Tag Archives: trash on modern battlefield

I think this is needed…

Posted on by Leave a comment

One thing the international shooting sports organizations are looking at in recent years is expanding into more “fit” activities.

One of the exhibition sports seen overseas in this concept is Target Sprint. The event makes competitors run a 400m track, then take their rifle from a storage rack and shoot at five falling targets from a 10m standing position with a time penalty for each missed shot. The athlete then repeats the lap and shoots again, followed by another lap to the finish line.

A very groovy and more modern sporting rifle style version was last week in Texas, the annual Waco Tactical Fitness Biathlon. The event takes place over a five-mile course with several shooting stages. Each competitor has to show up with a centerfire rifle and pistol, eye and ear pro, enough ammo to complete the stages, and a stopwatch. While running between stations, rifles have to be unloaded and pistols have to be holstered.

The course is no joke, with photos showing competitors clamoring over plywood walls, taking a 60-pound sand dummy for a drag, monkeying around on horizontal ladders, firing from treetop cuckoo nests and simulated rooftops, and, oh yeah, running.

“If you can’t do a few pull-ups, scramble up and down rough/rocky hills and push through wooded areas, some of the obstacles will be difficult to overcome,” says the site. (Photos: WTF)

More in my column at Guns.com.

How to Spot our troops in the field

Posted on by Leave a comment

Back in the old days trackers would follow an enemy body of troops by looking for tracks from shoed horses (most farm horses arent) cast off gear, abandoned field latrines, etc.

 

Today they would follow our batteries

In a statement by the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

 

“Today’s warfighters require more energy than at any time in the past and that requirement is not likely to decline.
During World War II, supporting one soldier on the battlefield took one gallon of fuel per day. Today, we use over 22 gallons per day, per soldier. We’re also more expeditionary than ever. These energy needs require a vast yet vulnerable supply chain that our enemies target.
But to enhance our energy security, we must look beyond vulnerabilities and instead, focus on and view energy as an opportunity.
And the opportunity is vast. Energy spans every activity and corner of the department.
In the air, jet fuel equates to on-station and loiter time. At sea, marine fuel consumption rates impact operating and transit speeds. On the ground, energy requirements often drive how long soldiers can stay out on patrol and how many resupply convoys we have to put at risk on the road to support them.
I’ll give you one example of that. For a 72-hour mission, today’s infantry platoon carries 400 pounds of batteries to power their equipment – night vision devices, communication gear, global positioning systems and flash lights … 400 pounds of batteries per platoon – that’s per 30 men – for a 72-hour mission.
As some have observed only jokingly, if you want to find a US Army patrol in Afghanistan, simply follow the trail of batteries and you will eventually come upon them.”