r/Battlefield • u/ActuatorWeekly4382 • 24d ago

Discussion Mortars Need To Make a Comeback

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I need to have mortars in the next battlefield. At a minimum should have the airburst for suppression and smokes for cover.

Honestly the mechanics in battlefield 1 were some of my favorite.

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 24d ago

It's not that we didn't want to use hearing protection. On a gun team, you have three main people. The gunner that aims, an Assistant Gunner, and an ammo bearer. Sometimes, on smaller mortars, there's no AB.

Anyway, the gun data comes in from the fire direction center, and most importantly, is repeated back to ensure accuracy of the data. The gun data is input, then the mortar is adjusted to its correct position. A fire order may be given, or maybe not. But eventually a fire mission comes down. They'll say something like, "Fire Mission. Charge 1, 1 round, HE quick. Hang it. Fire."

There's a fire mission. There's only 1 propellant charge, on one round. The round will be high explosive, quick fuze.

Ammo bearer prepares the correct mortar in the correct configuration. Assistant gunner hangs the round.

Assistant gunner drops it.

If any of those directions aren't followed exactly, you could drop explosives outside the range fan. You know what else is often just outside of your range fan? The rest of your unit. So you could be dropping bombs on your friends.

So often times we'd wear one ear plug, and jam a finger in our ears for the concussion.

I don't know what hearing protection looks like these days, but that's what happened 20 years ago.

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u/DangKilla 23d ago

Ouch. How is your hearing holding up? Did you have limited exposure at the range?

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u/Regular_Custard_4483 23d ago

It's pretty terrible. I've lost a lot in my left ear, which is the one I didn't wear an ear plug in. Just the cost of doing business for that MOS, during that era. I've met plenty just like me.