The "Gavin!"

[Murph]

Seriously NO.  We called it a "track" or if having to be official the M113A1 which is what I had with 2/36 Infantry back in the day.  In the grand scheme of things, as a vehicle to carry infantry too and from where it needed to be the thing was pretty darn good.  I do not recall who was the dipsnot who first wanted to call it a Gavin.  Was it LIC when he was on those cornere drugs?  

[Stuart Galbraith]

Sparky I believe. I like it fo4 the comedy value, it's like calling FV432 Trojan.

[Ssnake]

It was always Sparky, from the start.

[Ivanhoe]

This thread is incomplete without a diorama.

[shep854]

Mike Sparks, the madness behind the ‘1st Tactical Studies Group’.

Their website: combatreform.org 

A rabbit hole of true military weirdness.

Enter at your own risk…

Edited February 24, 2025 by shep854

[Tim Sielbeck]

Some reading:  https://combatreform.org/mikesparksm113gavin.htm

 

                           https://www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/the-ballad-of-mike-sparks

Edited February 24, 2025 by Tim Sielbeck

[shep854]

7 hours ago, Tim Sielbeck said:

Some reading:  https://combatreform.org/mikesparksm113gavin.htm

 

                           https://www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/the-ballad-of-mike-sparks

Yeah, back in the day, we had a lot of fun with Sparky.

[sunday]

1 hour ago, shep854 said:

Yeah, back in the day, we had a lot of fun with Sparky.

Yeah, like with Stuart now...

[Ssnake]

1 hour ago, shep854 said:

Yeah, back in the day, we had a lot of fun with Sparky.

My definition of fun must be substantially different from yours. Sparky behaved like an ass and had seemingly unlimited energy to spew his nonsense. At least, back then the difference between reality and fantasy still mattered.

[shep854]

1 hour ago, Ssnake said:

My definition of fun must be substantially different from yours. Sparky behaved like an ass and had seemingly unlimited energy to spew his nonsense. At least, back then the difference between reality and fantasy still mattered.

Oh, but the mockery was epic...especially when someone posted similar silliness.

[sunday]

2 hours ago, shep854 said:

Oh, but the mockery was epic...especially when someone posted similar silliness.

That was Chris Werb channeling Lee I Charters, I think.

[shep854]

1 hour ago, sunday said:

That was Chris Werb channeling Lee I Charters, I think.

There were also the occasional new member who thought he could throw his knowledge around...

[Ol Paint]

Don't forget the epic 8-bit music that used to play on each page.

Doug

[shep854]

8 hours ago, Ol Paint said:

Don't forget the epic 8-bit music that used to play on each page.

Doug

😵‍💫

[Stargrunt6]

9 hours ago, Ol Paint said:

Don't forget the epic 8-bit music that used to play on each page.

Doug

Was it this?

 

 

[Ol Paint]

16 hours ago, Stargrunt6 said:

Was it this?

 

 

Not as I recall.  There were a few different tunes, as I recall, back when his site was on Geocities.  And I say "epic" with sarcasm. 

Since I think I nudged Murph over the edge in the Trump 2.0 thread, let me clarify that the use of Gavin was intentional and considered.   

Doug

[DB]

The funny thing was that some of the madder dioramas included the Iowa reconfigured as angled deck hybrid CVs, and now we see from Battleship New Jersey that the concepts didn't come out of his head, but were "official".

[shep854]

3 hours ago, DB said:

The funny thing was that some of the madder dioramas included the Iowa reconfigured as angled deck hybrid CVs, and now we see from Battleship New Jersey that the concepts didn't come out of his head, but were "official".

I had to smile as well when I saw some of those drawings.

[Wobbly Head]

On 3/3/2025 at 11:49 AM, DB said:

The funny thing was that some of the madder dioramas included the Iowa reconfigured as angled deck hybrid CVs, and now we see from Battleship New Jersey that the concepts didn't come out of his head, but were "official".

That was part of his problem. He would take legitimate ideas that someone had thought of but then given up on due to reality creeping in. Sparky took those ideas and ran with them. He wouldn't let a little thing like reality get in his way.

[X-Files]

Every now and then you'll see Sparky quoted by some 'serious' publication and suddenly it's Clown World time.

 

Two words - Mountain. Bikes.

 

[PaulFormerlyinSaudi]

A long discussion here.

[Sinistar]

even if someone is an AFV enthusiast this is perhaps the worst case of OCD in this category

 

you might see other weird flame wars with rivet counting and armor estimates or ammunition performance or which variants of a tank used a different transmission or not

 

but the question is whether he really believes what he is saying and that is not all his own projection but the real nomenclature which for some reason is 'official' but rather than something known about already like it would be if it were official he instead cannot seem to understand why would he need to preach if it were official nomenclature- everyone would already know about

 

is it a mental illness of some kind

because of all things to pick a relatively obscure and unimportant matter to pursue like that

[RETAC21]

Russians copy the Gavin:

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1903411389223301450

[Ssnake]

Finally someone who gets it!

Air-droppable. Not a wheeled death trap. Filled with non-narcissist Marines screaming for 8" fire support.

 

Did I forget a checkbox?

[urbanoid]

3 minutes ago, Ssnake said:

Finally someone who gets it!

Air-droppable. Not a wheeled death trap. Filled with non-narcissist Marines screaming for 8" fire support.

 

Did I forget a checkbox?

Stuka sirens for the AeroGavin?