There are some misconceptions about light infantry out there. Some people seem to have this vision of lightly armed, highly maneuverable infantry using conventional tactics. Though history has shown a gross misuse of light infantry by mostly western forces (using them as line infantry), their training, tactics, and capabilities are more on par with special operations forces. In this article, I am going to talk about some of the characteristics that are under-appreciated in light infantry.
The American Civil War is filled with lessons for politicians and warfighters alike. You could write a book about all that we could learn from the losses that were suffered by soldier and civilian alike. The war that our new nation was immersed in was an entertaining spectacle for the rest of the world. The Civil War changed warfare for the world in some ways, but in other ways, it took WW1 for the rest of the world to see the light. From my understanding of the Civil War, we are running a parallel course and at risk of repeating some of the same conceptual mistakes made back then. In this article, I am just going to hit some of the wave top subjects, or else this piece will take forever to get published.
It may come as a surprise when I tell you that I am an avid reader. I gain a whole lot of inspiration from books, and my book collection has now overrun my bookshelf space. I download Kindle books when printed options aren’t available, but I find printed books to be my favorite method of reading. With that said, one of the largest genres in my collection is history. History is a very big genre because it encompasses everything that happened before right now. That means we will always have things to capture, record, and study in future generations.
Since the beginning of my journey as a gun owner, I have wondered if it makes more sense to have one gun to carry all year or different guns for different occasions and seasons. I know there will be people who side with one option over the other, so I am going to briefly discuss both. Consider this a brainstorming session for evaluating both opinions. Who knows, there may be a compelling argument you hadn’t thought of before, so stick around and read through.
The M16A2 was the weapon I qualified with in Marine Boot Camp. It was rugged and easy to use. When I was in the Fleet, I mainly had an M16A4 which weighed as much as my Tavor7 after being all decked out with sight, light, laser system, sling, grip pod, and cleaning kit in the stock. Recently I bought the 20” PSA15 (Palmetto State Armory) with the old school sight system, handguards, and Mil-Spec everything. I wanted to take a few moments to look at the concept of the M16 platform (A1, A2, A3, A4) and why I even bothered going with this type of system over the venerable and much loved M4 style (16”) rifle.
Firearms skills is the only physical skill that I know of that is sold as something that can be taught in an 8-hour class. By the end of the day, depending on your learning ability, you will be shooting relatively well or even better than you thought you could. However, after 24 hours, a majority of that end-of-day performance will have vanished. Why? Because that is just how the human brain operates when it is exposed to a new physical skill. Sorry, but you will not just be able to shake off the rust in 10 years just because you took a particular class with someone who made you feel good about yourself for $300. My aim in this article is to expose you to the complexity of learning how to shoot. Even getting to the point of being ‘good enough’ will be trivial and difficult.
The ALICE LCE system was developed around the lessons learned in Vietnam and prior. All the gear, for the most part, is made of nylon which is lightweight but incredibly durable. It has been used and abused and carries with it a controversial record. Though modular, it is limited to the belt and not all components worked out all that well for carrying heavier loads, such as the Y-Harness system. Some military units had mandated set ups, which gave soldiers and Marines a further dislike of the system. For my purposes, I am not only unrestricted on how I set up the ALICE system, but I am also inspired by the functionality of the British PLCE. By blending ALICE pouches on the US web belt and utilizing a Danish Yoke, I have what I feel is the best fighting system for conventional combat.
I spent 5 years and change in the Marine Corps infantry. I was wounded in Afghanistan and was stabilized before being medically retired at the ripe old age of 23. My military experience gave me incredible experience and exposure (though limited for sure) to how a battalion is run and how it fights. More than that, I got to see the small & large picture of serving during a time of war and experienced its benefits and shortfalls. In this article, I am merely going to describe my analysis from 50,000ft (so to speak) of what it is like to serve in the military. This is not going to be fully detailed, but should hit the wavetops of how it affects the psychological state of a US citizen as they serve in our volunteer military (during my time, anyways). Just remember this is my isolated experience being condensed down to be honest and comparable for someone unexposed to military life. I cannot speak for current Marines or even other branches.
When most people encounter any amount of endured suffering, they talk themselves into quitting. Getting people to commit to something as simple as a workout schedule or consistently maintain a specific diet is virtually impossible, even if it is for their benefit. This is why people who make it through selections (Special Forces/SWAT) and tough schools (Ranger School) are so few in number. I believe that each of these organizations and schools can teach us how to suffer well and perform at our best.
“He is best that is trained in the severest school” -Thucydides New Zealand is a small country and yet their SAS regiment has to maintain the capabilities and lethality of their larger commonwealth SAS peers in Australia and Britain, to the point of seamless integration on joint operations. For this reason, I have been greatly inspired by the NZSAS, specifically their selection and training, for its high demands for constant performance. Though the NZSAS is closely modelled operationally off the British counterpart, their selections are different. Joe Hotai, who went through both the NZ (10 days + 9 Months) and Australian (3 weeks + 16 Months) SAS selections, NZSAS was much harder. All the information I am about to share is generalized for the sake of brevity, but there is more detail on msigwarrior.com or YouTube. Have you ever looked at the training you are conducting and tried to wargame (imagine) how it would help or hurt you? Have you looked at all the possible scenarios you could find yourself in during an economic collapse? How about a simple natural disaster that delays or prevents Law Enforcement and emergency services from responding? I am willing to bet that a lot of my readers have thought very little about the realistic, or even the extreme situations they could find themselves in when things truly get bad. But, the definition of bad can be quite subjective, and everyone will define it differently. Someone living in downtown LA may define bad differently than a resident of a Midwestern suburban neighborhood. Keep that in mind throughout this article.
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Do It RiteAlaska-Based Youtube Vlogger, Retired Marine, Firearm and Gear Tester. Archives
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