JUST THE RIGHT BULLETS
May. 27th, 2008 12:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogIt’s last-minute, I know, but finally I found a story worth relating in terms of Memorial Day: the Bullet Controversy!
Basically, soldiers are finding out the hard way that the standard-issue M855 rounds for M4s and M16s, which were designed to penetrate Soviet helmets from hundreds of yards away, aren’t as effective at killing people in street-to-street close quarters combat. Soldiers want heavier caliber rounds.
The Army, of course, says they can’t have them, because the problem isn’t the bullets, it’s where you aim.
As a peacetime combat veteran, I enjoy arguments like this – partially because I’m qualified on the M16A, and partially because there’s no better tribute to soldiers on Memorial Day than a story that talks in technical terms about how to better effectively kill people.
Because, you know, that’s what you do in a war.
And can I just say, regarding whatever speech the President probably made to honor the war dead, “Mr President, shut yr goddamn mouth and get the fuck out of my sight.”
Or did Keith Olbermann already say that?
Gimme back my bullets,
This is dF
Basically, soldiers are finding out the hard way that the standard-issue M855 rounds for M4s and M16s, which were designed to penetrate Soviet helmets from hundreds of yards away, aren’t as effective at killing people in street-to-street close quarters combat. Soldiers want heavier caliber rounds.
The Army, of course, says they can’t have them, because the problem isn’t the bullets, it’s where you aim.
"If you hit a guy in the right spot, it doesn't matter what you shoot him with," said Maj. Thomas Henthorn, chief of the small arms division at Fort Benning.
As a peacetime combat veteran, I enjoy arguments like this – partially because I’m qualified on the M16A, and partially because there’s no better tribute to soldiers on Memorial Day than a story that talks in technical terms about how to better effectively kill people.
Because, you know, that’s what you do in a war.
And can I just say, regarding whatever speech the President probably made to honor the war dead, “Mr President, shut yr goddamn mouth and get the fuck out of my sight.”
Or did Keith Olbermann already say that?
Gimme back my bullets,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2008-05-27 08:18 pm (UTC)