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For those of you who rely on a auto loading weapon for self defense, or are interested in weapon reliability when hunting in windy desert coditions, you might find this an interesting read ................
ED OFFLEY, SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH - Buried deep within
the latest news
report on the deadly ambush of the 507th
Transportation Maintenance Co.
in Iraq on March 23, 2003, was a chilling nugget of
information. It now
appears that the soldiers who were killed or taken
prisoner in that
now-infamous firefight shared a common misfortune.
Their rifles had all
jammed.
Disavowing an earlier news report that had alleged
Pvt. Jessica Lynch
had fired multiple clips of ammunition at the
attacking Iraqis before
she was injured and taken prisoner, The Washington
Post has now
published a more detailed account. The newspaper
described how she was
seriously injured when the Humvee vehicle in which she
was riding
crashed at high speed into an overturned Army
tractor-trailer. Then, the
team of three Post reporters noted:
"Lynch tried to fire her weapon, but it jammed,
according to military
officials familiar with the Army investigation. She
did not kill any
Iraqis. She was neither shot nor stabbed, they said."
As the Pentagon proceeds with its official "after
action reports" and
"lessons learned" effort from Operation Iraqi Freedom,
troubling
information has begun to emerge from numerous sources
that jammed
weapons were a serious problem in Iraq. Worse, it
appears that this
happened because many American troops were equipped
with a lubricant to
clean their rifles and side arms that was ineffective
in the harsh
desert environment.
It wasn't just Pvt. Lynch in the 507th Maintenance Co.
who fell victim
to a jammed weapon. An earlier report in The
Washington Post on Apr. 14,
2003, contained the first detailed accounts of the
ambush from the
just-rescued POWs:
"The bullets and explosions came from all sides. Some
of the vehicles
flipped over. Other drivers hit the gas hoping to
outrun the danger, but
ran into even heavier fire. In the swirling dust,
soldiers' rifles
jammed. Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, from suburban
Wichita, began shoving
rounds into his rifle one at a time, firing single
shots at enemies
swarming all around. ... Finally, it fell to Sgt.
James Riley, a
31-year-old bachelor from Pennsauken, N.J., and the
senior soldier
present, to surrender. 'We were like Custer,' he
recalled today, still
sounding shocked. 'We were surrounded. We had no
working weapons. We
couldn't even make a bayonet charge ' we would have
been mowed down.'"
The probable cause of this widespread weapons failure
has been blamed on
a government-issued lubricant known as "CLP" that has
been provided to
many ' but not all ' U.S. Army soldiers. A number of
Army veterans and
contractors have denounced CLP as totally ineffective
in preventing sand
and dust buildup in weapons in Iraq.
"The CLP and Breakfree brand oil the military
purchases is worthless,"
said Aaron Johnson, a 10-year veteran of the Army and
Army Reserve, and
author of a Defense Watch guest column on the Army M9
sidearm ("How to
Save the M9 Beretta," June 16, 2003). "I'm sure large
amounts are
acquired [by the Army] at relatively low cost, but
that's why it should
be done away with. That oil is too rich, and has
little effectiveness at
keeping weapons clean." "The troops will tell you, CLP
attracts dirt and
grit." Johnson continued. "It is also so thick it can
reduce recoil
speed, resulting in stoppages. It thickens in the
cold, and when in hot
weather areas it is usually attracting dust and sand."
In an e-mail forwarded to Defense Watch, retired Lt.
Col. Robert
Kovacic, who works for a defense contractor in Kuwait
that trains U.S.
military units, echoed Johnson's remarks. "I can say
with complete
assuredness, from many, many observations [of training
exercises], that
CLP does not work. I did not use it ... at Fort Polk
(cause it did not
prevent rust, I don't care what the government says),
and it sure as
hell does not work here."
What is bewildering to veterans such as these is that
there is a product
that has proven effective in desert combat. MILITEC-1
Synthetic Metal
Conditioner, manufactured by the company of the same
name, has been
approved for Army use and is already widely used by
the U.S. Coast
Guard, FBI and a host of other federal police
agencies. But the Army
apparently is still shipping CLP en masse to the
troops and has resisted
ordering the synthetic lubricant, forcing unit
commanders to pay out of
their own pockets to acquire it.
ED OFFLEY, SOLDIERS FOR THE TRUTH - Buried deep within
the latest news
report on the deadly ambush of the 507th
Transportation Maintenance Co.
in Iraq on March 23, 2003, was a chilling nugget of
information. It now
appears that the soldiers who were killed or taken
prisoner in that
now-infamous firefight shared a common misfortune.
Their rifles had all
jammed.
Disavowing an earlier news report that had alleged
Pvt. Jessica Lynch
had fired multiple clips of ammunition at the
attacking Iraqis before
she was injured and taken prisoner, The Washington
Post has now
published a more detailed account. The newspaper
described how she was
seriously injured when the Humvee vehicle in which she
was riding
crashed at high speed into an overturned Army
tractor-trailer. Then, the
team of three Post reporters noted:
"Lynch tried to fire her weapon, but it jammed,
according to military
officials familiar with the Army investigation. She
did not kill any
Iraqis. She was neither shot nor stabbed, they said."
As the Pentagon proceeds with its official "after
action reports" and
"lessons learned" effort from Operation Iraqi Freedom,
troubling
information has begun to emerge from numerous sources
that jammed
weapons were a serious problem in Iraq. Worse, it
appears that this
happened because many American troops were equipped
with a lubricant to
clean their rifles and side arms that was ineffective
in the harsh
desert environment.
It wasn't just Pvt. Lynch in the 507th Maintenance Co.
who fell victim
to a jammed weapon. An earlier report in The
Washington Post on Apr. 14,
2003, contained the first detailed accounts of the
ambush from the
just-rescued POWs:
"The bullets and explosions came from all sides. Some
of the vehicles
flipped over. Other drivers hit the gas hoping to
outrun the danger, but
ran into even heavier fire. In the swirling dust,
soldiers' rifles
jammed. Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, from suburban
Wichita, began shoving
rounds into his rifle one at a time, firing single
shots at enemies
swarming all around. ... Finally, it fell to Sgt.
James Riley, a
31-year-old bachelor from Pennsauken, N.J., and the
senior soldier
present, to surrender. 'We were like Custer,' he
recalled today, still
sounding shocked. 'We were surrounded. We had no
working weapons. We
couldn't even make a bayonet charge ' we would have
been mowed down.'"
The probable cause of this widespread weapons failure
has been blamed on
a government-issued lubricant known as "CLP" that has
been provided to
many ' but not all ' U.S. Army soldiers. A number of
Army veterans and
contractors have denounced CLP as totally ineffective
in preventing sand
and dust buildup in weapons in Iraq.
"The CLP and Breakfree brand oil the military
purchases is worthless,"
said Aaron Johnson, a 10-year veteran of the Army and
Army Reserve, and
author of a Defense Watch guest column on the Army M9
sidearm ("How to
Save the M9 Beretta," June 16, 2003). "I'm sure large
amounts are
acquired [by the Army] at relatively low cost, but
that's why it should
be done away with. That oil is too rich, and has
little effectiveness at
keeping weapons clean." "The troops will tell you, CLP
attracts dirt and
grit." Johnson continued. "It is also so thick it can
reduce recoil
speed, resulting in stoppages. It thickens in the
cold, and when in hot
weather areas it is usually attracting dust and sand."
In an e-mail forwarded to Defense Watch, retired Lt.
Col. Robert
Kovacic, who works for a defense contractor in Kuwait
that trains U.S.
military units, echoed Johnson's remarks. "I can say
with complete
assuredness, from many, many observations [of training
exercises], that
CLP does not work. I did not use it ... at Fort Polk
(cause it did not
prevent rust, I don't care what the government says),
and it sure as
hell does not work here."
What is bewildering to veterans such as these is that
there is a product
that has proven effective in desert combat. MILITEC-1
Synthetic Metal
Conditioner, manufactured by the company of the same
name, has been
approved for Army use and is already widely used by
the U.S. Coast
Guard, FBI and a host of other federal police
agencies. But the Army
apparently is still shipping CLP en masse to the
troops and has resisted
ordering the synthetic lubricant, forcing unit
commanders to pay out of
their own pockets to acquire it.
