Operation Iraqi Freedom

by Daniel

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Since the Operation Iraqi Freedom began in March 2003 I monitored it every day because I supported it. I entered military service myself in November 2004 and at the moment I am at the infantry officer’s school at Colombier , Switzerland . I have little time for my beloved hobby modeling at this time, but using a week of holiday I have produced a little diorama of US Army vehicles participating in house-to-house fighting somewhere in Iraq. The diorama base was made of wood, plaster and some little stones. I included also some trees, bushes and grass from the train modeling sector; the destroyed houses I made of balsa wood. I added a destroyed tank and you can see the signs of heavy fighting all over the terrain; I did this burning my modeling glue.

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The tanks in my diorama include this two Bradleys from Revell of Germany. One is the “M2/M3 Bradley RV3143” and the other is the “M2A2 Bradley RV3124”. Both of them are of great quality. The M113 APC is from Italeri. I added some Preiser US Army Tank crewmen and US Army Infantrymen to it; some camouflage nets were made of some bandage and train modeling grass glued to it.

The little HUMVEE is from Revell of Germany; you receive two versions in one box, and they are fantastic: very detailed and nice to have in every OIF convoy. Below you can see additional pictures: On the left side it’s a Dragon M2A2 ODS Bradley which is outfitted with the new IR-Identification panels. The Dragon M1 Abrams, one A1 and one A2 version have these panels, too. I tried to use a special camo scheme on one of these Abrams, I think it looks ok. The tank commanders and loaders are also from Preiser. These figures are really worth it, they cost 6.45 Euro (16 of them).

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The whole diorama measures 1,2m in width and 0,3m in length and has its place on my desk. I hope you like these pics.

I have attached two images of “my” Piranha APC to the end of the article; I drove this one for 10 weeks in the Infantry aspirant’s school at Birmensdorf, Switzerland; now for I’m attending an officer’s position I can’t drive again, so I look forward to the time I will have my own platoon with 3 Piranhas, then I will ‘borrow’ one of them for myself!!

Daniel

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Photos and text © by Daniel