Category: Body Armor

Letter from: “Doug Carlton” Re: Discrediting the Lessons from the Big Sand Box: Firearms, Gear, and Tactics in Iraq Letter

Jim: Unless you can actually verify the identity of the author of the “Firearms, Gear, and Tactics in Iraq” e-mail, then it is bogus. I’ve seen it running around the net in several incarnations with different authors attributed to it for some time now. Some reasons to believe it’s bogus without any authentication: The part about the M249 being a POS comes from an early AAR about the invasion. Some USMC units had weapons that were VERY well-used and I know a Marine that went in with his M249 held together with zip ties. The Army, with newer weapons, report …


Lessons from the Big Sand Box: Firearms, Gear, and Tactics in Iraq

We received this letter, ostensibly from a former Marine Corps First Sergeant, supposedly his second-hand assessment of weapons and enemy tactics in Iraq. This letter has subsequently been largely discredited, so I’m only leaving it up for a couple of days as a teaching tool. I’ve added a few notes. Special thanks to to another First Sergeant (1SG White) and to “Doug Carlton” for helping me with those notes. Hello to all my fellow gunners, military buffs, veterans and interested guys. A couple of weekends ago I got to spend time with my son Jordan, who was on his first …


From David in Israel Re: Body Armor and Handguns

James: About some of the subjects addressed by Fernando in Argentina: For a while people were really into getting body armor here [in Israel]. It was popular during the start of the intifada, but the problem was the bad guys mostly used rifles so you had to use the mega-heavy ceramic chest/back plates. Nobody uses them anymore, I suppose they might come out of the closet if things heat up again. We can also legally get snap in shoulder stocks for handgun here. I believe they are an NFA item with $200 transfer tax with background investigation in America. It …


Letter from The Army Aviator Re: EMP and Troops Shortchanged on Helmets, Etc.

It seems to me that I was reading some of Reason Kearney’s writings and he said the EMP damage to cars, etc was waaaay overrated. Of course, that was back when cars had a lot of non-solid state stuff and tube radios. I do remember he said all you had to do to protect the radio was ground the antenna to the car body. (Tube radio, I expect) and not to worry about the alternator and starter (unless you were smack dab in the middle of the flash). When he wrote that, we already had alternators in lieu of generators. …