Field Modified Weapons in Iraq/Afghanistan

[ClydeFrog]

CMA ideas....

To my limited knowledge, the CMA or Command Sgt Major of the Army(the US Army's highest ranking enlisted soldier) has or had(Im not sure if he's still doing it) a Twitter link or Facebook listing where he encouraged soldiers & support staff(PMCs, DA employees, family members, etc) to submit new ideas or concepts to the US Army directly.

It's a great plan on paper but Im not sure if any new products or weapon systems were T&Eed based on this informal approach.

ClydeFrog

 

[manta49]

Remember - the Sherman was NOT DESIGNED to contend against the German armor. WWII military doctrine at the time specified that general armor (M5's and M4's) were designed to support infantry.

Supporting the infantry could include taking on other tanks. The only advantage the Sherman had was numbers. The Germain's didn't call them tommy cooker and ronson lighter for nothing. Lots were modified by their crews with extra armor how effective that was is another matter.

 

[Falcon5NZ]

Your note about OH-58 pilots using the M-4 took me back to a series of books, published in the early-to mid-70's, about various elite forces, weapons, etc. One of these focused on "Loach" observation helicopters (OH-6, IIRC) in Vietnam, and was written by (or focused on the experiences of?) Gary Mills, I believe.

Anyway, the gist was that these scout helo guys would hover at treetop level, following footprints & tracking enemy soldiers, and often wind up in shootouts with same. The helo guys were using M-16's or carbine/SMG versions of it, to good effect. Sounds like the same concept was rediscovered in the wars of the past decade!

LouisianaMan, You wouldn't be referring to "Low Level Hell" by Hugh Mills would ya now?

If so (and even if not) I just finished reading it as an ebook (anyone who has one and wants to read it I'm SURE you can find it online with the correct search terms in Google. Or PM me for help) and loved it, well worth a read.

And that reminds me, didn't the M-60 have feed issues that were solved with a tin can? E.g the rounds were catching on the edge of the feed tray not riding over it? And the the field modification was incorporated into the ones coming out of the factory

As for the M1 Carbine trick, its possible to do similar with an FN FAL/L1A1/StG58/whatever you want to call it with a match or length of para-cord. I mean, so I'm told

 

[LouisianaMan]

Falcon,
That sounds right! Thanks for the catch.
It's been a long time since I thought about the tin can "feed adapter" on the M60, but I do remember reading about it and seeing photos.

 

[44 AMP]

Among people I know who have experience either using or repairing automatic weapons, the M60 is widely regarded as the worst machinegun design fielded by the US since the French ChauChat of 1917.

The M60 does have the advantage of being able to be made to work, at least part of the time, but the list of design "flaws" or features that weren't as good as they ought to have been is long. (and I'd be happy to discuss them in another thread)

The fact is, that no matter what the equipment is, GIs will find some way to make it work for them, if humanly possible. "If its stupid but it works, it ain't stupid" is a real world philosphy any soldier can understand.

What reall irks them (and sometimes gets them killed) is when its not only stupid, but doesn't "work" and often they are not officially allowed to fix it so it does work.

Stingers were created to fill a need, perfroming better than what regular issue weapons were able to do for a given task. Shermans were covered in everything imaginable in the hope of improving their armor protection (it did work part of the time, against hollow charge projectiles). We fitted a C ration can to the feed tray hanger on the M60, so the belt would slide over a smooth curve and not jam due to the right angle turn from the bandolier to the feed tray.

Troops will try any, and everything they can get their hands on to make their stuff work, or work better. Sometimes, these things get recognized and general improvements get made. Other times it just saves the ass of the guy who did it, and the brass doesn't make it general use, or even squashes it.

Note that some of the brass ordered that the Stingers be gotten rid of, (once the combat was over), and of course, the order was complied with....
And when they showed up again in a later island campaign (some of the same individual guns, and as many others as could be made) the brass just looked the other way, until after the battles, when they again ordered them gotten rid of, as they were not part of the official TO&E!

I'm sure something like this, in principle, is happening today in the sandbox(s) as well. We just won't get the specific details until we hear them from the troops who were involved.