Well, I feel stupid because Im a 19D and I have to call fire-mission frequently, but is this artillery piece still in service, with the active army I know some guard units still use it , but is it an active component to OIF or OEF, and if not does anyone know when it was decomm, thanks. Just picked up the AFV club one and wanted to do a 3 color Nato job would this be accurate?
I believe this was used by the active units until 80’s and still in service by the Army National Guard and U.S. Airforce (for their AC130).
Here is the official army website for further reference.
Might still be in service with light infantry and airborne units
They are still in service with at least the National Guard.My town is home to Battery B of the 34th Infantry National Guard and they have them.They are painted solid green.
This is the photo of a 105mm howitzer used by 319 AFAR, 82nd ABN division. I don’t think this is M102. M102 has been removed from most of Active duty and those few batteries equipped with m102 are Army National Guard units.
If you check the web link posted above you will find that this is the M119 howitzer.The latest in the line of the 105mm,s.
Active Duty units do not use the M102A1 any longer. They were all replaced by the M119A1 in the early '90s as shown in the above pic. There are a few M102A1s in the NG still though. One guard unit had some over in Iraq as recently as late '05. The M102s were in 3-color NATO camo when they were used during the '80s and early '90s though. So a NATO camo M102A1 would be correct.