Interesting article by Army SOF on MK18 use

[C-grunt]

A friend who is an SME here rolled ten deep on M4 mags outside the wire in AFG and Africa. Friends of his did 2, 3, 4 years in Iraq wearing 3 mags because there was a bag of spares in the truck if they had to hit more houses than planned. So you'll have two experienced SOF Soldiers saying with knowledge and honesty what worked for them in their dissimilar AO and missions despite the fact that the answers are worlds apart.

I was just a regular old line unit leg. In 03 in Iraq I was a SAW gunner and carried 900 rounds. I shot about 150 rounds total throughout the entire invasion being on the front lines. In 05 in Iraq I carried a M16-DMR and carried 11 mags. That whole year I fired about half a mag.

Both times the Bradleys, Abrams and humvees did the vast majority of the shooting. I could have easily dropped down to a few extra mags. However the guys up in the mountains of Afghanistan don't have the luxury of mobile armored death machines.

[Long Range Trigger Monkey]

In Afghanistan I carried the standard combat load out of six mags in my TT MAV and a couple spares in my assault pack. I felt there were diminishing returns carrying 8-10 mags like some guys in my platoon while we were working up in the hills and moving through compounds. Some guys carried that many because they'd heard about some TIC out in Khoust that last for hours or they no shit just thought it was the cool thing to do. However IMO carrying that many mags on your person creates a lot of weight and bulk that when combined with the armor and other gear we had to carry reduces your mobility and efficiency. There was a great piece of advice on another forum about gear that went something like if you can run, jump, get over an 8' wall, and keep fighting in all of your gear you're doing it wrong.

[Lawdog-1]

Tagged.

[Bolt_Overide]

Getting tired of losing out on valuable experience, insight, and opinions because some ****wit wants to get in a dick measuring contest with an SME.

[jknopp44]

Wow. This thread degraded quickly. I know the author of article personally. He is a stand up dude with multiple combat deployments encompassing a 20+ year career. I am somewhat amused with how hard some others in "the industry" came at him.

[lightestfighter]

Given the opinions expressed here and in the article, it's interesting to note KD's newest featured gun:

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[Heavy Metal]

Dano,

Please stick around.

[lowprone]

Maybe just maybe this is about carrying heavy stuff up hills and mitigating that weight as much as possible.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Given the opinions expressed here and in the article, it's interesting to note KD's newest featured gun:

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I couldn't help but notice that he dropped the CAR stock and I don't see a full length cleaning rod hanging on the side of his karbean.

[TehLlama]

Given the opinions expressed here and in the article, it's interesting to note KD's newest featured gun:

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As the parts and accessories become more plentiful, the actualization of that concept goal is getting easier to access. Mine differs in a few spots from ideal (UBR ideally would be an A5/ACS or A5/SOPMOD, I happen to run an OPS 14th or M4S on mine) and some newer hardware can go further with that idea (VCOG, BCM's KMR), that is absolutely the formula for an amazing contact-600m capable rifle [though KD's own guidelines of 4's would make that a 0-400m tool].