In the book I'm reading about the AK-47, there is an entire chapter devoted to the AK's capitalist counterpart, the M-16 rifle. Bearing the title The Accidental Rifle, this particular chapter sheds light on the scandalous circumstances surrounding the introduction of the M-16 rifle to combat troops in Vietnam in the mid-1960's. To say that the M-16 was rushed into production and deployment would be a considerable understatement. The development of the rifle took place almost entirely outside of the normal procurement channels that traditionally controlled the introduction and acceptance of a new weapon. Hence, "The Accidental Rifle".
For a variety of reasons that are spelled out in The Gun, the United States Military completely misread the significance of the AK-47 assault rifle, and initially dismissed the revolutionary weapon as being nothing more then another submachine gun. Testing obtained examples of the rifle merely re-enforced already existing prejudices. It wasn't until American ground troops, and their South Vietnamese allies, encountered AK-47's in the hands of their enemies that it became obvious that this weapon was indeed what we would call a "game-changer". The AK-47 gave the communist fighters a decided edge in the war that was being fought in the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam.
Armed for the most part with heavy semi-automatic rifles firing a powerful cartridge, the Americans and their allies found themselves outgunned. The AK-47 was inaccurate at long-ranges, but that hardly mattered. Most of the fighting in Vietnam took place at close quarters and the best weapon was the one with the highest rate of fire. Something close to panic set in among the top brass when they realized that the standard infantry arm of the US Military was wholly unsuited for the mission in Vietnam. However, a solution seemed to be at hand.
A private firm called ArmaLite had designed a rifle, designated as the AR-15, and had subsequently sold the rights to the weapon to Colt's Manufacturing Company. The unorthodox-looking weapon already had some support within the military, having been tested and purchased in small numbers by this point in time. How the civilian AR-15 became the M-16 assault rifle is a story that reflects badly on almost everyone involved in the process. And it was the ground troops in Vietnam who would pay the price with their own blood.
Thousands of US soldiers and Marines were sent into combat in Vietnam with a rifle that was completely unreliable. That many of them were killed as a result is beyond dispute. The M-16's that were put into the hands of those troops were impossible to clean, quick to rust and corrode in the jungle environment, and most devastating of all, they were prone to jam at the worst possible moments. Namely, during firefights, when mere seconds could mean the difference between life and death. Infantry troops quickly came to despise the cheap-looking plastic rifle that many derided as a "toy" that was actually built by Mattel. Troops took to buying their own weapons on the black market, or arming themselves with captured AK-47's. Anything to avoid having to carry the M-16 into combat.
And what was the reaction of the high-command when reports of the new rifle's failings began coming back from the field? Well, that is where the real scandal begins. Instead of openly and honestly acknowledging the problems with the M-16 and working to address them, the Pentagon's decision was to try and coverup the entire mess. And when that became untenable, they next tried blaming it all on the soldiers themselves, claiming that they didn't clean the rifles properly. Conveniently forgetting that the first rifles were sent over without either cleaning kits or even instructions on how to clean the unfamiliar weapon. Not that it mattered much. The M-16's were just as likely to jam when they were spotlessly clean.
The difference between the way in which the AK-47 was conceived, designed, and introduced to service, and the way in which the M-16 was rushed into the hands of combat troops is a damning indictment of the US Military. In time, the problems with the rifle were worked out and what ultimately emerged was a decent infantry arm. But, it's reputation was indelibly marred by those first years when it failed at the most important test of all. The book is full of accounts that alternately make you want to laugh or cry. The one that sticks out in my mind is the Marine platoon leader being told to have his men fix bayonets before engaging the enemy. Which was something that he had already ordered them to do. They knew that they couldn't depend on their rifles to do what they were intended to do. So, they resigned themselves to launching a bayonet charge against fighters armed with automatic rifles that fired upwards of 600 rounds per minute. Rifles that functioned exactly as their makers designed them to...
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