4 Apr 02

Rifle information from a friend in the South African military:

"Our SADF (South African Defense Forces) used R1's in 7.62X51 (308) until the mid-seventies, and a few units still used them into the early eighties. The R1 is a locally made copy of the FAL. They were wonderful rifles and loved by all who used them. MANY of us wish we had them back.

All units since then have been issued our R4/5/6s, which is the a locally made copy of the Israeli Galil. It is chambered for 5.56X45 (223). These rifles are extremely reliable and do work well in the urban/police application. However, in heavy bush the 5.56 round is a poor performer.

There are many Kalashnikovs in private hands in SA. Most are in 7.62X39. Its popularity is mostly due to availability. Like everything emanating from the (former) Eastern Block, they are rude and crude, but functional and reliable. One could do worse!

My first choice for an all-around battle rifle is still the FAL. For range and penetration, it can't be beat."

/John

4 Apr 02

I received from a friend, It is an internal USAF field report, dated 21 Feb 02. Here is a summary:

This is a report on a shooting involving USAF personnel who were assigned guard duty at a USAF installation in Qatrar. The incident took place on 7 Nov 01.

A local vehicle (Honda Civic) approached a checkpoint manned jointly by one USAF guard and one local police officer. USAF personnel were armed only with pistols (Beretta 92F). Locals were not armed at all. Without saying a word, the driver jumped out of the car with a Kalashnikov rifle, pointed it at the guards, and started shooting. Both guards took cover. The USAF guard drew his own pistol and returned fire.

The USAF guard continued to fire, falling back to successive covered positions, as the shooter continued to advance on him. The shooter eventfully toppled. He was DRT. Help arrived within minuets, but the fight was already over. No USAF personnel or local police were injured.

Sounds like a happy ending, but the colonel who authored the report went on to make several interesting comments:

He points out that USAF personnel carry their pistols in a flap holster and that drawing the pistol from the holster in emergencies is, incredibly, NOT included in any training program. In this case, the guard fumbled for critical seconds trying the get his pistol out. Fortunately, the suspect was a poor shot, and there was only one.

I don't know if the guard carried a round chambered or not, as there is no discussion of this in the report. I suspect the chamber was empty, as that is the only way I've ever seen them carried stateside. If that was the case, another half second was squandered getting a round chambered.

He also points out that accuracy was poor. The range was ten meters and closer. The guard was courageous. He made a decision, used cover effectively, and fired a total of fifteen rounds. But, only four actually struck the suspect, three in the abdomen and one in the chest.

In addition, he points out that the 9mm hardball ammunition used turned in an unsatisfactory performance. The suspect stayed on his feet and traversed over fifteen meters, shooting the whole time, after the first shot hit him.

The colonel, now putting his career on the line, then goes on to recommend (of all things) realistic training, not just pointless "qualification" exercises run by bored, MTU people. He also recommends issuing high-performance, hollowpoint pistol ammunition. He even hints that we ought to give these kids rifles AND pistols when they are manning remote check points, even if the "host nation" finds that upsetting.

Needless to say, this report never saw the light of day. I was buried, along with many others, as bad news is never popular in any bureaucracy. Nothing has changed.

One thing that jumped out at me was that pistol training IS important. Many times a pistol is all you have, either by personal choice or because that is the way things are done there. We all need to realize that we are ON OUR OWN, whether we're manning a remote check point or running an errand. Help is never going to arrive in time to make any difference. The battle must be won in the short term. We have to plan on finding a way to win, all by ourselves.

/John