Army searching for a new rifle

Korea near the DMZ is absolutely tank country and the modern KPA is a mechanized force. They aren't going to be coming in massed light infantry waves like in 1951.

It'll be a mechanized assault Fulda Gap style, probably a chemical environment. A battle rifle isn't going to contribute to **** there.

 

So the children in the town were children were communists?

 

I repainted my gun room last weekend. While I was emptying the room I had to pause with the garand. I really like that rifle. It's a cmp correct Springfield.

 

It had to be early 1970 and we were on a 6 X just outside of Hoi An when this Vietnamese on a motor scooter T-bone the truck . One dead Vietnamese.

Since the American forces weren't an occupying army but guest of the South Vietnam government we had to obey all South Vietnam laws with in the RVN.

The MP's showed up and they contacted the Vietnamese police who had to investigate the accident.

The truck driver was a cherry only being in-country for a few weeks and was pretty shook up.

I walked over to him and told him "Congratulations, you have your first confirmed kill."

He asked what do you mean and I told him he's probably VC.

The Quang Nam Province in l-Corps was beaucoup VC. Most of the civilian population were VC.

 

Tank country you say ?





More like mountain warfare.

 

More like hills. No different really from Central Germany. You know, that same terrain that the Soviets were going to throw 50,000 armored vehicles across?

 

The poetic interpretation of the word Korea—“Land of High Mountains and Sparkling Streams”—derives from the word Koryo, the name of an ancient kingdom on the peninsula. Mountains and streams are indeed the dominant characteristics of Korean terrain.

 

"Most of the mountainous terrain is located north of the DMZ"

Seriously, did you even bother reading your own link?

The Eastern Seaboard isn't where the North Korean mechanized offensive will be.

 

Are we suppose to allow the North to cross over the DMZ ?

Who's going to stop them ? Of the Army's 32 combat brigades only three are combat capable today having a combat readiness rating of C-2.
We are dealing with Obama's military that CnC Trump inherited.

End of an era: Iron Brigade to deactivate in Korea

https://www.armytimes.com/story/mil...iron-brigade-to-deactivate-in-korea/18592783/

 

The S.Koreans are going to need to fight their own war on the ground this time.

Last time (in 1950-53) we (my dad) had to do all the fighting for the S.Koreans.

They have had 67 years to get ready for this day. It has been coming for a long time.

But this thread is about rifles not S/N Korea.

 

William L. Calley, 2nd Lt. (US Army - Dishonorably Discharged) has been a fascinating person in the lives of all infantry officers commissioned since 1971. Every class of officers discusses him in the context of lawful orders versus unlawful orders.

Calley stated he was told by his commander Ernest L. Medina, Capt. (US Army - Resigned) that:

"... nearly all the civilian residents of the hamlets in Sơn Mỹ village would have left for the market by 07:00, and that any who remained would be NLF or NLF sympathizers.[25] He was asked whether the order included the killing of women and children. Those present later gave differing accounts of Medina's response. Some, including platoon leaders, testified that the orders as they understood them were to kill all guerrilla and North Vietnamese combatants and "suspects" (including women and children, as well as all animals), to burn the village, and pollute the wells.[26] He was also quoted as saying, "They're all VC, now go and get them", and was heard to reply to the question "Who is my enemy?" by saying, "Anybody that was running from us, hiding from us, or appeared to be the enemy. If a man was running, shoot him, sometimes even if a woman with a rifle was running, shoot her."

The one weakness in Calley's testimony is that he had changed his story from earlier when he said the massacre was the result of an air strike.

Normally when you change your story it impugns everything you say.

In officer schools they (the instructors -- captains) ask you "what would you do in that situation?"

This usually brings up the topic of lawful versus unlawful orders.

One of the lieutenants in my class said he would make the captain (Medina) write the order and sign it on a C-rat box. This lieutenant had been an Army Ranger and transferred to the USMC in college. Sharp fellow. From New Jersey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

 

Whom you kill in battle falls under the rules of engagement.

Generally speaking, unarmed civilians who are not attacking or rioting are not allowed to be killed unless resisting relocation nor molested for any reason.

Officers and staff NCO's are supposed to enforce the rules of engagement and the rules of warfare.

Commanders are supposed to promulgate rules of engagement and knowledge about the rules of warfare.

Medina did a poor job that day. Calley was the scapegoat who paid the price for it.

Calley should have known better and had perceived that Medina was giving unlawful orders if he did indeed instruct the platoon leaders and NCO's to kill unarmed civilians.

Apparently Calley slept through that part of the lecture during his 8 week OCS class at Ft. Bliss Texas and 8 more weeks of AIT (advanced infantry training) at Ft. Lewis Wash.

16 weeks is not long enough to train a military officer. The USMC takes 9 to 15 months for the OCS classes. The NROTC and the Academy classes get 4 years plus another 6 to 12 months.

 

But remember South Korea today also has a millennial snowflake generation. Can the ROK Army and ROK Marines still fight like how they fought in the RVN during the Vietnam War ?

I fought side by side calling in NSFS and CAS for the 2nd ROK Marines Blue Dragons Brigade and they were bad ass and both the VC and NVA feared them.

I have friends who served in the Army who said the same thing about the ROK Army's Tiger Division.

The video below is from 1966. Click on the YouTube logo on the video and read the comments.

 

All the S.Koreans that I have ever known (when I worked at Samsung) were flakes.

I am sure Kim Jong Oon has info to the same effect.

I suspect the North's hard core Communists will bowl over the South.

Just my guess.

 

I hope the next US Army (and by default USMC) rifle is NOT a Stoner design.

Ruger has proved that you can easily go back to the M-1 bolt design and get an excellent battle carbine or rifle that way.

For distance accuracy the only thing that needs to be different is the barrel length on certain designated models.

The CQB variations can be around 14.5 inches like the current M-4's are while the longer shooting variation can be out to as much as 24 inches like the Garands were. Then everyone can still use the same ammo in the squad.

I like wooden stocks because they are sturdier and heavier and work better for buttstroking like a wooden baseball bat. But in continuous monsoon rain like in Viet Nam wooden stocks can be a problem. I do not like carbon composite because it easily breaks.

Maybe aluminum is the best answer for a stock -- like an aluminum baseball bat is ?!

With aluminum and steel connecting there would be corrosion from moisture at the joint between the steel housing and the aluminum stock. But this can be managed with a zinc gasket fit between. Steel wool would easily clean off the corrosion.

 

The combat readiness rating is based on bureaucratic bullshit. Almost all of those brigades could be made ready to deploy within days.

But it is nice that you have dropped this stupid argument that battle rifles will do any good against a Korean mechanized attack.

 

No it's not and no they couldn't be deployed with in a few days being combat capable.

Combat Readiness Ratings are conducted every month. They are "classified" for two years. When made public by the brass usually in Congress during open session not behind closed doors it's for the benefit of of the voters that there's a problem either with the CnC, the civilians who run the DOD or in Congress. Not enough appropriations for the military, to much social engineering in the military, low morale because the troops aren't happy campers, etc. The brass hoping that Americans will contact their representatives in Congress demanding fix the problem. We saw it during the Clinton administration and during the Obama administration when the military brass went public on the floor of Congress revealing the American military combat readiness ratings.

During the first Gulf war (Desert Storm) with which was Reagan's military every Army brigade had either a C-1 or C-2 combat readiness rating except for one brigade and it was an Army reserve brigade that just didn't get it together at Fort Irwin.

When I served (69-71) having a C-2 rating wasn't acceptable.

Rating Readiness:

C-1 Fully Combat Ready

C-2 Substantially Combat Ready

C-3 Marginally Combat Ready

C-4 Not Combat Ready.

How do you come up with a combat readiness score ?

P = Personnel

S = Supplies / equipment on hand

R = Equipment readiness

T = Training readiness

X = Commanders subjective judgement

I had sticky fingers in 1971 and I'm in possession of the Combat Readiness Rating of the 5th Mar. Amphib. Brig. for March of 1971.

Here my battalion's Combat Readiness Rating for that month.

Combat Rating C-2

Reason R

P - 1

S - 1

R - 2

T - 1

X - 1

Total score 6 divided by 5 = 1.2 it's not a 1 is considered to be a 2.

Why a R - 2 rating ? It was an artillery battalion and maybe one of the 18 105 mm howitzers in the battalion wouldn't pop when you pulled the lanyard ?

Any combat unit entering the battle field with a C-1 combat readiness rating and as soon as they have casualties the P rating goes from 1 to 2 or even lower and the unit's combat rating is no longer C-1.

Aviation units have bigger problems when it comes to S & R ratings. Not having spare parts on hand for the aircraft will heavily affect the squadrons S & R ratings.

Even a Motor Transport company. A truck wont start because the starter motor is shot and needs a new starter motor. If there isn't enough spare starter motors on hand, it affects your S rating.

 

You realize an M-1 tank is considered non-combat capable and deadlined if it doesn't have the retaining clip for the turret fire extinguisher right?

There's thousands of little bullshit regs like that that make equipment or personnel "non-combat capable" but in actuality don't matter and would just get circle x'ed in the unit really needed to deploy.

Combat readiness ratings are bureaucratic. They don't represent real capability.

 

There's a lot of bull **** in any military organization.

Every branch of the military has their own slang and sayings.

In the Marine Corps it was The Big Green Weenie.

 

When was an M-203 ever mounted on an
M-14 ????
M-16 yes.......

 

ive heard good things about
https://www.blackriflellc.com/product/kel-tec-rfb-308-18-20rd-blk/

 

The EBR version of the M-14 has a Picatinny rail system and the PI version of the 203 can mount on any Picatinny rail long enough.

 

I want an RFB so bad. Bullpup FN FAL. How awesome is that?

 

No need to duck then.
Useless bastards.

 

Bullpup is love of my life . I find AUG 77 (the classic) to be almost perfect.
Trigger is not good, in fact it is bad. Tried to dig in with a screwdriver to see if it can be improved, failed, too much work .
Some drawbacks, yeah, iron sights are horrible, in fact many drawbacks…
But handling in the forest or bush or any confined area, building to building, is fantastic. Center of mass is just the way it should be. But as far as I understand, such preference is extremely individual.

FAMAS is just too ugly, newer touched it. L85 is ugly, in every aspect, should be banned in the civilized world .

Would love to play with Tavor and the Chinese bullpup but newer had a chance.

Just love the concept of frontal extraction in RFB.