Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit tcml-4

by Tom Clancy

  The first trick to hitting a target with the M40A1 at long distance is holding the weapon properly. To do this, you jam the rifle butt (with its special buttpad) hard into your right armpit. You then wrap the sling tightly around your other arm, using your left hand to cradle the rifle along the forward part of the stock. When the sling is about to cut off the circulation to your left hand and the buttstock is hurting your armpit, you've got the M40A1 about rigid enough to start sighting. You then look through the 10-power Unertl sniperscope, and begin to work the crosshairs. At 600 yards/548.6 meters, a target with an 18-in./45.7-cm kill zone is just a dark dot which appears to dance around the scope. You quickly realize that this is caused by your own breathing and heartbeat; experienced snipers learn to regulate these when shooting. Once you have the dot of the target reasonably lined up, you gently pull the trigger, and then the world explodes in your face. The kick of the M40A1 is like a shotgun, and the sound is like a bullwhip cracking in your head. In less than a second, the round flies out to the target, and then the adjustment process begins. You look at the grass and dust clouds to evaluate the wind and heat shimmer to help adjust the scope to compensate for crosswinds and heat updrafts that "loft" the round. This done, you pull back the bolt, eject the spent casing, and push the bolt forward to drive the new round home. The fascinating thing, though, was that with only a few rounds of practice and some skilled help from one of Colonel Nance's sniper instructors, I was putting rounds regularly through the target some 600 yards distant! This is over a quarter mile/half kilometer away, and the effect of hitting an object that far away with a hand-held weapon has to be felt to be believed.

  Now before you get too impressed with my performance, consider that Marine Scout/Snipers are required to do the same thing at almost twice the distance, with only one shot (that is all a sniper will usually get!) and no chance to make adjustments. All this on a mission that may last days, in any weather, against an enemy trying to kill you like a pesky varmint. It is a bizarre way to make a living, and the men who do it are strange birds. But to an enemy, the M40A1 in the hands of a skilled Marine Scout/Sniper is a hellish weapon, more feared than even a bomber loaded with napalm! It is scary to know that you might be hunted by another man; and this makes it tough to do your job. The overwhelming psychological impact of the sniper helps to explain why the Corps invests so much in maintaining this capability.

  Barrett M82A1A .50-Caliber Special-Purpose Sniper Rifle

  When you see it the first time, it just looks evil, like a preying mantis ready to strike an aphid. It could be the star of its own action/adventure movie with Stallone and Schwarzenegger as supporting players. It is the Barrett M82A1A .50-caliber special-purpose sniper rifle, the most unusual weapon in the Marine small-arms inventory. The M82A1A is designed to augment the M40A1 sniper rifle when longer ranges and greater hitting power are required. The Barrett fires the same ammunition as the M-2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun. If you have ever fired the M-2, you know that it kicks like a mule, and requires a very firm mount or a heavy tripod dug into the ground. The whole M-2 machine-gun/tripod combination weighs several hundred pounds, hardly convenient as a sniper weapon. Nevertheless, Marine snipers like the legendary Staff Sergeant Carlos Hathcock (ninety-three con-firmed kills in Vietnam) mounted special sniper scopes on standard M-2s and scored hits at ranges over a mile/ 1.6 km.

  The amazing Barrett M82A1A sniper rifle. This weapon fires the same round as the M2 .50-caliber machine gun, and is used for extreme range shooting by the Marines.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  The M82A1A traces its roots to the rebel war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The United States, mostly through the CIA, aided the Mujhadeen rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. A well-publicized part of this aid included Stinger shoulder-launched SAMs to knock down attack helicopters and strike aircraft. The Mujhadeen also asked for a man-portable long-range armor-penetrating sniper weapon. (Sniping is a traditional art of the Afghan mountain tribesmen.) The answer was a weapon designed by Ronnie Barrett from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Barrett, a builder of homemade weapons for many years, designed a system of springs to buffer the recoil of a .50-caliber machine gun. By spreading the recoil energy over a longer duration, the springs reduce the peak load on the weapon and the gunner. Barrett built a weapon that could be broken down and carried as several man-sized loads. The CIA bought a number of these heavy sniper rifles for the Afghan Mujhadeen, who used them to terrorize Soviet troops. The Barrett performed so well in Afghanistan that the Marine Corps evaluated and eventually adopted it as the M82A1A sniper rifle. Today, the M82A1A (produced by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing) is deployed by Marine Force Reconnaissance units in three-man fire teams. Each team member carries one part of the weapon (upper receiver, lower receiver, or scope and ammunition). The team alternates the jobs of shooter and spotters.

  The semi-automatic M82A1A is 57 in./128.25 cm long, and weighs 32.5 1b/14.8 kg unloaded. It fires a .50-caliber bullet (Raufoss Grade A, DoDIC A606) against targets defined as "equipment-sized" (like a jeep or tent), at ranges of up to 1,800 meters/ 1,968.5 yards. A sniper team with a Barrett can reach out and hit useful targets at ranges of over a mile/ 1.6 km. During Operation Desert Storm, M82A1A teams were knocking out things like artillery-spotting radars and communications equipment, raising hell with Iraqi command and control. The M82A1A is basically a .50-caliber machine gun spring-mounted inside an aluminum housing. This gun-inside-a-box design allows a sniper to safely and comfortably fire the weapon with accuracy. A folding bipod and a special buttpad help to absorb the recoil. In fact, the peak recoil load is actually lower than the M40 because of the buffering system, the bipod, and a high-efficiency muzzle brake (which gives the Barrett its insect-like appearance). Mounted on top of the M82A1A is a 10-power Unertl sniperscope matched to the Raufoss .50-caliber ammunition. The M82A1A is chambered to accept any NATO-standard .50-caliber/ 12.7mm ammunition, though currently, only the Raufoss round is issued. The Barrett has a ten-round box magazine, which feeds through the lower receiver housing. Like the M40, it only fires single shots, after which the team rapidly breaks down the weapon, slides the various parts into specially designed backpacks, and exits the engagement area.

  Firing the Barrett is almost as easy as the MP-5N. You load a magazine into the bottom of the weapon, pull back the cocking handle, sight the weapon (adjusting for windage and other factors), and pull the trigger. The weapon fires with a distinctive "crack," and then pushes back gently into your shoulder. It is surprisingly comfortable. Like the M40A1, the key to accurate firing is steadiness and patience. The Barrett M82A1A is a unique, specialized weapon. It enables Marine snipers to disrupt enemy units and make life miserable for them in their own rear areas. This degrades enemy morale and paralyzes their leadership. Unlike the dramatic gun camera video of laser-guided bombs hitting targets, you won't see this weapon on CNN, but the effect can be just as devastating.

  Beretta M9/Model 92F Combat Pistol

  No single piece of combat equipment is more personal to a combat soldier than a handgun. Not all personnel require one, but to those who do, the Marine Corps issues a combat side arm, the Beretta M9/Model 92F Combat Pistol. Selected to replace the classic M1911A1 Colt .45-caliber pistol which served for more than half a century, the Beretta has been a lightning rod for critics. These include advocates of the .45 and Congressional supporters of competing handgun manufacturers that lost out to the M9/92F. Nevertheless, the M9/92F is a fine handgun with excellent design features. Let's take a closer look.

  The Beretta M9/92F 9mm pistol. This is the standard-issue personal side arm of the Marines.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  For nearly five hundred years, the Beretta family has been making firearms for soldiers and sportsmen (one customer was Napoleon's Grande Armee). Today, Beretta manufactures shotguns and automatic pistols that are among the best available. In 1985, the Italian firm was selected to supply the U.S. military with a common, non-developmental ("off-the-shelf"
) handgun compatible with NATO Standard 9mm ammunition. With a multi-year production contract for over 500,000 pistols, the losers in the competition came out with fangs bared, taking shots at any perceived problem.

  One complaint was that the U.S. military was buying foreign weapons, depriving Americans of jobs. In fact, the contract required production in a U.S.-based factory (Beretta operates a plant in Maryland). But the design did have its share of real problems, for, like any design, this one had its share of teething pains. During endurance testing, for instance, some slides on the test weapons began to crack. This resulted from an extremely hard mounting fixture which put too much strain on the weapons (strengthening the slides was relatively easy). Now, with over a decade of production and operational service behind it, the M9/92F is in its prime, filling most of the combat handgun requirements for the U.S. military. Let me show you how to fire one.

  The M9/92F is a large-frame semi-automatic 9mm pistol with a fifteen-round magazine. It is an ambidextrous weapon, equally handy for right- or left-handed shooters. The M9/92F is lighter than the old Colt M1911 .45-caliber that it replaced, weighing 2.55 lb/ 1.16 kg with a loaded magazine. It fits nicely in the hand; my rather large palm and digits make it easy to grip. The M9/92F has exceptional safety features to minimize the risk of accidental firing. These include:

  • An open slide with an ambidextrous magazine-release button to speed up and simplify reloading.

  • A double-action trigger. When you start to pull the trigger, you feel a resistance; the weapon only fires when your finger provides additional pressure.

  • A visible firing pin block to show the user that a round is chambered.

  You have to want to shoot this gun to make it fire. A fumble or mistake is very unlikely to result in accidental discharge. This is critical when you are in a CQB situation.

  To show us how to properly handle the M9/92F and several other firearms, Colonel Nance graciously loaned me the expertise of Sergeant Kenneth Becket, an instructor from the High Risk Personnel training course at Quantico. Stepping up to the firing line, he handed me an empty M9/92F with the slide open and the chamber empty. The first thing you are expected to do is look up into the chamber to make sure it is empty. This done, you slide a magazine up into the grip until it clicks home. Now you firmly grasp the slide and cock it to the rear. This chambers the first round, and you are ready to fire.

  The key to hitting targets with a semi-automatic pistol like the M9/92F is correctly holding, or gripping, the weapon. The subject of proper pistol grip provokes endless debate among shooters, and there is probably no best way to hold a pistol, but the grip currently favored and taught by the Corps works well. Sergeant Becket had me firmly grip the pistol in my right hand, and then grip over the holding hand with the fingers of the left hand, making sure that the palm of the grip hand is on the surface of the pistol grip. The idea is to create a rigid mount for the weapon, as well as to maximize the surface area of your hands in contact with the weapon. Once you have the proper grip, you thumb the safely to the Off position, and are ready to shoot.

  As with shooting combat and sniper rifles, the Marine Corps teaches pistol shooters to use the sights to get aimed fire. This is not just to save ammunition. In a pistol shootout, the first shooter to score a hit almost always wins. The USMC theory of pistol shooting requires that every shot be aimed from the sights, even if it takes a bit more time. Even with trained shooters like policemen, pistol shooting is, in a word, hideous. Forget what you see on television and in the movies. Accurate pistol fire from beyond about five yards/meters is almost unheard of. For example, in the last twenty years there are painfully few recorded instances of New York City policemen hitting anything beyond twenty-five feet/eight meters with a pistol. For this reason, the Marines teach pistol shooters to carefully get the proper grip, calmly line up the target through the sights, and then squeeze off one round. Repeat the procedure until the target drops. This procedure will almost guarantee victory and survival in a showdown at close quarters.

  With the target in the sights, you gently squeeze the trigger until the weapon fires. This can be a little disconcerting to new users of the M9/92F, because of the double action for safety on the first shot (you have to pull the trigger over a cam to fire). There is a feeling of pulling the trigger forever before the first round fires. But when the M9/92F fires, it is smooth and clean, with the round hitting a white "witness plate" target about 6 in./15.25 cm square placed about 16 feet/5 meters away. Once the M9/92F fires its first round, the trigger becomes single-action (short pull) and the shooting much easier. After each shot, Sergeant Becket coached me to line up and check my grip. And soon I was consistently hitting with round after round. After the fifteenth shot, he had me thumb the magazine release, and rapidly slide in a fresh one. At this point, the weapon is still cocked, so all you have to do is check that the safety is Off and fire the first round of the magazine as before. By the time we were done, the white paint of the target witness plate was scarred and worn, testament to the sergeant's coaching skill!

  Though there are equally good weapons from manufacturers like Glock, FN, and Colt, I like the Beretta. While 1 personally favor a single-action weapon like the 9mm Browning Hi-Power myself, the safety and reliability of the M9/92F make it an excellent weapon for military use. With minimal training, a shooter can expect to hit a target within killing range. And the 9mm NATO standard ammunition makes it fit well into the logistical chain of almost any nation.

  Colt .45-Caliber M1911 MEU (SOC) Pistol

  The USMC has almost a reverence for the old M 1911 Colt .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol. Its stopping power is legendary: It was designed to take down charging machete-wielding Filipino insurgents. The original M 1911 was replaced by the M 1911A1 in 1925, and nearly all existing weapons in Federal armories were upgraded to the new configuration. After that, the Colt became such a fixture that when the Department of Defense decided to issue the M9/92F in 1985, many Colt .45 users considered it just short of treason. Despite the .45's reputation for kicking like a mule and having the accuracy of a blunderbuss, it was loved by generations of American fighting men, particularly Marines. Thus, in 1986 there was general delight when the USMC decided to bring back a special version of the Colt, the MEU (SOC) pistol. The MEU (SOC) is a rebuilt and modified M 1911A 1 Colt .45, issued as a backup weapon to reconnaissance units equipped with the MP-5N. It was selected over other pistols for its inherent reliability and the greater lethality of the .45-caliber projectile, which weighs about twice as much as a 9mm bullet. Despite the limited inventory of five hundred units maintained by the Corps, the almost spiritual attachment of Marines to the M1911A1 guarantees support for this weapon.

  The specially built MEU (SOC) pistol, constructed from an M1911 Colt .45. These unique handgun are issued to Marines for close-quarters battle.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  The MEU (SOC) pistols are manufactured from existing Colt M1911A1 .45-caliber pistols (there are thousands in storage). They are rebuilt at Quantico by the armorers of Colonel Nance's Weapons Training Battalion. After each M1911A1 frame is stripped and checked for structural soundness, the following modifications are made:

  • A commercial competition-grade ambidextrous safety.

  • A precision barrel and trigger assembly.

  • Extra wide, rubber-coated safety grips.

  • Rounded hammer spur.

  • High-profile combat sights.

  • Stainless-steel seven-round competition-grade magazines with a rounded plastic follower and an extended floor plate.

  These improvements make the MEU (SOC) pistol more "user friendly." They also make the MEU (SOC) pistol one of the most comfortable and accurate hand-guns I have ever fired.

  I was given the chance to fire one of the MEU (SOC) pistols at the same distance and target as the Beretta. I've fired my share of .45-caliber pistols before, and the M1911A1 has always been a beast. Even with my size and weight, the M1911A1 always left me bruise
d and battered, with little damage to the targets. The MEU (SOC) pistol is different. Using the same grip and sighting technique as I used on the Beretta, I got a string of hits on my first magazine. A single-action trigger makes it smoother to fire than the Beretta, and the reduced recoil is easy on even small-handed shooters. Seeing the damage .45-caliber rounds were doing to the target witness plates, I could only imagine what they would do to a human target. This weapon is more than accurate and deadly; it is fun to fire, much like the MP-5N. I could have spent the whole day firing it under Sergeant Becket's coaching. Eventually I had to regretfully give it back. The MEU (SOC) is the finest large frame pistol you will never be able to buy. And I want one!

  M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW)

  When the first machine guns appeared in the late 1800s, they revolutionized warfare. Until the introduction of the tank, machine guns ruled the battlefield. For many years infantry leaders longed for a machine gun that a man could carry, to set up a base of fire to support squad-level operations. As early as 1916 Marines used the French M1909 Benet-Mercie, license-built by Colt, in the Dominican Campaign; and by 1917 they had some British Lewis guns. During World War I, the U.S. Army resisted the idea of a light machine gun, fearing that it would lead to excessive ammunition waste. Instead it adopted the famous M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), which entered service in the last two months of the war. This 22-1b/10 kg weapon fired standard .30–06 ammunition from a twenty-round clip. Even though the twenty-round clip limited the rate of sustained fire to about sixty rounds per minute — half the firepower of a typical belt-fed bipod-mounted light machine gun — and the effective range was also shorter, the BAR was robust and reliable. The Marines liked it so much they made it the centerpiece of the fire team. Unfortunately, the BAR stayed in service too long, a problem most often noted by those who had to lug the damned thing around the battlefield.