Why were Iraqi fighters able to ambush Private Jessica Lynch and the 507th Maintennance Company? Because the Americans' weapons didn't work, according to a new report.
"The report indicates that soldiers had difficulty firing both their personal weapons (the M16A2 rifle) and their crew-served weapons (the M2 .50 caliber machine gun) at the enemy," Phil Carter notes. "It appears from this report and others that the culprit was poor weapons training and maintenance."
He continues, "Support units work hard in peacetime to keep our equipment running, often to the neglect of their own field training. The result is that they do not meet the standard for basic soldiering and warfighting skills."
"Our Army needs to embrace the warrior ethos in all units -- not just the combat arms -- and it needs to ensure that every unit can fight its way out of an ambush like this one."
Soldiers for the Truth has a Gulf War II after-action report on which small arms worked, and which ones didn't.
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