#Rifleman

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.

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 Infantry’s load is at an all-time high, resulting in a high rate of injuries and medical non-deployables. Planners are desperately searching for new ways to lift the burden on soldiers and Marines, before the problem spirals out of control. The obvious and most immediate path is to lighten the troops’ load, but the holy grail of infantry technology would be something that allowed the Infantry to haul even more with less burden. Enter the “robodog”: a legged, robotic pack mule first developed as a demonstrator by Boston Dynamics.

OK, who would win in a race: A soldier, a firefighter, or a knight? What, you’ve never asked yourself that? Well, for those of you who did, you finally have your answer thanks to a video released by Daniel Jaquet of the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (Center for Higher Studies of the Renaissance):

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):

The bullpup rifle tends to be – when it comes up – a pretty divisive subject among “tactical” rifle shooters. Bullpup detractors dismiss the layout as clunky and awkward, while its proponents cite the advantage of longer barrels and shorter overall lengths. Both camps are often correct in their criticism, but there is another aspect of the bullpup that I think often goes poorly addressed – if it is addressed at all. That is the subject of balance.

In the previous previous installment, we looked at how to assemble our eligibility package for the Civilian Marksmanship Program. In this installment, we will look at how to actually order a rifle from the Program. Ordering is not a particularly difficult process, so this post will not be very long. To order from the CMP, you can navigate the website to the ordering page located at this link. You will be presented with this text:

Ever since the news broke that the CMP would be able to sell M1911 handguns to the shooting public, thanks to a provision in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, I have received a lot of emails and comments asking me “how do I qualify for the CMP?” Well, you’re in luck: Not only will I be walking our readers through the process, but it’s easier than you think!

Conventional wisdom for a modern sporting rifle is to set the zero either at 50/200 or 100 yards. This is especially common with standard military sights, which have built-in clocks for bullet drop at extended distances. However, with the advent of red-dot sights (which cannot move for distance (yet), shooters are stuck with a single POA.