And I have to say, I’m genuinely surprised, you could get this so wrong.

The title, “Sloppy fire discipline is now a matter of doctrine” and your closing paragraph, “But the doctrine is different today. It is wasteful, and probably cowardly, but it works. The grunts are not aiming any more, it is too dangerous. They just stick out their rifles from behind cover and spray in the general direction of Charlie…” Describe, after a fashion, a situation that existed during the conflict in Southeast Asia. It does not describe the situation now, or even the last 30 years.

Suppressive fire is not “Sloppy fire discipline”. It is a tactic employed in its modern sense, for almost a century, and an extremely effective one. Even though you clearly understand the use of suppressing fire in the context of a fire team, you mistakenly relate it to the individual rifleman’s fire control discipline.

“The grunts are not aiming any more”

“Most men don’t aim, they just fire in the general direction of the enemy.”

“They just stick out their rifles from behind cover and spray in the general direction of Charlie”

In the context of today, which is specifically what you refer to in your title, and closing paragraph, those statements are ridiculous.

After the move to the All Volunteer Force, 39 years ago, the US Military began an effort to address many institutional deficiencies from the 1960’s and early seventies.

One area where they actually succeeded was in individual marksmanship, and fire control discipline. The problem was never the quality, or bravery, of war fighters during the selective service period. It was the tempo of training cycles, necessitated by the draft. The flow of recruits through basic, and boot camp, overwhelmed the system, resulting in degraded training, putting those recruits at even greater risk.

With the advent of the All Volunteer Force, (AVF) again, 39 years ago, a significantly reduced flow of recruits presented an opportunity. The USMC led the way, by reinventing itself, modeled on it’s successes of WWII.

During the first and second World Wars, the Marines stressed individual marksmanship, and fire control discipline. Those qualities were brought to the forefront in training, and over the next 10 years, re-instilled in its culture.

During the 1980’s, USMC official doctrine was modified, making everyone in uniform, cook, truck driver, admin., pilot, etc., a combat rifleman. They adopted Close Quarter Battle tactics. (Special Operations forces originated this. Pre-engagement, the rifle is held in a constant ready fire position, buttstock to shoulder, strong hand on receiver, and weak hand on forestock. Post engagement, the weapon is held in an aiming position and the Fire Team moves as a unit, each rifleman covering complimentary sectors of fire.)

This, in combination with the revived WWII “one shot, one kill” philosophy, was so successful, the Army adopted the same training.

Fire Teams vary in size and composition, depending on the military organization, and the order of battle. The number of riflemen attached may vary, but a USMC Fire Team generally consists of “X” number riflemen, a team leader, who functions as grenadier, and one, sometimes two automatic riflemen, referred to as “AR” man.

In an infantry engagement, the “AR” man’s job, whether carrying a BAR, an M-60, or in current times, an M-249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) is to lay down fire in order to suppress the engaging force, while riflemen maneuver to flank and kill that force. (Depending on the nature of the opposing force, they might instead employ the M-203 grenade launcher, a shoulder fired AT-4, or wait for a fire support mission)

In the nightmare of combat, anything can happen. There are grim stories of our forces being overrun by the enemy, in the past, and in current conflicts. On such desperate occasions, modern marksmanship, and fire control discipline would be more important than ever.

I’m not saying that training never breaks down, and in a horrible panic, a soldier or Marine doesn’t move the select fire switch on an M4-Carbine to full auto, and fire blindly. That goes without saying.

Here’s what I am saying.

You are absolutely incorrect in your premise, and specifically in these two statements:

1. “Sloppy fire discipline is now a matter of doctrine”

2. “But the doctrine is different today. It is wasteful, and probably cowardly, but it works. The grunts are not aiming any more, it is too dangerous. They just stick out their rifles from behind cover and spray in the general direction of Charlie…”

A couple of unrelated points:

You’re absolutely right about the Kalashnikov. I would just add that in combination with the equally legendary RPG-7, it forms the perfect insurgency weapon system, astoundingly effective to this day.

The Kalashnikov’s only weakness is the 7.62×39mm projectile. Crappy ballistic design hampers its effectiveness beyond 300 feet. (Still very deadly at 400 yards, if you’re in the way)

My only gripe with the M-16, (now M-4 Carbine) is again the round. The 5.56mm (.223 cal) is devastating at very close range, and extremely accurate. But the very high muzzle velocity that makes the tiny round so effective in CQB, diminishes far too rapidly, leaving our troops with a substandard weapon.

That could easily be remedied, by switching to the 6.8 mm Remington SPC cartridge. It has slightly more knock down force than the AK-47, and approaches the .308 NATO round in ballistic performance.

Discussed elsewhere in this thread, the characteristic “Ting” produced by the automatic ejection of the M-1 Garrand’s stripper clip, after the last round is fired, works both ways.

GI’s quickly learned to pocket a few of the spent clips, which littered any battlefield. In a firefight, they would flick one of the decoy clips in the air, and when the enemy responded to the artificial stimulus, blow them away.

End of problem.

This is supported by countless testimony from WWII veterans, and even documented in the films ‘The Longest Day’ ‘Battleground’ and the old 60’s TV series ‘Combat’.

M-1 Carbine: A real piece of crap, only issued to officers, as a harebrained replacement for the 1911 model sidearm.