Editing M106 Heavy Mortar Carrier (section)

==IRL==
[[File:DA-ST-86-00233.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|Gas masks make everything more sinister]]
The M106 was first fielded by the US Army in Vietnam, where it supported US efforts to dislodge the VC and NVA forces. In US Service it has since been supplanted by the M1064A3 which is almost identical to the M106 except it mounts a 120mm Mortar instead of the 107mm.  Earlier 4.2"/107mm rifled mortars in US service go back to the 1920s.  The M106 version of the "Four Deuce," or "Goon Gun," the M30 4.2" Rifled Mortar, differed from the M2 version it replaced in having superior range.

The purpose of the mortar is to provide fire support at the smallest tactical level possible, which in most cases was the company (coincidentally the level that Team Yankee operates at for NATO forces), to minimize the amount of time between the call for fire and shells on the way. This rapid reaction capability gives company commanders the ability to suppress enemy forces with highly accurate indirect fire, both of the high explosive and smoke shell variety as quickly as possible, as when Ivan comes thundering towards you, you definitely don't want your desperate call for indirect support to end up stuck in the information-log jam that is brigade comms.

Historically speaking the first 4.2" mortars purchased by the US military were the M2, which entered service in 1928.  Yes, 1928.  They were a modified copy of a British design from WWI and were at the time considered "chemical mortars."  That is to say, every infantry regiment was supposed to have a battery of four or six available, and the large caliber--at the time, for a mortar--suited it to delivering poison gas shells, though conventional explosive and incendiary rounds and chemical smokescreen shells were also created for it.  The M2 was used very widely in WWII and Korea, then mainly given away around the world as military aid to replace them with the M30, which eventually got mounted on an armored vehicle, the M106.  The M30 was very well liked in service, especially by US Marines in Korea, and regarded as equal to European 120mm mortars in terms of lethality and bursting radius and superior in terms of range, accuracy, and sustained rate of fire.  In Team Yankee they're kind of nerfed.  In Team Yankee mortars are for smokescreens and suppressing dismounted infantry, while artillery actually kills people and breaks their stuff.  In Korea the "Four Deuce" killed Chinese just fine.

A Battalion was often equipped with single mortar platoon. This mortar platoon was often broken down into its component sections (roughly a squad of mortars) to then be distributed equally to the companies of the battalion (but not in a communist way). Since mechanized units were going to be expected to deal with the brunt of the PACT offensive, they were issued the largest mortars in the inventory (or more accurately they already had the logistical support and vehicles to haul such unwieldy weapons around) while the light rifle battalions and special units like the airborne were issued the more man-portable 60mm mortars.

Be watching for the day Sweden makes its full appearance in Team Yankee... in the 1980's, Sweden started playing around with the STRIX, a 120mm mortar round with infrared terminal guidance that would zero-in on the closest engine-like heat source in the vicinity of its targeted area.  While conceptually similar to [[M109 Howitzer|American]] and [[2S3_Acacia|Soviet]] smart munitions, the STRIX's mortar legacy made it more like the modern javelin.  

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{{Israeli Forces in Team Yankee}}

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