History of the M-14 & M-16 Rifles during the Vietnam War

[Music] in 1965 it was clear to President Lyndon Johnson that an escalation of US military forces would be necessary to combat communist forces at work in North Vietnam the ground war officially began for US forces when 3,500 Marines were dispatched on march 8th by December that number had been raised to over 200,000 on a defensive mission to aid the South Vietnamese Army and its allies the United States forces would need the right weapons to combat an entirely new type of enemy on an entirely new type of battlefield based on a long line of experimental weapons derived from the m1 including a few designs submitted by John garand himself the United States military tested dozens of designs from 1945 until 1951 finally shipping the rifle that would be designated the m14 in July of 1959 however production delays meant that the only unit to be fully equipped with the new weapon would be the hundred and first Airborne Division by the end of 1961 our forces wouldn't be fully equipped with the new rifle until July of 1965 by the time the US forces were fully equipped with the rifle its use in the Vietnam War had quickly exposed its strengths as well as its weaknesses the 7.62 millimeter NATO cartridges penetrated brush and cover very well and the weapon had a firing range of over 2,000 feet of muzzle energy on the other hand early models of the rifle had wooden stocks which swelled and expanded in the humid jungle climate affecting the accuracy of the rifle in fully automatic mode the recoil was so intense that the firearm was nearly uncontrollable in combat making it impossible to aim finally the thick brush of the jungle combined with the m14 s length and weight made the rifle a cumbersome burden upon the infantrymen largely due to these issues the m14 would be the last of the battle rifles to be issued in quantity to US forces today the m14 is mostly used as a ceremonial arm by honor guards color guards and drill teams though in the 90s the rifle was modified into the designated marksman rifle and issued to special security teams and snipers the first battalion of the US Infantry Regiment is the sole remaining army combat unit where the m14 is still standard-issue in 1966 Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara authorized the replacement of the m14 with the m16 as the standard-issue service rifle it was not met with universal approval many soldiers held fast to their m-14s deriding the m16 as a frail and underpowered Mattel toy the gun was in fact very lightweight weighing only six pounds when loaded with 20 rounds the small caliber 5.56 nato cartridge contributed to the initial concerns about the guns lack of firepower but testing by the United States Continental Army command under general Willard G Wyman concluded that an eight-man team each armed with the m16 carried the same amount of firepower as an 11 man team carrying the m14 in October of 1961 Armalite initial manufacturer of the rifle then known as the ar-15 sent ten of the new weapons to Allied forces in Vietnam for testing on the actual battlefields after an enthusiastic response 1,000 more were sent to the Allies in the next year while the United States special ops units praised the weapon and the United States Air Force officially adopted the rifle now designated the m16 in 1962 the first shipments of the weapon arrived in US soldiers hands without proper instructions or cleaning supplies early models also lacked the chrome-lined barrel and chamber present in the m14 which did lend a ruggedness to that previous rifle not present in the m16 dirt and corrosion from the gunpowder and oil caused a jamming flaw in the m16 known as failure to extract where a spent cartridge case remained lodged in the chamber after firing preventing further fire while the lighter-weight and smaller ammunition meant a soldier was capable of carrying more ammo and thus more firepower the durability and functionality issues of the m16 were to prove deadly on more than one occasion as one Marine Corps rifleman notes we left with 72 men in our platoon and came back with 19 believe it or not do you know what killed most of us own rifle practically every one of our dead was found with his m16 torn down next to him where he had been trying to fix it although the early problems with the m16 gave the weapon an unreliable reputation one that persists to this day manufacturers soon rolled out the m16 a1 a model was corrected the earlier versions deadly flaws the chamber and the bore were now chrome-lined intensive training is supplied to our troops and proper cleaning supplies were issued to the soldiers with the weapons the first major conflict of the Vietnam War was the Battle of yaagh Jiang beginning with the battle at landing zone x-ray in the week before Thanksgiving in 1965 the US army came head-to-head with the North Vietnamese Army for the first time it was a battle that would lead to three separate medals of Honor one of those was earned by first lieutenant Walter Joseph marm so mom was fresh out of the Officer Candidate School and the Ranger School when he was given new orders a new army division was being formed the 1st Cavalry Division and they needed officers lieutenant mom was assigned to the seventh Cavalry Regiment whose most famous commander had been General George Armstrong Custer the new airborne units were testing the use of helicopters for cavalry carrying loads of men quickly to where they were needed in battle and the first battle the helicopters would carry them into was the young a battle that looked like it would turn into a defeat every bit as ignominious as Custer's North Vietnamese Army or NVA regiments had attempted the destruction of a US Special Forces camp and the 1st Cavalry Division was pursuing them on November 14th 1965 this pursuit led the 7th cavalry regiment 1st battalion to the yo-jong Valley on a Search and Destroy mission battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore entered the valley first with members of his Bravo Company 16 helicopters shuttled Bravo Company into landing zone x-ray on the northeast side of coupon Mountain they would secure the landing zone and await the battalions alpha Charlie and Delta companies from the air LZ x-ray looked flat and open on the ground it was a different matter the landing zone was covered with elephant grass up to 5 feet high perfect for hiding enemy soldiers enormous anthill started the area large enough to provide cover for weapons units Colonel Moore knew the enemy had forces in this area what he didn't know was that 3 regiments of the NVA were gathered nearby far more soldiers in the one company he'd managed to bring in so far with the m16a1 and later variants of the rifle the US military had found its new standard-issue combat weapon by 1968 the m16a1 had achieved widespread acceptance among our troops and officially replaced the m14 in 1970 total worldwide production of the m16 family of firearms totals over 8 million making it the most manufactured firearm of its caliber and it has seen action in every conflict involving the United States since the Vietnam War the m16 weapon system first developed by John stoner nearly 50 years ago there's a long-serving weapon really kind of loads when it was first developed fielded by US Army soldiers in Vietnam there was a rumor going around that the weapon was self-cleaning and there was a great deal of problems with the the ammunition selected apparently there were problems with the powder fouling the action the tolerances are so close in that weapon that it was subject to fouling and jamming because of the problems but it's a weapon that is had most of the bugs worked out of it it's extremely durable at the time it wasn't developed it was considered almost space-age technology this was a weapon that was completely devoid of wood as all US military firearms had been up to that point it was lightweight very portable and fired a new type of cartridge the two to three caliber cartridge or 5.56 millimeter was thought that a smaller cartridge size would enable US Army soldiers to carry that much more ammunition on their person [Music] [Music] if you're eager to see more of our historical documentaries please like share and subscribe

Channel: LionHeart FilmWorks

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Keywords: guns, gunpowder, vietnam war, m14, m-14, m-16, vietnam war movies, vietnam war footage, vietnam war history, vietnam war stories, m14 rifle, m14 full auto, m14 vs m16, m-14 rifle, m-14 documentary, m-16 gun, m-16 history, m-16 documentary, firearms, evolution of firearms, warfare, ar-15, assault rifle, machine gun, m-16 rifle, vietnam war documentary, m-14 rifle sound, m-16 shooting, military history, us army, viet nam

Id: RefVroXrSds

Length: 13min 29sec (809 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 13 2018