#Tactics

If you watch the news often, in any country, you’re probably used to seeing heads of state doing silly things on camera. Planting trees, handing off food to the children, dancing with people, flying combat jets…

A warning against romanticism in military planning.

The US Army’s new centralized procurement organization has been named: In his address at the Eisenhower Luncheon at the 2017 Association of the United States Army, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley announced the creation of a Futures and Modernization Command (FMC), which would oversee the process of research, development, testing, evaluation, and procurement (RDTE&P) from start to finish. In his address, General Milley outlined a new process which would fundamentally change the current procurement model to a new one based on that used by US Special Operations Command:

US Army, what on earth are you doing?

In January of 2001, the US Army introduced a new slogan to replace the classic “Be All You Can Be” which young men had recruited under for over two decades. The branch’s new slogan was “An Army of One”, signalling a brand new take on a force that wanted desperately to reinvent itself. Those behind the slogan sought to re-humanize the Army, atomize it, bring it down to its individual components, i.e., the people who filled its ranks. It would be, they hoped, the slogan of a new Army that through the strength of its individuals helped make the world a better place. Over the next 5 years, however, it became the slogan under which men and women all over the world would sign up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of what became known as the Global War on Terror.

Previously on TFB we discussed the Lessons Learned from our WW II Squad Live fire which you can read about here, and watch the original episode here. In this episode of TFB TV we have a round table discussion from the actual participants and several subject matter experts who were present at the live fire as to what they experienced and what they went through. For many of us it was our first time extensively handling these WW II small arms in the manner that they were used, and in trying to recreate some of what those soldiers in 1941-1945 went through on an almost daily basis. We discuss smaller matters such as the safety on the M1s, to larger topics when it comes to fire and maneuver with an entire squad. The reenactors played an essential role here because they gave us some of the context of what soldiers then would have encountered.

National defense is serious business. As such, it is important to observe and analyze different country’s training techniques throughout the world in an attempt to learn and better understand our allies and our foes. Late last month, the Saudi Arabian National Guard held training excercises and informational displays for Prince Mutaib, National Guard Minister, and other VIPs. Fortunately, photographers were on hand to cover the event.

In the first two parts of this article on a new long range infantry rifle paradigm, we painted a picture of what sort of weapons would be needed to maximize the infantry’s long-range capability, in theory allowing them to achieve “overmatch” versus enemy infantry armed with existing .22 and .30 caliber weapons. We created estimates for both the cost and weight of the infantry rifle, and we also examined the problem of training soldiers to maximize their capabilities with the new longer-ranged weapons.

Whether you’re a hunter or a dedicated target shooter, you understand the importance of being on target. Shot placement isn’t just important, it’s everything, and if you’re working on groups, the last thing you want to do is move your rifle away from your shoulder. Problem is, if you end up in need of access to your rifle’s charging handle, odds are rather high you’ll be moving it.

If you’re interested in taking your self-defense shooting to the next level, take a look at the new steel target from Custom Metal Targets. Their newest product is the Tactical B-C Zone steel target, which was designed with advanced self-defense tactics in mind whether for instruction purposes or private use. The new target is a steel torso with a plate peeking out over the torso’s shoulder to symbolize an assailant’s head behind a hostage as well as a center mass target that flips out when hit. When you strike the plates and they flip out, you can simply shoot them again to reset.

Snow Wolf Commando Unit (Beijing Special Police) are premier Chinese SWAT unit and will be the behind the scenes at the Olympics.