Well I'm glad you liked it, T2. I'm just sorry about the other readers here.

And for f*ck sake let's just end this now, Kontakt5! Get a life!

Certainly those who live in fantasy land don't care about reality- those people exist, trust me. Certainly your knowledge isn't at issue, either- you don't have any, so instead you try that medieval form of false skepticism to try to argue against reliable observations that the sun doesn't in fact revolve around the earth. The points of what make the accounts in the article entertaining are technical by nature in and of themselves- the article doesn't go much into subjective day to day experiences- meals, the chain of command, interaction with Coalition forces, or anything, but rather goes more into the factual, or objective or technical details of these systems. And that's where it gets weird- ergo, because the article itself deals with technical issues rather than the personal side of experiences, and because those technical issues are contentious, the basis of the article is therefore contentious.

It's not my knowledge alone, either- just to end that pretense. There's a community out there that you probably don't know about or have experience with. It just so happens that on a site that isn't as preoccupied with this subject matter as it is aircraft or more mainstream topics, it appears as if there are one or two madmen rubbing against the grain- for being much more careful.

Adds nothing. Not a defense of your information.

As I've said- you can do what you want. It entertains people, I'm sure, and that seems to be your intention. Deep down, I think you actually understand the contentions in here, but they aren't convenient. If we were talking about aircraft and fighter jets, maybe you'd be more susceptible to something closer to reality. The aircraft fanatics on SimHQ would probably be all over that, and I think you'd then understand the fuss. But tanks are more obscure here, so a glossing over of substance is good enough.

But for your other readers who have more interest than a rather plastic treatment of this, the main points they might be interested are gross inaccuracies and sensationalism. I'm sorry reality bothers you, but that's the way it is. There is no data supporting enemy ATGMS fired on Coalition armor in either ODS or OIF, I would certainly be interested in that if there were- I'd have no reason to deny or suppress the truth if there were. The main culprits have been mechanical breakdowns, friendly fire, IED road bombs, RPGs and recoilless rifle fire- there were about 80 M1 tanks damaged or destroyed, that is, written off or taken out of combat requiring depot level repairs. Crew vaporizing- yeah, right. Like in a Michael Bay popcorn flick or something. Certain 'minor' details are just wrong, like incorrect references to T-64s in Iraq. Others are just obnoxious. These things pile up and start making the article look peculiar. If someone wrote an article that an Iraqi SAM mirv'ed and went into the third engine intake of the F-22 and spat back out again and destroyed the launcher (the F-22 having done that because the F-22 is immune to physics) you'd understandably start to groan. Just so you understand.

But as you wish- we can end it.

Oh yes it does! My tank was hit by a sabot round once and I got sucked right through the hole. To this day I hate squeezing plastic half-empty ketchup bottles `cuz that's just what it sounded like.

Hey look, Kontakt has 10 whole posts and 9 of them are here on this thread touting how great he is.

No one cares Kontakt. I suggest you go back to that "other community".

Well, I suppose 2600 + posts makes you Lord of the Forum at SimHQ- that and 50 cents will buy you a bag of potato chips, your highness. Don't eat 'em all at once. But I reckon few if any of those posts could have anything of value to add here. I just don't gather this is your cup of tea- which is fine, it's not everyone's, but to be clear, you have nothing of value to add. All you're doing is trying to suppress valid points, because you couldn't have any of your own to add.

Some gain wisdom from books,others from real-life experience........and they don't necessarily have to match!

Hmm..somehow we overlooked this one.

Knock of the personal attacks. Debate the issue, that is fine. No more personal attacks.