My Colt XM16E1 came from a Canadian observer who spent two years in Vietnam.
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My Colt XM16E1 came from a Canadian observer who spent two years in Vietnam.
One of the guys in my hooch got a Slim Jim from home. I had a rat trap and asked the kid for a piece of slim jim for bait. I tied a piece of cord onto the trap and a tent stake pounded into the sand. I didn't want to lose my trap. I set it down in the sand between hooches and figured that sometime in the night I'd get a rat. It wasn't even dark yet and a big, really big dominant rat came out from under the pallet floor. He grabbed that slim jim and the trap snapped on him right across his face. He got up and shook his head until the trap came off, took a step or two and died where he stood. I had a glove and put it on and took it down to show the first Sergeant what we lived with. It was huge, he told me to get lost. I threw it back into the sand and by the next day the ants ate it. There was nothing but a fur hide and a tail. Flat as a pancake.
I would of put it a box and wrapped it like a present and left it somewhere by him with a Thank You Card...That Rat was so big he shook off the trap but died 2 steps later, that is Wild !...I'm getting a pretty good visual of these Monster Rats your talking about. I wonder if these rats were the size of Churchill's Explosive Rats. If so, they could of held plenty of explosives.
When I was in in '74 to '77, I knew some guys that were SF over there in the early 1960s. One senior Sgt. actually preferred his M2 Carbine over the early AR15 (probably a 601 or 602) he had been issued. He said he carried more ammo for the weight, it was more tolerant of bad conditions, and he too said it alway went bang. He said they were always fighting Charlie up close, so it had plenty of power. My dad used an M1 carbine on Iwo Jima the night of the big Bonzai charge when their compound was nearly over run. He only said "It never let me down".
I was drafted in Aug 1965 that was 20 years after WW2. Our turn came up. In the 5th Inf Div we had many SFC and SSG that were Korean vets finishing out their careers. Our Command SGTM in Vietnam was a Korean war Inf. vet. He extended after I left and was killed by a claymore mine after a couple of months. My section SFC in Vietnam was a 101st battle of the bulge vet. He was shot across the shins by a German captured and the German field hospital put steel plates in both his shins to save his legs. He said that one day the hospital would be friendly the next it was German, the doctors just stayed and worked on whoever they brought in. I talked to everyone I could to learn the history.
I don't think that today our little snowflakes that are crying and hiding in safe rooms with puppies because they are disappointed over an election could do what we had to do. It's a damned shame too, the greatest generation put a lot of blood into that flag.
I just thought it was a term of endearment as I heard it used often. I apologize if anyone found it to be offensive. It was not intended as such and I have many other much better offensive words to use if that was my intent. I have been doing a lot of "Ready, Fire, Aim" lately...age??
Again sorry
Dave
The M1/M2 never really let down any of our personnel in Vietnam. Out to 100 yards, the damned thing works! With civilian loads, it works even better. The "Light Rifle" is still "what the doctor ordered". It had been a reliable "man-stopper" in Police, Corrections, Military and Civilian hands. It has worked for more than 75 years.
God bless the 7.62 X 33 Carbine!
I always noticed the pronounced smack of the round at 200 yds on the steel plate at my range. I still wouldn't want a hit from one. Hope we don't go through this whole thing again now...