Thursday, July 26, 2012

Stealth is Survival, or, Victory is in the Bayonet!


(I've always wanted to use that sub-title for something...It kind of fits here. Humor me. --J.M.)

My advocacy of getting inside security forces' range envelope of indirect-fire and close-air support weapons is not a secret to regular readers of the blog. The ready availability to security force elements of crew-served weapons with long-range capabilities (the doctrinal maximum effective range of the M249 SAW for a point target is 800M. It is the same for a tripod-mounted M240B), indirect-fire weapons systems organic to light-infantry companies (the M224 60mm mortar has a maximum effective range of over two miles), and on-call close-air support, in the form of everything from AH-64 Apaches to OH-58 Kiowas and MH-6/AH-6 Little Birds (not to mention fixed-wing assets and UAV threats) makes the "I've got a rifle that I can shoot out to 500 meters" foolish as a stand-alone option. While the precision rifle/SDM certainly has a role to play in the irregular force equation, it is not the panacea that too many want to make it out to be. While I certainly believe, and advise, that each of us should focus on our local area threats first, if you think the locals won't resort to phoning Big G for help, you're retarded.

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