While not neccessarily un-usual to see laser designators at a military display, it is kinda “weird” for the military personnel to NOT know what the devices were!
Attended the air show at the Barksdale Air Force Base and several interesting displays were arranged next to various aircraft.
I walked up to one of the tables being manned by US Army National Guard/Reservists and looked down to see a nice PEQ-2. I asked if I could snap a photo and the 2 soldiers didn’t know what the heck the thing was…literally…they described it as a “M16 laser” and that was that…they looked at it while I was looking on and mumbled a few sentences about what they thought it was and what they thought it did. I was rather embarrased…
a few pics.
peq-2: http://i31.tinypic.com/24o6ee9.jpg
peq-4 (Marine table I think): http://i25.tinypic.com/15fq24n.jpg
This was cool (long range designator?): http://i27.tinypic.com/2mrb2u9.jpg
- I guess that IR Laser designators are not in standard classes at basic training.