soviet army wasn’t so bad professionally as you say.

I think generally it was a good army.

Regards

[Fig sign]

Hello ,friends !

 

I want to explain smthng.

 

I an not a xxxx that want to cover with dirt his homeland (former and actual) !

I love these countries !

I love Israel (still to come ).

And I wish the former Soviet Union countries all the best.

Actually I left a lot of friends,relatives and good comrades there and when they have problems ,

I feel the pain ,I am not a sob to have a joy

sitting in a "safe" place like Israel and looking from a distance .

And I don`t want to generalize my personal experience and say that it was the common thing .

And I don`t feel humiliated or an opposite a sort of a hero .

And I don`t beg for a pity .

I always thought that if a man has a selfrespect he can stay a man in any circumstances .

What I write is what I feel ,think and recall,

very private and personal ,it can not be extrapolated on the whole USSR.

I regard Soviet Army as I see it from my point of

view .

I think that it would always win in a conventional war with a NATO ,but the man losses would be 3-5 times greater ,that`s all .

Sorry , if I offended somebody or can do it in the future !

 

I am taking a little timebreak .

 

I am too busy now .

I will continue the dirty tricks 2 .

 

The next pages will be:

 

The Soviet people travel abroad by tanks

 

Get out of this trash (Why they hadn`t sent us to

fight in Afganistan )

 

42 tons of armor

 

The losers of the Soviet Army .

 

Smoking on the run (gear production )

 

Bicycling toward Chernobyl.

 

It`s good to be a Jew .

 

First days in Israel

 

Regards .

Iskander teh unknown writer

 

[ 11-20-2003, 05:49 AM: Message edited by: Iskander teh Lazy ]

[Lars Christensen]

I want to appoligize, my notes about the USSR armey was not ment negative, I took it out of the post.

 

Sorry Iskander.

 

Lars

[Fig sign]

Lars !

 

It is OK and I was not offended .

I only want to say that 20 years ago we could fight one another simply because of some

no way out situation .

The world may be not safer now ,but it is different ,IMHO .

 

 

PS It is very hard to offend me at all , I am thick-skinned .

 

Iskander teh renegade

[Lars Christensen]

Iskander,

 

Good, I never found out who was the real enemy under the cold war, maybe the politicens. I think I talk for many europiens when I say that we felt like we were caught between two superpowers and it ditten matter what side we were on. What matters is that we = Europe including Russia, Ukrane, Estland, Belarus and so on, US, and all other countryes are working together.

 

But this thread is not about placing friend or enemy, this is Iskanders story, sorry that I am getting side tracked.

 

Lars

[Sailing4life]

Hi Eskander. I never new I have a twin brother. Story you telling almost the same as mine. Fighting almost every day at school, tough not willing to give up. Only I am in New Jersey USA, god bless this country. I am from city Kharkov Ukraine. 1979-1981 served in railroad unit Mongolia. What you probable will call corps of engineer in American Army.

I have a lot of friends and relatives in Israel. Each time there is next attack it hurt me.

And after September 11 it is do not SIMMs so far away.

 

I am new to forum. The more I working with MC9 the more question I have.

How to mill open pocket with island. For it risen pocketing going right through island. I was able to trick system by extending walls and closing pocket. But it should be better way.

If you or any body there how solve this problem let me know.

By the way were in Israel you live.

E-mail me [email protected]

Thanks

 

[Fig sign]

welcome to the board , Alex !

 

Thank you 4 your reply.

Replying to the second part of your letter:

I can do it many ways .

Beeng a Lazy in the good meaning of this if to draw a contour will take 2 time to mill it or the island mostly parrallel to the outer contour I will do contour with multiple cuts.

otherwise I would go with a fake wall pocket with an entering outside a wall

You simply build the point in the needed place and take it as a first pocket geometry .

In tool parameters deselekt ramping .

3.Visit my dirty tricks thread and read about free hand mousemaching .

Visit Camaix site for the freemachining C-hook .

I write in haste cause I am leaving my home 4 a work now .

[Reijo Heurlin from Zenex Finland]

Nice to read about this.

As living next door to Russia (in Finland) I was often asked by many Americans earlier if I was afraid of living so close to Soviet Union.

My reply was the following:

"I can imagine how many missiles there are that are aimed to Washington and New York and then I think how many missiles are aimed at Helsinki (capital of Finland, where I live). Then I am not so worried at all)

 

I have been asked by some Russians what Finns think of them. My answer has been that probably better than ever. (As you know about the Ribbentrop pact, where Stalin and Hitler divided Europe and Finland was one of the countries to be conquered by Stalin. This lead to Winter War. By the way Helsinki and Moscow were the only continental European war going capitals that were not occupied)

Today, there are many Russians living in Finland (trough marriage or work)

 

 

I'd like to ask you some questions, but I do not think that all the people on this forum are interested. Could you email your email address at [email protected]

 

reijo Heurlin

[ak762]

Reijo,

Glad to see you at this forum.

Ask me any and I answer personally when I visit to you in Desember.

[Fig sign]

part3 The Soviet People Travel Abroad by Tanks (old Russian joke ).,

 

Many my relatives were in Hungary and Czechoslovakia , They not liked to tell about it.

And our tanks Corps took action in both of them , naturally .

Personally I recall 1968 year only because through our town two days passed lava of armoured personal vehicles ,tracks and other stuff and the roar was immense .

The people told one another that it is the last days of peace and America will strike .

I was 8 years boy and thought at first that it was a holiday . a sort of a military parade .but faces of the people were grim.

Later at the evening my grandmother told my mother that no need to have a second child ,the one kid is enough , if not now .then the atomic war will be in a year or two , why kids must suffer ?

I lost the possibility to travel by tank to Poland :

Our corps ,like other tank divisions and regiments ,was near the Poland boarder ,with roaring engines.

Yaruzelski simply saved Poland from Russion invasion , taking Polish army to the streets

to calm down Solidarnosc . taking of from Russians pretext for it .

The possibility to travel abroad by tank always was real and became real even more when

USA made special fast deployment forces , sorta firefighting squad ,that in the short time

can be sent in any point of the globe .

The Soviet answer was Our Corps that was transformed to a fast reaction forces of a kind .

We were fully independent self sufficient forces with everything you can imagine .

We learned only one thing -attack or counterstrike ,long distance drives .

We never practiced defence and had 4-5 shooting drills a week .

And nobody made a secret about who will we visit -our best friends and the Poland was first in a list !

When Soviet Union had problems in Nicaragua , there started the rumours we will be sent there

I said that it was a sheer nonsense . , but the officers told us that the tanks just waiting us there .

At weekly political lesson one of the squad commanders with an imbecile voice usually told us some dumb stuff ,while all the platoon was sitting and pretending that we attentivly listening ,in fact not giving a damn .

That week came to us the brigade political officer , a colonel by rank and started to talk about the Soviet man International mission ,about Nicaragua and Americans .

It made me uneasy a bit ..

I am sure even now that it was nonsense , the idea was too crazy ,he wanted only to see our

reaction , we were the worst platoon in discipline ,stockade regulars and AWOLs champions.

 

[ 11-17-2003, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: Iskander teh Lazy ]

[mayday]

Iskander,

How far are you from Iscar? I have been to the Texas seminar and was impressed of the operations. just curios how big the company is in Israel and if you have been there?

[Fig sign]

I am by Israely standart far ,far from it ...3 hours drive .

Never was there .The company is one of Israely best ones ,and fast growing .

Although I prefere Seco insert mills ,Iscar is good too, and their solid end mills- ball mills line with IC900 coating is superb .

I use a lot Iscar and Hanita solid carbide hog mills for steel .

Iscar has now roughing mills starting from 4 mm !!!

BTW do you know that Hanita is Israely kibbutz?

Their tools are good too !

 

Iskander teh coat me IC900 and cut w/m steel !

 

[ 11-17-2003, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: Iskander teh Lazy ]

[mayday]

Just got the new OSG 2004 catalog today

there are some really kick arse new tools in it

nice little .05 L.O.C. bull end mills. great for deep pocket profiling

[Toolfab]

Wonderful writings Iskander, thank you for sharing with us. On a side note, you should be happy to see the other members of this forum that share your experiances, and come from the same part of the globe as yourself.

 

This thread has givin the opportunity for some who have been memebers for a long time to post on a subject near to there hearts.

 

Good job Iskander, very cool.

[Harryman]

Iskander, when you get around to it, please comment on Russian reaction to Ronald Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down that wall."

 

When Gorbachov visited St. Paul, Minnesota, He was very warmly welcomed. It's a fun memory for me. Do you recall that trip?

[Fig sign]

Well , funny thing but I don`t like Gorbachov .

I take him for hypocrite .

I think he did what he did by the force of circumstances .

He was fooling the West while it was charmed

by the new Russian leader .

We looked at him by his other deeds.

You think the people cared about the wall?

They were furious because the vodka disappered from shops !

And about Chernobyl.

And about a lot of other things

And because he deprived them of the last hope

to be fooled about happy communist future .

Well Reygan seems more sincere .

He simply told Russians - no way ,guys .I am tough enough .

You know the rest of a story .

And I like the way he told his jokes !

 

A couple of them are outstanding !

[Harryman]

quote:

---

You think the people cared about the wall?

They were furious because the vodka disappered from shops !

---

WOW! Knock the wall down and all the vodka in Russia drains out.

 

Thanks for your insights. We're still interested.

 

Na Zdrowie!

[Fig sign]

Harry !

 

Vodka was first !

He actually lost the battle for sobber way of life .

It was a total fiasco !

And he had hurt the people feelings .

Those who really gained from this were criminals .

It seems to me that your country had the same experience in the past ?!?

 

I will say different:

When you are buying fodka 5 prices higher or stay in the queue for hours the common people are not giving a damn to the Berlin wall !

 

[ 11-18-2003, 12:57 AM: Message edited by: Iskander teh Lazy ]

[Fig sign]

part 4

 

Get out of this trash (Why they hadn`t sent us to

fight in Afganistan )

 

When I was enlisted and found myself in the training division , we

sat all night on the ground on the divisions stadium and they called

from time to time somebody and took him somewhere .

They took me one of the last and I found myself in the third platoon

of our training regiment .

The first army days have a lot of common in any army , but when I

get used to it I saw some weird things .

There were platoons like our 7`th platoon only Russians there sort of

elite platoon and were others like us (70 -80 % of not speaking Russian

people like Uzbecks ,Azerbaidjan ,Tadjiks ,Kazahs , and so on ) .

This UzbecKs and others guys were actually very nice chaps only they had

not understood Russion completly and you just can imagine ,

what the hell it was for them.

You think they were taught the language ?

Attention ,You bloody .......!(here came the untranslatable expression )

They learned Russian through bad language and many of them never learned to

speak normal Russian .

Now can you imagine Azerbaidjan commander ,Ukranian aimer and Tadjik driver as a

crew , not able normally to communicate one with another !

Our platoon commander never expected such a blow and called us trash .

Every day happened something that proved his conclusuion to rid out of us .

Our first firing drills were sheer nightmare and it was a miracle that

all of guys involved in accidents get from them safe .

He imagined our possible future deeds and HE IS IN CHARGE !

All his career was in danger!

His dream became to "Get out of this trash !".

So one day he and our political officer stood in front of us with happy smiles

and he shouted :

Good morning ,comrades self -propelled gunners!

??????

Our platoon will be transformed :

the best of you `ll became self -propelled gunners ,

"Shilka" self-propelled anty-aircraft crews and the idiots will became the BMP

drivers !

It shocked everybody !

We may be were not the best ,but very proud to server as tanksman

and very trying our best too!

We regarded this as humilation , to drive ,shoot or command this

real beauty and to sit afterwards inside some scrap with 15 mm

of alluminium armor !

Well ,the next week his good mood disappered he became furious as never

before and rumors told us that we will stay tanksman !

It was a real joy .

But he looked at us as his career ruiners and his only consolation was his next idea

: "I `ll send you to rot in Afganistan !"

Now this was a real thing .

The war there was going for a couple of years and I never saw an officer

capable or brave enough to explain WTF we are doing there !

Most common explanations was :

If not we ,than Americans !

Every half of year our training division sent one or two platoons

to some other place for a short training to downgrade to T62 tanks

and sent them to Afganistan.

I said that we will not ever be sent ,who need such dumba$$e$ there ?

But we suddenly showed one of the best shooting results in the couple of years at the

final tests !

I don`t know even now how we managed it , all the crews shoot there targets ,

mostly from the first shoot .

It was a miracle .

We were proud and happy .

And then came a thought :

Now we`ll go there .

They never sent us there , every military region prefer

to keep itself good shooters !

 

[ 11-18-2003, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Iskander teh Lazy ]

[Harryman]

Iskander, I'm sorry if my clunky humor offended you. No offence was intended. I didn't know Gorbachov tried something like our prohibition.

 

I'll be quiet now.

[Fig sign]

Part 5 . 42 tons of armor .

 

 

 

I loved tanks all my life .

I always wanted to be a tanksman .

And I read all what I could about them before army .

Models ,pictures ,drawings ,old books

from the second world war and before , the old manuals .

My place was full of this .

And a lot of relatives and people that I know that served as tanksman.

It was a sort of a dream of a life and I was impatient to see modern tanks in reality .

The first time I saw T-72 it shocked me.

THIS THING WAS SO BEAUTIFUL !

It was a beauty of a predator ,a deadly beast ,slim ,gorgeous ,magnificent

armored fighting masterpiece .

This impression I keep all my life .

Sensation .

This thing will soon be mine !

 

 

Some facts:

 

T-72 Main Battle Tank - Technical Characteristics

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Characteristics

 

Crew: 3

Length: 274 in. hull, 363.7 in. gun forward

Height: 93.3 in.

Width: 141 in. w/o skirts, 187 in. w/skirts

Weight: 41 tons

Engine: V-12 Diesel

Transmission: Syncromesh, 7 forward and 1 reverse

Steering: Clutch and brake

Suspension: Torsion Bar

Smoke System: 12 x grenade launchers and exhaust system

Fuel: 264 internal, 105 external

NBC System: Yes

Armor: Cast turret 11 in thick, Laminated glacis 8 in thick. Some vehicles are fitted with reactive armor.

 

 

 

Weapons an Fire Control

 

Main Gun: 125mm 2A46 Smoothbore Gun/Missile launcher

Coax: 1 x 7.62mm

Anti-Air: 1 x 12.7mm

Missile: AT-8 Songster

Ammo Load: 39 x 125mm, 3000 x 7.62, 500 x 12.7mm

Ammo Types: HE-Frag, HEAT, 2 types of APFSDS-T

Muzzle Velocity: 5900 fps/APFSDS-T

Max Range: 9 km

Stabilization: Yes

Turret Power: Electrical/Manual

Gun Elevation/Depression: +18/-5

Autoloader: Yes

Range Finder: Stadia, later variants may have a laser.

Night Vision: Passive IR w/searchlight

 

 

 

Performance

 

Max Speed: 47 mph

Horsepower: 780

HP per Ton: 19

Acceleration:

Grade (Ascend): 60%

Vertical Obstacle: 33.5 in.

Ditch: 106 in.

Ground Clearance: 18.5 in

Fording: 55 in., 216 in. w/kit

Range: 298 mi., 434 mi. w/long range tanks

 

The T-72 entered production in 1971 and was fully operational by 1973. The tank was first seen publicly in a parade in Moscow in 1977.

 

Hull

 

The T-72 follows the same basic design of other Soviet tanks, driver in the center front, rounded 2 man turret with the TC on the right and the Gunner on the left, and the engine compartment in the rear. The glacis is well sloped, traversely ribbed with a deep V shaped splash guard. Under the nose of the tank is a dozer blade that can be brought into play in 1 to 2 minutes allowing the tank to dig it's own fighting position. Like other Soviet tanks it can be fitted with mine clearing equipment.

 

The driver is provided with a single piece hatch that opens to the right and is fitted with a single vision block. Fuel cells extend along the right side of the hull top and on the left hull top are storage boxes. A unditching beam and two fuel drums are carried on the rear of the tank. They can be jettisoned of necessary.

 

The suspension consists of 6 road wheels with the idler in front, sprocket in rear, and 3 return rollers. Track is of the single pin type with rubber bushings. 4 spring loaded skirts over the front part of the track are released in action. They pop forward at a angle to provide some additional protection against HEAT warheads.

 

Turret

 

The TC's hatch is on the right side of the turret. He has a rotating cupola with a hatch that opens forward and 2 rear facing vision blocks. In the forward part of the cupola is a combined day/night sight and a infra-red searchlight. To either side of the day/night sight is another vision block. The optical stadia rangefinder is in front of and slightly below the cupola. Two steel storage boxes are mounted on the turret, one on the rear and the other slightly behind the TC's position. The snorkel is carried on the left rear of the turret. The fording kit can be erected in 20 minutes and removed in 2 minutes using explosive bolts.

 

The Gunner's hatch opens forward and has attachments for mounting a snorkel for deep water fording and 2 observation periscopes. In front of and to the left is the gunners panoramic day/night sight which is used on conjunction with the IR searchlight mounted to the left of and in front of the sight. Forward and below the gunners hatch is a laser range finder.

 

The main gun is a 125mm (2A46) smoothbore fitted with a bore evacuator and a thermal shroud. This is the same gun as the newer T-80. It is capable of firing HEAT, HE-Frag, and APFSDS-T. Basic load of 39 rounds is broken down into 12 APFSDS-T, 21 HE-Frag and 6 HEAT. Ammo is of the separate loading type with a combustible cartridge. The carousel automatic loader is mounted on the turret floor and the rear wall of the turret. The projectile is loaded into the lower part of the carousel and the propellant cartridge into the upper part. It carries 24 rounds and enables a 8 rds/min rate of fire but is not very reliable. There have been reports of the autoloader having a tendency to try to load the gunners right arm in addition to the round. Also the since the ammo is stored in the crew compartment any penetrating hit results in the tank becoming a inferno and generally resulting in the turret being blown off. Additional rounds are stored in racks behind the turret basket and in indentations on the rear floor fuel cell and in front to the right of the driver. Secondary armament is a 7.62mm PKT machine gun mounted coaxially to the right of the main gun with 250 rounds of ready ammo. A 12.7mm NSVT machine gun is mounted on the TC's cupola, it cannot be fired with the hatch closed.

 

The T-72 is considered to be on par with the U.S. M60A3 and inferior to the M1 series.

 

 

 

Variants

 

There have been many different versions of the T-72 itself such as the basic, Dolly Parton with enhanced armor and the export version. Only a few major variants are listed here.

 

BREM-1

This is a armored recovery and repair vehicle based on the T-72 chassis. The crane can lift 13 tons and the main winch has a pull capacity of up to 110 tons. It has a hydraulically operated dozer blade and a complete range of tools.

 

IMR-2

This is a combat engineer vehicle based on the T-72 chassis. It has a dozer blade that can be used in straight or V configuration. The crane can be fitted with a number of attachments including pincers used to uproot trees.

 

Export

T-72s built for export have a slightly different fire control system and auto loader. Also they do not have the lead anti-radiation liner common to Soviet tanks.

 

 

This facts are taken from this site

Very interesting info about tanks ,if to throw away politics

(my views are quite different ).

---------------------

 

Well ,your tank is always the best !

In my days it could be compaired only with T-64.

It was more modern than T-62 and more simple and reliable than t-64.

It was fast ,solid built and had superb engine.

It`s automatic loader gave a possibility to make shoot every 7 seconds .

I think it was far superb than M60A3 .

But this thing was deadly.

Not only to the enemy ,but to a crew also .

I say it from my personal experience .

quote:

---

There have been reports of the autoloader having a tendency to try to load the gunners right arm in addition to the round.

---

That is #$%%^y true

This predator was dangerous for all the crew .

My first driver that was in my crew first 4 monthes was transfered to the other platoon.

He was from a village not far from my home town .

He was a nice chap and a good friend .

We met a lot afterwards .

He served in the neighbour combat unit .

One day we had met ,chatted ,shared one cigarette .

The next day they told me that poor guy is dead .

They had shooting drill and this poor guy got a machine- gun full round at his head .

He was not fast enough to close a hatch and his crew fired .

There was a problem with a safety switch off,keeping the crew from shooting while drivers`s hatch is opened and they literally blew his head off !

Ever wondered why soviet tanks T-64,T-72 and others on march have the turret turned rightwards ?

Because a driver`s place is right under the main gun and PKT machine -gun and if the turret is looking forward , the driver`s hatch opened ,his head is out of tank in the marching position the accident can happen any minute !

The similar accident had my friend from university , we served in one training unit when they cut in two their driver with a stabilized 125 main gun on drill ,they turned a turret and this poor guy`s up was outside!

I don`t want to continue.

The same with a gunner and commander .

The automatic loader was simply dangerous .

You are sitting so close to it when the loader mechanism loads a next round that all can happen .

And a lot of other things .

This tank was a best in the world fighting machine and the worst in safety !

We had so many accidents that I simply not will have enough place to tell about them here .

It made from me very cautious man and helped me afterwards when I started to work as a machinist .

The fools not live long .

The cautious man is not a coward ,he simply thinks before he does.

And you must be a very tough man to service it .

To place a new tank`s battery you sit in the hatch and took it with straight hands and put in the place left from driver.

Only one man has a place to do it .

You must put 4 of them.

Well one battery weight -----78 kilograms.

If you are weak ,it will fall on your legs .

I did it many times .

I was a strong man in the army ,you can believe me.

You have no other way.

A common joke was:

All the service work in tank is done with a slight move of the sledgehammer !

I loved my tank and love it now.

That days were wonderful days and even now I have dreams when I am driving it or shooting from it .

The snow ,the forest,and the engine roar !

------------------------

 

Iskander teh tanksman

 

[ 11-19-2003, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: Iskander teh Lazy ]

[Lars Christensen]

I want one, man thats a beast, no wonder you falled in love with that one.

 

Sorry to hier about yor frind.

 

Lars

[Müřlıń®]

Iskander......you are a very interesting person

 

 

Murlin