Although official doctrine is that seven 30 rounds mags makes up a "basic load" of 210 rounds, if you talk to Iraq or Afghanistan vets they'll tell you that very few actually carry that little ammo
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That three-round burst limiter probably saves lives, trebor. Guys panic and hold the trigger down.
I'm glad the guys are carrying more than the 210 rounds. We griped about the load but knew we might need it. (In my personal case, since the demolition man rarely fired his weapon, I was carrying the rounds for whoever else might need them. Several times, when we were under fire, I passed bandoliers up to people on the perimeter.)
Also, Joe, when you went through basic or AIT did you learn the "Quick Kill" point shooting technique for the M-16? It involved shooting a BB gun at thrown discs at one point.
I also wanted to mention my Uncle was a Combat Engineer (25th Infantry, IIRC) in country in '67 to '68. He told me he did a lot of mine clearing sweeps and a lot of patrols. He was also there for Tet '68. He doesn't talk about it much and we've only discussed it maybe two or three times in my life (I was born in '67). He has shown me his BT or AIT "class book", where I saw the info on Quick Kill, and some pictures of him with his buddies at firebases, etc.
I wanted to tell you that I feel that some of your books, especially War Day and 1968 helped me have a better, although still limited, understanding of his experiences.
quick killjoe_haldemanOctober 10 2010, 01:48:04 UTC
Indeed we did learn Quick Kill, trebor. I thought it was kind of amazing. After a couple of days' practice with BB guns, we went from hitting 6-inch-diameter aluminum targets to knocking quarters out of the air.
Never got to try it with M-16s, though. They were all over in Vietnam! I'm sure I've mentioned this before . . . I never even saw an M-16 stateside, but I was rated Expert anyhow. The urban legend was that some congressman passed a bill saying that only men who made Expert could go into combat. There might be a grain of truth in it.
Your uncle and I were probably within spitting distance of one another. I went over right after Tet '68, and spent a lot of time attached to the 2nd of the 25th. Small world!
I read in Scientific American that they now have guns that fire so fast humans can't carry enough ammo for them. Same article claimed by 2030 combat could be completely robotizied.
carrying ammojoe_haldemanOctober 10 2010, 21:39:11 UTC
I guess compromise is the name of the game, Paul. One strong guy can carry an M60 machinegun, for instance, and a few hundred rounds of ammunition. But he would normally have at least one assistant, and preferably two. If you're going to fire for more than a minute or two (at 200 rounds/minute) you want somebody else humping a lot of ammo, and in a field situation you want to have someone besides the gunner overseeing the ammo feed. You also want a spare barrel, since they tend to overheat.
I wonder about combat being completely roboticized by 2030 . . . it's not going to be symmetrical, of course. I kind of wrote a book about that (FOREVER PEACE) -- the high-tech side tending to spend money and the low-tech side, lives. I think that situation will be in place before 2030. They already have those funky little robots doing dirty work in Iraq.
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I'm glad the guys are carrying more than the 210 rounds. We griped about the load but knew we might need it. (In my personal case, since the demolition man rarely fired his weapon, I was carrying the rounds for whoever else might need them. Several times, when we were under fire, I passed bandoliers up to people on the perimeter.)
Joe
Reply
I also wanted to mention my Uncle was a Combat Engineer (25th Infantry, IIRC) in country in '67 to '68. He told me he did a lot of mine clearing sweeps and a lot of patrols. He was also there for Tet '68. He doesn't talk about it much and we've only discussed it maybe two or three times in my life (I was born in '67). He has shown me his BT or AIT "class book", where I saw the info on Quick Kill, and some pictures of him with his buddies at firebases, etc.
I wanted to tell you that I feel that some of your books, especially War Day and 1968 helped me have a better, although still limited, understanding of his experiences.
Reply
Never got to try it with M-16s, though. They were all over in Vietnam! I'm sure I've mentioned this before . . . I never even saw an M-16 stateside, but I was rated Expert anyhow. The urban legend was that some congressman passed a bill saying that only men who made Expert could go into combat. There might be a grain of truth in it.
Your uncle and I were probably within spitting distance of one another. I went over right after Tet '68, and spent a lot of time attached to the 2nd of the 25th. Small world!
Joe
Reply
Reply
I wonder about combat being completely roboticized by 2030 . . . it's not going to be symmetrical, of course. I kind of wrote a book about that (FOREVER PEACE) -- the high-tech side tending to spend money and the low-tech side, lives. I think that situation will be in place before 2030. They already have those funky little robots doing dirty work in Iraq.
Joe
Reply
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