The M16

I was one of 6 boys growing up in a small rural town in Pennsylvania. “Guns,”as we called them were very important items. I had experience shooting a BB gun first, a 22 Remmington, an 18 and 20 and 12 gadge shotgun, a 4-10 and a few high powered rifles we shared during deer season between brothers. The 30 odd 6 was my favorite but rarely would my older brothers let me get my hands on that one.
When my number came up in the military draft I received a telephone call telling me that within the next few days I would be drafted into the United States Army and shortly afterwords would no doubt be sent to serve in Vietnam as a combat soldier. I had just graduated from college, was recently married and I already thought I was getting old at age 23. I figured I had one of three choices to make. I could either choose the Air Force, the Navy or the US army. I chose the Army since they had a two year enlistment option. I wanted nothing of any three year programs with a choice of assignments. God certainly wouldn’t let me go to Vietnam where I might have to kill someone. He would certainly keep me out of “combat”, so I thought.
Well, I joined the US army’s two year program which meant that I would have absolutely no options. I was at the mercy of the Army as far as what I would be assigned to do and where I would serve. I was first assigned to Fort Bragg North Carolina for basic training and then to Fort McClellan , Alabama for “advanced infantry” training before being assigned to Vietnam.
It was at Fort Bragg that I was first introduced to the M16 rifle. Before any of us new recruits would be permitted to handle this weapon we were all marched out to a target range for a first hand display of the power of the M16. Our company was about 100 in number from what I recall and we were instructed to sit “at ease” in these bleachers and were told to wait for the demonstration to begin in just a few minutes. We noticed out in front of the bleachers a number of targets at varying distances. Breaking the silence we heard the drill sergeant bark out “Attention”. We all stood up and waited for the next command. Into the demonstration area walked a number of soldiers, “vets,” with their M16’s. They had not loaded them as of yet but we could see their “clips” that in no time could be loaded and unloaded. We were then instructed to be “at ease” and seated. This was my very first experience at seeing anything so amazing in all my life in terms of firepower on display by a very small group of experienced soldiers with the M16. It was awesome. I had never seen tracers being used before. Real bullets with every 4th one a tracer heading out towards targets all over the field. Each magazine had 15 to 20 bullets. As soon as one magazine was emptied, the soldiers would eject the empty magazine and immediately reloaded the already filled other magazine. Each soldier had about 12 magazines. It was a demonstration that lasted but just minutes but the effect was exhilarating to say the least. We were impressed. I was amazed at what just a few guys could do in just a few minutes of time with that weapon. I sort of had the idea that we soldiers would be almost invincible against the enemy with a weapon like this.
Almost immediately after this display of fire power marched back to a conference room. We were then given the order to sit and pay attention. In walks this soldier, dressed in combat uniform holding the M16. He asked us if we were impressed with the weapon. We all said “yes drill sergeant”. In unison, of course. He then explained to us that as powerful as this weapon was, it had one major defect. There was only one remedy for the defect and only we (each individual) were responsible to make sure that this defect would be treated in such a way so as never to fail in combat. NEVER! Our lives and those of our fellow soldiers needed to count on it. He then went on to explain that in Vietnam as in many other war zones soldiers would need to fight on sandy soil. One grain of sand entering the firing chamber could and would shut down the weapon. In Vietnam we would be moving around the war zone in helicopters most of the time on combat assault missions (Charlie Alphas) they called them and soldiers would find them selves in the midst of a sand storm when being picked up and let off into the danger zones. We would have to always be absolutely certain that our weapon would fire. We would have to have this confidence without ever taking a practice shot. Why? We would never be allowed to give our position away to the enemy by making noise just to see if our weapon would fire.
We then watched the drill sergeant “disassemble” the weapon and then blindfolded put it back together in a matter of seconds. We were spell bound. Then he said that from now until we were assigned to a combat unit in Vietnam we would be given an M16 and train to take the weapon apart and keep it clean and put it back together again with full confidence that it would deliver the power it was designed to deliver. We were never allowed to call the M16 a “gun”. It was a lethal weapon, light, easy to handle, easily loaded, with semi automatic and automatic options at our disposal and designed to kill. But with one potential flaw. A dirty weapon was to invite disaster. We would need to be highly disciplined to keep this from ever happening. Our lives depended upon it.