I was provided a new document today on the “Austere MICV”, an alternative to the XM723.
This pamphlet has a handwritten date of “4-7-70”, so probably April 7 1970. There is this paragraph about the firing ports:
At this point TACOM was certainly thinking that the crew would use their organic weapons in the FPs. I’ll let this view of the loaded vehicle speak for itself as to the practicality of using M16s - let alone an M14 or M60, for cripe’s sake - from within the loaded vehicle.
KL
Tom, I think this has more to do with military humour than his civilian profession, viz “meat in a tin” if you like, an apt metaphor for early tank crews, and a prime example of mordant Army humour(!)
Interestingly, John Foley the author of “The Boilerplate War” (which covers the actions of Fray Bentos on 22 Aug 1917)seems to have missed this particular avenue despite his considerable Army experience.
The actual ports are a reasonable distance in front of/to the side of the seats, though, except for the ones in the rear ramp. Plus, apparently there was no real problem with using FALs from the firing ports on the YPR 765.
I agree absolutely. At the time “Frey Bentos” products were so ubiquitous in the U.K. (and still are on some shelves, albeit not so prominently as then) that most people would have got the joke, military or not… However, that brand of Corned Beef had been a staple of the British army since the Boer War, and the huge Uruguayan production facility hit peak production in 1943 when it shipped over 7,000 tons of it’s product to Europe.
The Legacy of Uruguay’s Abandoned Anglo Meat Packing Plant
Cheers,
M
The fact that the use of the troop’s organic weaponry was abandoned quite soon after the development of the Bradley began is a good illustration of the difference between possible and practical.
KL
Funnily enough, despite perhaps Army humour re military chefs and corned beef, I actually like the stuff; it goes well, cold, with a decent pickle or piccalilli, and can enliven a saucepan of baked beans; with Worcester sauce of course.
7000 tons? Poor Uruguayan cattle - production-line death. Mind you, the Army made me visit an abattoir in Aldershot when I was 16, so at least I know where my meat is coming from(!)
400 per hour, 24/7, I believe…
Cheers,
M
In answer to the original question, yes.
Well, twenty years ago, anyway…
No sh!t, there I was, sweating my … body parts … off in Kuwait in early summer of 2004. I’d been in the Army for close to eight years at that point, initially as a 11C but by then as a 91B. I mean 91W. Or was it 68W by that point? “Medical Specialist” was the title.
Here’s where this lil fairy tale gets relevant - the armorer for this mechanized infantry company obeyed the order to ensure that all unassigned weapons and accoutrements were shipped for the deployment.
Including the M231s, which were fitted with Aimpoint M68 CCOs.
These were handed out almost willy-nilly to anyone who had to convoy from Camp New York, Kuwait to Camp Victory, Iraq in a softskin vehicle.
Someone–1SG Snowsnake, I believe–decided that since we weren’t as well-protected, we should at least be able to lay a lot of hate.
A lot (ish) of thought went into this idea. The optics were laser boresighted, then taken to a zero range and fed one round at a time to dial in the red dot.
Once “suitably” zero’d, they were cleaned and lubed, somewhat excessively, as was becoming fashionable at about that time. Each person issued one of these was also issued two bandoliers each filled with eight “jungle taped” magazines, plus another taped pair that would be loaded into the weapon under a closed bolt, for a total of eighteen M-16/M-4 magazines in addition to whatever you were schlepping for your own assigned weapon(s).
“Jungle taped” meant–at least then and there–that two magazines were taped together in a “V” shape, with a piece of folded cardboard between them. They were also slightly vertically offset, so that the right side of the “V” was lower than the left. This way, regardless of which magazine was in the gun, the other would be right-side up and still not interfere with normal manipulations, like opening/closing the dust cover, using the mag release or the bolt catch.
The whole thing was COMPLETELY ridiculous.
But I liked having it at that point.
Ah, a sure sign leadership doesn’t know much about actually shooting weapons.
You mean I’m NOT supposed to scrub the bluing off of my weapons?
My brother-in-law (who earned a President’s Hundred tab when shooting competitively for the Army) has a saying: “The condition of the firing range on any Army installation will be the inverse condition of the golf course.”
KL
