#Marine

Hi-Lux Optics offers a full range of optics for firearms, including a large selection of reproduction scopes for vintage rifles in their Malcolm lineup. One of the most interesting is the USMC 8x Gen II which is a modern take on the classic Unertl target scope. Let’s see how this revival of a legend performs.

Recent news from the Department of Defense has shown that the 2nd Marine Law Enforcement Battalion, based out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina has been working with Marine Corps Systems Command in testing a new target system that the Marine Corps could possibly purchase and integrate into marksmanship qualifications. Although the DOD imagery was very discrete about where the targets were from, not mentioning the company name or showing them up-close, the Australian-based company Marathon Robotics Corporation made it clear that 2nd LEB was indeed testing their moving target systems through a post on their Facebook page.

A warning against romanticism in military planning.

When the subject is the future of infantry, the conversation inevitably turns to one thing: Powered, armored exoskeletons. Since the publication of Heinlein’s Starship Troopers in 1959, the concept of an armored suit with enhanced mobility from an internal power source has fascinated military futurists, quickly solidifying as a military fiction staple, and even appearing repeatedly in official “future soldier” concepts from armies and companies around the world.

With the termination of the Interim Combat Service Rifle, the CSASS program on hold, and the XM25 CDTE dead and buried, many are wondering: When will the Army get its act together on small arms? Given the long history of Army program failures, though, maybe a better question would be: If the Army can’t take the lead on small arms development, who can?

In the comments section of my recent article Are We Gearing Up to Lose the Next War? Overmatch, Part 2: Bullets & Backbreakers, two of TFB’s readers shared documents that help us describe the problem of the modern soldier and Marine’s load. The first, from reader cwolf, is a 2007 report by the Naval Research Advisory Committee entitled Lightening the Load. It is available on Slideshare here, or for download here. The second, from ReanerF, is a GAO report on personal protective equipment (PPE, i.e. body armor) from March of this year. In this brief post, we’ll be taking a glance at these reports, which I highly recommend interested readers make time to read in full.

The United States Marine Corps has issued a new acquisition notice for up to 50,814 M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles (IAR), to be sole sourced from Heckler & Koch. The notice is technically not a solicitation in and of itself, but a pre-solicitation notice, intended to give other companies the chance to submit their own proposals or bids if they think they can meet the same need at a lower cost. From the solication:

Canadian technology company Mawashi has formally introduced their flagship product: A passive exoskeleton designed to help the soldier carry his heavy load. The exoskeleton is reportedly based on research into how the human body distributes weight, studying obese individuals like the rikishi wrestlers in sumo, to create a solution for the infantryman to carry heavy loads without injury. The company’s name – Mawashi – even comes from the stiff mawashi wrestling belts used in sumo.

In the rush to augment the infantry’s firepower with new advanced small arms technologies, we may be on the precipice of crippling their ability to fight wars. The push to equip the infantryman with more powerful rifles and machine guns risks reducing his mobility to critical levels, and “locking out” his capacity to carry powerful supporting arms. Although more potent basic infantry weapons are undeniably desirable, current attitudes towards their purpose – exemplified by the concept of “overmatch” – may compound problems that already have reached crisis levels.

In January of 2001, the US Army introduced a new slogan to replace the classic “Be All You Can Be” which young men had recruited under for over two decades. The branch’s new slogan was “An Army of One”, signalling a brand new take on a force that wanted desperately to reinvent itself. Those behind the slogan sought to re-humanize the Army, atomize it, bring it down to its individual components, i.e., the people who filled its ranks. It would be, they hoped, the slogan of a new Army that through the strength of its individuals helped make the world a better place. Over the next 5 years, however, it became the slogan under which men and women all over the world would sign up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of what became known as the Global War on Terror.

The US Military is looking into lighter weight armor for the infantry. Both the Army and the Marine Corps are looking into reducing the weight of the personal protective equipment (PPE, read “helmet and body armor”) carried by the infantrymen of both services. Although armor protection has increased greatly since the beginning of the 2000s, it has been recognized that this may negatively affect the infantry via reductions in mobility and agility, as well as increasing the rate of injuries.  Defense-Aerospace.com, citing the GAO, reports:

There are very few in the gun community that doesn’t know the name Mike Lamb. Mike has carved a career out for himself as a trainer and all around expert largely thanks to his time in the military as well as his continued training. The report from my friend David Reeder at Breach Bang Clear that Mike Lamb is not a Recon Marine is nothing short of disappointing.

Much of the recent discourse regarding the future of infantry combat has centered around the long engagement distances encountered during the Afghan campaign, and the rise of designated marksmen as key elements in the infantry squad. However, arguably more important than the long-range ambushes of the Taliban were the urban engagements in both that campaign and the operations in Iraq. It seems the highest echelons of the US Army agree, as Chief of Staff General Mark Milley commented recently about the future urbanization of the battlefield (via Military.com):

Let’s take a brief tangent. While my job is to write about firearms for you guys, I have many other interests; one of them is Medieval history. It’s a pretty cool thing to be interested in these days, as YouTube is practically bursting with awesome channels that go into an incredible amount of depth and detail on Medieval-related topics, including everything from swords, to armor, to clothing, and everything else.

The following article was written by a guest writer, Matt Koetting. We appreciate him sharing the information about the Marine Recon Challenge and photos of the 1911.