Ken Burns' "Vietnam"

Best rule for weapons acquisition: Only Privates and Sergeants get to vote, no officers or lobbyists.

I had expected a new episode but all was quiet on the TV. I've enjoyed the film so far despite its being so segmented.

Quote: petroglyph

You being the gun guy here, wasn't the m14 pretty reliable? Then I thought it was replaced by the m16 that Lady Bird Johnson owned so much stock in Colt arms?

The M14 is great. It's essentially an M1 (which I deeply covet) upgraded to select fire. But what we're doing here is comparing apples and oranges.

The M14 is a Battle Rifle. It's purpose is to f#$% s#$% up. It ran the 7.76x51 (I think) which is a bomb of a .308. It's fantastic at reaching out, with a range of up to 800yds. But you ever shoot anything on the "full freedom" setting? I can't even hold a 5.56 anywhere near stable on full auto; those cannonballs in the M14 are hopeless. Might as well solo carry a Ma-Deuce.

The M16 is an Assault Rifle. It's much shorter, lighter, and shot the more controllable 5.56x45. It was sort of a case of having all these big guns from WWII (M14s) for the wide open spaces of Europe, then, oh s#$%, we can't even see 50yds now. Why carry this huge contraption to reach out and touch someone when folks are at bayonet range?

I would say the switch was a good one, based on sense as opposed to dips#$% politics. It's just that it was implemented poorly (IMO). It was TOO light, making full auto a foray into spray and pray. The ammo was not properly tested, and you know how finicky these things can be about what they eat. The primers corroded the internals, f$%^ing up the ejector arms and leaving a lot of boys jammed up and dead. While the jungle surely bagged its share of dead guns, a goodly portion of those failures were simply oversights in development such as this.

Just rambling now, but that's the big draw with commie gear. An AK, either the 47 or the 74, is complete dog s#$%. The effective range of the 14 was 800yds, it's pisspot little brother the 16 was 300yds. AKs are lucky to get 200yds. But they never, ever quit. Ever. Go on YouTube right now and you can find a vid of some good ol boy with a beat to death Kalishnakov dumping it in the bayou, cleaning it off with sand, drying it IN a bonfire, and running through a 30rd'er as soon as it cools. You can't make 'em quit. And all the tech and training and spirit of the US Empire ain't mean f#$% all when you pull that trigger and all you hear is "click".

Its a question of reliability first. Weight, range, rate of fire, magazine capacity, etc. are all important but its purpose is to kill the enemy, not win design prizes.

The series has revealed how often "Intel" was wrong about enemy strength so its surprising that GIs continued to do longer range patrols.

Its a question of reliability first. Weight, range, rate of fire, magazine capacity, etc. are all important but its purpose is to kill the enemy, not win design prizes.

The series has revealed how often "Intel" was wrong about enemy strength so its surprising that GIs continued to do longer range patrols.

I've heard of "fragging" as a way to punish overzealous offers who wanted to maintain an attack. I do not know how common it was though.
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I was just a child during the Vietnam War but I remember how it bitterly divided the country. A decade after we pulled out opinions were still divided about the lessons of the failure between those who thought we should never have intervened and those who thought we should have been more determined to win. I find it ironic that in these partisan times, I see little disagreement between the right and the left about the series of lies and mistakes that led to all that death and destruction.

This is a test message. The site migrated to the same server as WoV this morning. I watched the first half of episode 1 last night and thought it was very well done. Despite having taken two classes on the war in college, I didn't know much about the part of the story prior to sending active troops. This program should be required viewing of every politician before they get involved in another regime change war.

How do I get to watch the Vietnam show on PBS? Did you have to buy something? I see it on Amazon but they want 50 bucks.

Quote: petroglyph

How do I get to watch the Vietnam show on PBS? Did you have to buy something? I see it on Amazon but they want 50 bucks.

free
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/watch/
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