WAR, PEACE & PEOPLE

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Caliber & Character: Are both flawed? Rumor has it that a damning report by the Picatinny Arsenal on the 5.56mm cartridge is being suppressed.

“Prosser shot the man at least four times with his M4 rifle. But the American M4 rifles are weak--after Prosser landed three nearly point blank shots in the man's abdomen, splattering a testicle with a fourth, the man just staggered back, regrouped and tried to shoot Prosser.”

The above is extracted by a truly remarkable August 2005 combat report from Mosul, Iraq, written by Michael Yon. You can read the original – and see his action photographs - on his blog at www.michaelyon.blogspot.com

The issue here is not the gun fight in Mosul, but the disturbing fact that the 5.56mm round which we have used since Vietnam has, once again, shown that it is not a man-stopper. It will certainly kill eventually, and it is light and accurate at modest ranges, but it has a disconcerting track record of failing to take a hostile out before he has time to shoot back.

How many American lives have been lost through the deficiencies of the 5.56mm round are hard to calculate but combat veterans emphasize that the total is high – and that such deaths would be entirely preventable if we had a round that was up to the job.

The combination of the War on Terror and the fact that the Army is due to pick a new rifle has brought the question of rifle caliber front and center yet again. Special Forces seized the initiative and, after numerous tests, came to the conclusion that a 6.8mm round would deliver significantly improved killing performance while still retaining a useful degree of backward compatibility.

It is not the purpose of this piece to back any particular choice but more to draw attention to the importance of the issue – our soldiers are in small arms contact multiple times each and every day – and to express serious concern at the behavior of the Army leadership. Not only has the issue of the inadequacies of the 5.56mm round been glossed over for about forty years, but I am advised that attempts are being made to suppress a new report by the Picatinny Arsenal on this vital subject.

The word is that the Army are determined to retain the inadequate 5.56mm caliber round because they have so much invested in it – despite its poor combat performance.

This is a situation which is remarkably reminiscent of the Army’s mismanagement of the body army and Humvee issues. It is an absolute indictment of the character of the Army generals in charge.