Comments on: REPORT FROM A MARINE IN IRAQ

By: michael

michael — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:35:02 +0000

In 2010-2011 in Sangin Valley, Helmand provience, Afghanistan we used all these weapons and some more… most of what is said in here is true… M2’s are fucking awesome but not that many over there with us, cause they were mostly mounted. And the only time i was ever mounted was for casualties and we had to do QRF. M240B are were the money is at, you can take them on foot all day for a week. and still gun fight with them everyday.. If your MG team is legit they will save your life just like they did mine.. Snipers were attached to us and were used mainly as assault snipers, I.E… walked everywhere with us and when someone way out there needed to die they reached out and touched them.. IED’s are no joke, those things changed everyones life even if you didn’t get hit by one. I’m still looking for them in the ground back in the states. I’ve been directly on top of several of them until i found them.. other then that they were everywhere.. and i mean everywhere! Enemy has a lot of weapons not listed in here.. to start, ak47 W/ 30mm grenade launcher, PKM’s, RPK’s, DShK, RPG’s, Mosin Nagant, Enfields, Draganov SVD’s, various random shotguns and handguns.. IED’s range from everything… i could sit here all day and tell you about different ones i found.. i was point man for my squad and saved lives by finding those things.. they consist of main charge, battery source, initiating system(blasting cap), and a pressure plate.. most, if not all, of the ones we had in sangin used carbon rods in the pressure plates, so we could not find them with vallons.. they were anywhere from 5-40lbs of HME and either snapped your legs, took one leg off, or completely blew your lower half off depending on how big it was.. the enemy is horrible at shooting and tactics.. towards the end they got better at maneuvering on us and it caused us to just move to contact.. but they still suck at shooting.. when they shot at us we unloaded everything we had within the first five minutes to see if they really wanted to play… sometimes they would stay fight and by then fixed and rotary wing would be fucking them from the sky.. i have so much i could say, but I’m done typing now.. i probably left out a lot thats useful but this is it for now.. one saved round, MK32’s (MGL) are the shit, basically instance IDF on target.. your not requesting mortars that come 5 minutes to late or not at all..—peace

By: J. Allen

J. Allen — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:09:22 +0000

The millitary must stick to hardball ammo.. The Genivea conventions outlaws the use of any hollowpoint, frangible or otherwise modified ammo.. I wish we could use some Winchester jhp’s

By: JDZ

JDZ — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:03:41 +0000

You’re obviously right about the M243. Thanks for the correction. My guess is that, back then, somebody must have OCR’d the original letter into a PC and the 9 came out as a 3.

By: USMA Cadet

USMA Cadet — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:59:34 +0000

I’m finishing my second year as a cadet at the United States Military Academy. Although I haven’t been deployed, I have had training on all of the U.S. weapons systems mentioned in the above article with the exception of the sniper rifle’s. Several errors in the article make me question its authenticity. The Army’s designation for the SAW is M249, not M243. A brief internet search did not yield any reliable results for a light machine gun with the designation M243. As far as I know, the Marines use the same nomenclature for the SAW as the Army. Additionally, I don’t know of any body armor that weighs 6 lbs and can stop a 7.62X39 mm rifle round. At West Point I’m issued Interceptor body armor for training and it weighs about 8 lbs without ballistic plates. The plain vest is only tested to stop up to a 9mm pistol round. Only with inserted plates will Interceptor armor reliably protect against AK-47 rounds. I hope this information is helpful. I encourage anyone interested in these weapons to do additional research before deciding which systems are reliable.

By: will

will — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:18:29 +0000

It is my understanding that the adopting of the 9mm was something of a political move. Mainly because it moved to the standard nato round (9mm) which is a poor reason to do anything. The types of ammo used also have an effect. good ammo like hydrashock or talon that could make the 9mm a viable weapon (I trained with it in the army but never used it in combat) which would be effective against unarmored targets are to expensive to issue en masse. I think another reason for the adoption of a smaller round is the theory that smaller people (especially women, who make up a large percentage of support personel) have trouble with large caliber weapons. I call bulls**t on that having seen young girls able to handle a .45 no problem. So rather than switching to a weapon that uses smaller (and holds more) rounds, better training should be implemented. Also, the pistol has a major psychological impact on iraquis, I guess because Saddam used it for executions.

By: Battle Tested | Simple Survival Skills

Battle Tested | Simple Survival Skills — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:26:03 +0000

[...] found this at NeverYetMelted.com stop by and check out all their posts they have some good stuff [...]

By: The Old Ranger

The Old Ranger — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:55:11 +0000

One of the most informative articles I’ve read. Thank God for people like you and your son!

By: lilbear68

lilbear68 — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:42:39 +0000

former viet nam vet here, ive never had a doubt of our troops and what they do or how but once again i think this will be another war that the politicians wont let us win.
i just wish we were off a war footing for about 20 yrs, to take care of home work

By: chung400ramair

chung400ramair — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:30:07 +0000

i am an oldie from nam era. thank you for enlightment from the boot straps. i among many am proud as H_ _L of these young and brave americans. the troubles over there will never reallly end, it has not for oveer 2,000 years. more S- – T WILL happen according to the biblical projections. may you boys enjoy a retirement back in the USA soon! cause at a future point others will indeed take up the batom of FREEDOM for all wheter they can get around their prejudices of AMERICANs. we are not perfect but by god we do try to balance evil. semper fi!

By: tony

tony — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:32:23 +0000

good to hear the truth. sure dont get it from cnn or the bbc. god bless the USMC

By: Cassidy

Cassidy — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:46:47 +0000

Thanks for the info from one grunt to the next.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:46:37 +0000

Hey thanks for the interesting read , and thank you for making him (your son) and him for serving our nation . I was an FDNY fireman and was at the World trade center after the attack so i really appreciate what our forces are doing . Id love to loan out some of my stuff for testing to our guys and girls over there . Safe return to all !

By: Browning .50 cal M2 "Ma Deuce" - American Light Weapons

Browning .50 cal M2 "Ma Deuce" - American Light Weapons — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:30:01 +0000

[...] ultimate fight stopper, puts them in the dirt every time. The most coveted weapon in-theater. Never Yet Melted REPORT FROM A MARINE IN IRAQ Caliber: .50BMG (12.7×99mm) Weight: 38 kg MG, 58 kg complete with M3 tripod Length: 1650 mm [...]

By: Observer

Observer — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:09:43 +0000

This account has been repeated on numerous websites, an indication of other’s belief in it’s importance.

Wouldn’t be wonderful if other accounts couldn’t be shared?

By: Sean Rostand

Sean Rostand — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:23:11 +0000

This is a remarkably clear and concise assessment of our situation over there. If your son was able to provide this to you, I’d like to think our leaders have access to the same clarity of info. Unfortunately, as an intel vet from the Mideast mess of the 80s, I can assure you they don’t. Or if they do, they’re too locked into their own agenda to care. Consider sending this report to John McCain. He might be able to bring this to the American public. You’re certainly right about one thing: if our troops have high morale and believe they’re winning in Iraq, the press is hiding that well.

By: billyray

billyray — Thu, 03 May 2007 06:18:23 +0000

good to know sitrep from those who’ve been there in the sand box. don’t forget the little 22. great weapon!. not to get on anyone , however it is the man who knows his weapon best that will fare better.

By: careermilitary

careermilitary — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 18:30:04 +0000

I absolutely loved it! I’m a retired, 18 year Army, 5 year Air Force man now working DoD as a contractor. I’ve never had the experience you have, just spent what time of my life I could supporting where ever needed. So it’s wonderful to read such things.

BTW, can’t we sell some of those reporters so they can be a part of the real world they misrepresent? ;-)

Hoahh!

By: Never Yet Melted » Another Letter from a Marine in Iraq

Never Yet Melted » Another Letter from a Marine in Iraq — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 05:41:23 +0000

[...] Last year’s Letter from a Marine in Iraq. (Different guy.) [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 02:46:19 +0000

There are a couple of exceptions to the “never attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start with a 4” rule, although the spirit of the rule is praiseworthy. To be rigorous about it, 5 is also a good number, as is 10 (i.e., millimeters).

Couldn’t agree more on the 5.56 vs. 7.62 controversy. Hell, I think it was a mistake to move to the 7.62 (or .308) instead of the .30-06, although standardization did make sense back in the days when we might have had to face down the Red Army, and we actually had allies on the European continent (in addition to the blessed Brits) to help.

There is, of course, another way to close the borders with Iran & Syria that makes more sense than feeding our kids into the meatgrinder. Go get them where they come from. Close the border alright, just do it from the other side and get it over with.

And do it “with prejudice”. Any culture that kills civilians with abandon, that turns children and women into bombs, should be forced into a little constructive self criticism.

By: DEG

DEG — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 05:33:37 +0000

What you call crap may come as a result of slight confusion and/or second hand information. Google Earth gives the specific coordinates of known locations where our troops are stationed (Saddams Palaces, airports, etc). This combined with a GPS unit can walk you through a pre-planned route that limits exposure. While they are not live images, they are extremely useful in pre-planning and are actually very similar to what law enforcement uses stateside to pre-plan warrants/raids. Overall this is a very good article and indicative of how many of my friends feel that have been in Iraq. As far as the weapons, “never attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start with a 4” is always appropriate and a .223 is too small for anything much larger than a woodchuck.

By: Spade

Spade — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 21:52:39 +0000

There’s a lot of crap in that article. Example: How the hell does one use Google Earth to mark American positions? It’s not like any of those pics are new.

By: thomas

thomas — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 21:11:20 +0000

Agree 100%, the .45 was adopted because of the poor penetration of the .38 revolver round against muslim rebel in the Philippines islands. The .223 is a varmit round, just not enough for the human variety.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 20:53:36 +0000

I agree. The .223 is really the old .222 Remington, a popular ground hog cartridge, adapted for military use. Lighter cartridge weight (so you can carry more rounds), and less recoil are attractive goals, but the WWII era of advancing tanks protected by close infantry support, resulting in short-range fire fights is not the only possible military situation. The rule of thumb you mention, that if you wouldn’t want to use the catridge on a white-tailed deer, you wouldn’t want to use it on a man, is dead right.

I consider the choice of 9mm Parabellum over the old and reliable .45 ACP even more wrong-headed. The Model 1911 remains the most popular civilian defense, and competitive shooting choice. It wasn’t broke, and they should not have tried to fix it.

By: Tom T

Tom T — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 09:50:48 +0000

This confirms again what I’ve known for a long time; you don’t defend yourself against hopped-up Islamofacists with a cartridge, .223 , that you wouldn’t trust to bring down a white-tail deer. The M-14 in .308!