#11823 - 01/05/03 05:34 PM
Hi from a new guy
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Enthusiast
Registered: 01/05/03
Posts: 214
Loc: Scotland
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Hi everyone just signed up today and i'd like to say hello. if anyone would like my input on anything British Military feel free to drop me a line.
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Follow the Sapper
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#11824 - 01/05/03 05:45 PM
Re: Hi from a new guy
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Addict
Registered: 07/04/02
Posts: 436
Loc: Florida
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Welcome aboard!
I suspect that over time, your offer will be taken up as there are members from all around the world with many different interests. Hmmm...first question for you...what is a "sapper"? <img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Edited by Comanche7 (01/05/03 05:47 PM)
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#11825 - 01/05/03 05:57 PM
The Sapper
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Enthusiast
Registered: 01/05/03
Posts: 214
Loc: Scotland
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A sapper is a military engineer, The "follow the sapper" bit comes from days of old, when it came around to breaching fortifications the sappers designed the fieldworks to enable the breach. The assaulting troops then had to Follow the Sapper through these fieldworks to get to the breach site. Basically means everyone else has to follow the engineer to get thier job done.
there you go first little bit of british military history for you
Johno
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#11826 - 01/05/03 07:31 PM
Re: The Sapper
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Veteran
Registered: 12/10/01
Posts: 1272
Loc: Upper Mississippi River Valley...
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Yep... but not just British military history, LoL... we breached a few of our "cousins" fieldworks and fortifications in NE USA a while back... <grin> I enjoyed my career first as an Infantryman and then as a Combat Engineer; both by choice. Sappers have been the vanguard of all advancing armies since well before before Napoleonic times - sometimes even ahead of the scouts - and is the proper historical term for the in-the-enemy's-face combat engineers - that's what we call them in the US Army as well - borrowed term from our "cousins".
We have advanced some from axes... although anyone who's had to resond to an "incident" at the Enlisted Club can vouch that macho grunts and cavalrymen risk serious peril mixing it up with fellows that wield 12 pound sledge hammers all night long <smirk>...
Mobility, Countermobility, Survivability, Demolition, Construction, Reconnaisance, fighting as Infantry - we do it all! No mechanized commander can or will move without his supporting sappers... the unmounted grunts usually have to run into trouble before the truth hits them ( I used to be one, blithley jumping out of airplanes and running around afoot).
Glad to see another sapper on the list!
Sappers First!
Tom USA, Retired
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#11827 - 01/05/03 08:35 PM
Re: The Sapper
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Enthusiast
Registered: 01/05/03
Posts: 214
Loc: Scotland
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Tom, apologies for my inadvertant mistake, a bit of unintended national blinkering on my part. glad to make your aquaintance. The more sappers the better no matter what nationality.
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Follow the Sapper
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#11828 - 01/06/03 01:48 AM
Re: The Sapper
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Addict
Registered: 07/04/02
Posts: 436
Loc: Florida
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Thanks for filling a void in my military knowledge. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Edited by Comanche7 (01/06/03 01:49 AM)
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#11829 - 01/06/03 01:52 AM
Re: Hi from a new guy
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Welcome to the forums! <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
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#11830 - 01/06/03 12:15 PM
Re: Hi from a new guy
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Veteran
Registered: 05/23/02
Posts: 1403
Loc: Brooklyn, New York
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Similar to what John said. Sapper in Polish military is also a combat engineer but somehow they are used mostly for cleaning mine fields. There was this old saying that sapper can only make two mistakes: first one when he joins the sapper corp and second one... well you know.
Matt
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#11831 - 01/07/03 01:02 AM
Re: Hi from a new guy
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Addict
Registered: 07/04/02
Posts: 436
Loc: Florida
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<img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
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#11832 - 01/07/03 03:21 AM
Re: Hi from a new guy
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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#11833 - 01/08/03 03:00 AM
Re: Hi from a new guy
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Enthusiast
Registered: 01/03/02
Posts: 280
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Johno,
Welcome!
I too, am a combat engineer. First on 5 years active duty with the Seabees, and now as a combat engineer with the Kentucky National Guard. You'll make a fine addition to the crew.
BTW and FYI, "Sapper" is now an official army designation. It signifies someone who has completed the Army's Sapper course. The Sapper course has been described to me as being to the engineers, what Ranger school is to the infantry if that made any sense.
Take care,
Andy
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#11834 - 01/11/03 04:34 AM
Re: The Sapper
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Member
Registered: 09/11/02
Posts: 181
Loc: Denver, CO, USA
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Make it two. Former 12B, Ft. Lost-in-the-Woods
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#11835 - 01/11/03 07:02 AM
Re: The Sapper
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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New to the Forum and also a former Combat Engineer (16th Eng., Furth, Germany 89-91).
Great information here! I am sure to learn a lot.
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