Post #54,577
10/2/02 9:13:35 PM
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Understanding Why You Do Things...
A group of appreciative tourists watched a demonstration put on by the Royal Artillery of the Queen. The six man team worked with flawless precision. Actually, only five of them worked with flawless precision. One man positioned himself about twenty-five yards away from the cannon and stood at attention during the entire exhibition, doing nothing.
After the exhibition, one of the tourists asked the staff officer to explain the duty of the man standing off to the side.
"He's number six," Came the reply.
"Yes, but what does he do?"
"He stands at attention"
"Yes, I know, but WHY does he stand at attention?"
I'll post the answer in a couple of days. If you want to guess, go ahead.
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Post #54,578
10/2/02 9:16:32 PM
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Here's my guess.
To witness it if they blow themselves up with a misfire.
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Post #54,580
10/2/02 9:24:25 PM
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my guess...
...is that he shoots any of the 5 that abandons their post. :-)
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Post #54,581
10/2/02 9:35:53 PM
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he's an orificer or its a union job :-)
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
qui mori didicit servire dedidicit
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Post #54,582
10/2/02 9:36:35 PM
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horseholder
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
qui mori didicit servire dedidicit
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Post #54,585
10/2/02 9:51:59 PM
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Hmmm
He (provides/withholds) INFORMATION (for/from) the rest of the team.
(Yes, it's a Prisoner reference. He is, after all, "Number Six.")
-YendorMike
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?
- Jimmy Buffett, June 20, 2002, Tinley Park
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Post #54,587
10/2/02 10:03:12 PM
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I believe I know... (Probably a spoiler)
Let us go back to the days of when gun powder was invented... Technology was not something to trifle with. Technology often made people think you were a witch or warlock.
Now, as Gun powder progressed, it became clear it could be used to devastate nearly anything at a longer range than any arrow or other string or sling thrown missile usually could be.
Therefore, eventually *SOMEONE* came up with the idea of putting ALOT of gunpowder behind a LARGE projectile. They even discovered they could "direct" the blast with a very large piece of stone cut out to make a shaft bore. Not long after that Bronze was the rage in making these "cannons"... then iron later... but they were HEAVY... now they were only good if you could get them to a combat zone easily.
Horse drawn artillery was the answer... sometimes many horses, depending upon how big the cannons were... sometimes 6 horses, plus a few more for the munitions wagons. Well, what do you do with the horses while firing the cannon. Only 5 men were needed to operate a piece of artillery effectively... but the horses needed tending. So a sixth man was added to every large gun piece, to tend to the horse teams and the riding horse of the artillery officer.
Therefore, my answer is: Number 6, does the horse thing.
greg - Grand-Master Artist in IT,
curley95@attbi.com -- [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!]
Your friendly Homeland Security Officer reminds:
Hold Thumbprint to Screen for 5 seconds, we'll take the imprint, or
Just continue to type on your keyboard, and we'll just sample your DNA.
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Post #54,610
10/3/02 12:36:30 AM
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The Horses Have It...
The CO looked into some really "old" training manuals and discovered that the sixth man was supposed to "hold the horses".
Must be where my dad got the phrase "Now, Hold Your Horses!" from.
I guess it didn't take two days after all.
Good job, Bill and Greg.
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Post #54,662
10/3/02 11:34:25 AM
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Re: The Horses Have It...
Civil war batteries were manned by six men per cannon, who performed an elaborate dance to load and fire. Their duties were
1) Sponge and ram
2) Receive charge and round and place in muzzle
3) Service primer vent - very important to prevent a misfire
4) Prime and yank lanyard on command
5) Transfer charge and round from the limber to No. 2
6) Gunner - sight gun and command fire
The artillery horses were either tied to the limber or held fast by the driver lying on the ground with the reins of his team (two horses) in hand, some distance back of the piece. The driver's chief skill was facility with horses, particularly keeping them calm during the chaos of battle.
Artillery horses were buried when possible, with soldierly honors.
Grant, called a "butcher" by Northern newspapers for the appalling casualties his army took, was very protective of horses - he once had a man tied to a tree for three days for mistreating a horse.
Here is an actual photo of a battery [link|http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/brady_photographs/images/fredericksburg_battery.gif|in action] at Fredericksburg.
-drl
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Post #54,649
10/3/02 10:46:23 AM
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Re: Understanding Why You Do Things...
He's a replacement in case of a casualty.
-drl
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