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December 5, 2025 • Mission Brief
As an Airborne Ranger LRRP soldier we were afforded the luxury of choosing the types of weapons we would take into combat. The US Government had deployed the M16 as a light easier to carry weapon and more accurate for combat. The problem with the early versions of the M16 was they continually would jam, misfire, or fail to operate properly because of poor maintenance by the troops. In my opinion the M16 killed more US soldiers by just simply failing to operate in combat situations.
But It wasn’t until I found myself in my first major fire fight that I quickly found out how unreliable the operation of the M16 really was. Each time the weapon would jam put me and my team at great risk as I was out of the fight tending to my rifle.
So after this battle ceased I walked over and took an AK-47 off of a deceased enemy combatant and took it back to base. Now if you are familiar with the AK-47 it has never been known for its accuracy. But what it lacks in accuracy I believe it made up in sheer reliability and is why I chose to begin carrying it on future missions.
Just to give you some context about the AK-47 rifle that I had picked up.
- It had a hole through the receiver sustained from a claymore mine ball bearing that blasted through it and still operated flawlessly.
- Because the way the AK was built I could take it through the water, cover it in mud, and it would continue to consistently fire.
So I began carrying the AK-47 alongside my M79 grenade launcher that I had sawed off to just a pistol grip.
As history would now confirm that an untold amount of US solders were KIA or WIA in battle because of the poor operation of the early M16.
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