Dutch army days 2012

[Spey_Phantom]

yesterday, me and some friends went north of the border and visited the army days in Oirschot, The Netherlands (havent been in Holland since i was 10). was a great day with amazing displays from Apache's, Chinooks, Leopard tanks and CV-90's......

more pics on my website:

http://www.freewebs.com/nilssteyaert/apps/blog/show/15039676-landmachtdagen-oirschot-12-05-2012

[pyro-manic]

Nice photos - lovely bit of wear on that Chinook!

Any idea why the Boxer is dressed as a unicorn?

[Steel Penguin]

at a guess,  its a wire cutter, breaks any cable set across the roads its on, stops the crew loosing there heads.

[perttime]

Definitely a wire cutter.
During a couple of temp jobs abroad, wire cutters were standard equipment on our heavier vehicles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu_Pasi
http://www.supataulut.net/albumi/unifil/?k=pasi

[rickshaw]

Its a wire cutter.  They are pretty much SOP in Afghanistan now.   Seems it was a favourite trick of the baddies in Iraq to string cables at vehicle height across roads.  A speeding vehicle would find suddenly anything on the hull top - weapons, equipment, driver/commander/crew heads would be swept off as it raked over the top of the vehicle, so wire cutters were introduced.  The one on the Boxer is rather a large example.

[Thorvic]

I was wondering if it was a 1940's re-enactment with German Panzers Blitzing across the Dutch Border 

[Hobbes]

The German Leo is an indication of the sad state of the Dutch army: in the last round of budget cuts we lost our last Leo batallions, so this one was borrowed for the occasion.

[NARSES2]

Any info on the horse artillery unit ?

[Spey_Phantom]

Any info on the horse artillery unit ?

it was a small re-enactment of the napoleon-era wars. the artilery piece dates back to arround 1890, and was still in service in may 1940 (totaly outdated/antiquated by that time).

[NARSES2]

Thanks Nils, so Nassau horse artillery

[Nick]

Great pics Nils! What are those M-2 Bradley lookalike vehicles?

[Spey_Phantom]

Great pics Nils! What are those M-2 Bradley lookalike vehicles?

those appear to be the Dutch Army's newest toys.
the CV-90.

info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Vehicle_90

[kitbasher]

Horses!  They'll never catch on