-> SH> From what I remember of it (it was already "obsolete" when I went
-> in), SH> the barrel will not depress far enough to even hit the
-> -horizon-.
-> GP> Well just when did you go in?  I fired the M109-A1 self-propelled
-> 155 GP> gun in state guard at Fort Hood just several years ago.  I
-> asked how GP> they engaged an enemy attacking their position.  They
-> said they used GP> bore sighting!
-> 1977.  Your point?
->
-> Just because something has been -used- in a particular capacity means
-> nothing.
Of course it means something.  It means it "can" do something even if it
was not "intended" that way.
-> Hammers are designed to drive nails.  Just because they've also been
-> used to commit homicide takes nothing from their designed function.
Right.  But if you are attacked and your life is threatened, and all you
got is a hammer, whatcha gonna do?
-> Just because indirect fire weaponry has been used as a direct fire
-> weapon has nothing to do with their designed function.
Out in the field what really counts is what it CAN do, not what it was
"designed" to do.  If a piece of equipment CAN do something that it was
not "intended" to do, and if doing it saves the lives of YOUR men, then
so be it.  The lives of men on your side, and the lives of innocents,
are more important than equipment, and even more important than what a
book says about your equipment.
Another example:  Explosives were not "intended" to heat the ?-rations
in Vietnam, but I know a demolitions man who used plenty of it to heat
his and his buddies food.
As the saying goes, "If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid."
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