Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit

by Tom Clancy

  MP-5N Submachine Gun

  Okay, I'll admit it. When we visited the Weapons Battalion, my mouth really started to water when I saw it at the firing range, with as many loaded 9mm magazines as I wanted to blow off. It is the Heckler & Koch (H&K) Machine Pistol-5 Navy (MP-5N), the world's finest submachine gun. If you enjoy shooting, then the MP-5 is your dream weapon. Considering that a submachine gun is designed to spray an area with bullets, it's lightweight, deadly, and surprisingly accurate. The MP-5N derives from the German machine pistols feared and respected by opponents during the Second World War. These early machine pistols, called "burp guns" by Allied soldiers, were lightweight, simple, and deadly, particularly in street fighting or inside buildings. Since the end of World War II, many nations and companies have tried to produce their own machine pistols, with varying success. The U.S. M-9 "Grease Gun" was wildly inaccurate and only marginally reliable. The little Israeli Uzi is a worldwide best-seller, favored by VIP bodyguards, because it can easily be concealed under a jacket. But H&K has produced the world's finest submachine gun: the MP-5N.

  The Marine Corps bought the MP-5N for what it calls close-quarters battle (CQB). This includes actions by units in MEU (SOC)s, Force Recon, and Base Security, as well as the various USMC Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams that they maintain. The need is simple: to get in close, then rapidly and accurately put a 9mm round through a target before the other guy can return the favor. The MP- 5N has been adopted by law enforcement and special operations units around the world. Elite military hostage rescue units (like the SEALs, Delta Force, GSG-9, SAS) and police SWAT teams (FBI Hostage Rescue, German Police, New Scotland Yard Special Branch, etc.) make the MP-5 their close-combat weapon. The MP-5N is just that good. Let's fire one and see why.

  When you pick up an MP-5N, you can feel German quality and engineering (you get the same kind of feeling when you drive a Mercedes Benz sedan). As you would expect from some of the best firearms engineers in the world, everything about the MP-5N has a function, yet there is a comfort and elegance to the whole thing. The basic weapon is 19.3 in./49 cm long with the stock folded (26 in./66 cm with it extended), and weighs about 7.4 lb/3.4 kg with a thirty-round magazine loaded. In addition, there are fittings for a flashlight (for use in night fighting) and a flash/noise suppressor (this adds about a foot to the overall length of the weapon).

  A Quantico instructor holds an MP-5N submachine gun. This weapon is used by the Marines for close-quarters combat.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  The MP-5N uses the same NATO Standard 9mm ammunition as the M9 Beretta handgun and many other automatic pistols. This ammunition has excellent stopping power at short ranges (less than two hundred yards/meters), and is readily available anywhere in the world. You load MP-5N in much the same way as the M 16A2. You insert a thirty-round magazine into the lower receiver until you feel (and hear) a satisfying "click." You then pull back the cocking handle, switch the firing selector from Safety to Single Shot or Automatic, aim, and fire away. With typical German efficiency, H&K stamps symbols on the side of the weapon for each mode, which makes it almost "idiot proof"!

  Single-shot firing is even easier than with the M16A2, and there is almost no barrel displacement when you fire. Out to about two hundred yards/meters, you just put the sights on the target, and then you hit it. Automatic fire is even better. The barrel rise, so common on automatic weapons, is almost non-existent on the MP-5N, and keeping the weapon on the target is easy. In fact, other than a heavy machine gun, nothing I've ever fired compares to the experience of automatic shooting on the MP-5N. While I was reloading the weapon with a fresh magazine (just press the release button and push in a new one), Colonel Nance came up behind me and said, "Go ahead, I'd do it too!" This said, I let loose with a thirty-round burst, emptying the magazine in less than 2.3 seconds. Astonishingly, about half of the rounds actually hit the target, about one hundred yards/meters downrange. While I was shooting, I could hear the sound of the bolt and slide cycling, but almost nothing from the actual firing of the 9mm rounds. It was a bizarre sensation until I realized that this was a result of the superb flash/noise suppressor screwed onto the muzzle of the MP-5N. It was amazing to pump out almost eight hundred rounds per minute and scarcely hear it!

  There are no current plans to replace the MP-5N. It is an almost perfect weapon for the CQB role, and will likely stay that way for years to come. If you want to know perfection in firearms, find a way to get some "trigger time" on an MP-5N. You will not be disappointed.

  M40A1 Sniper Rifle

  For decades, the Marine Corps has been famous for its sniper program. Sniping--to kill or disable enemy leaders--is an integral part of infantry combat. Since the first Marines climbed into the rigging of sailing ships to sweep the decks of enemy frigates with musket fire, the Corps has valued accurate shooting. But Marine historians tell us that systematic emphasis on marksmanship only began in the early 1900s under the influence of Commandant Heywood and under the direction of Captain William Harllee.

  The core of this capability today is the M40A1 sniper rifle. First fielded in the 1970s, this bolt-action heavy-barreled rifle fires a 7.62mm Match Grade round out to 1,000 yards/914 meters, with enough accuracy to hit a man-sized target in the head. The M40A1 is built from stock parts by the armorers of the Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico. Based on the Remington Model 700 rifle, it is "accurized" to an almost unbelievable degree by adding:* A commercial competition-grade heavy barrel.

  * McMillan fiberglass stock and buttpad. Each stock is blasted in a glass bead machine at Quantico to improve accuracy.

  * A modified floorplate and trigger guard, as well as a lightened trigger.

  * A 10-power Unertl sniperscope.

  * A five-round magazine.

  A Marine sniper shows off an M40A1 sniper rifle. This weapon is used for long-range shooting by specially trained Marine personnel.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  With these features, the M40A1 can fire with an accuracy of less than one minute of arc. That's less than 1/60 of a degree. At 1,000 yards/914 meters, this means an error of less than 10 in./25.4 cm! With a little work, Colonel Nance's gun-smiths and armorers at Quantico usually get the error down to a third of that. Much of the technology that makes the M40A1 so accurate derives from the efforts of the USMC competition rifle team, which uses similar rifles and heavily modified M 14s in contests with the shooting teams of the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Secret Service, DEA, and FBI.

  Sniping is an art of extremes, and just shooting well will not get you through the Scout/Sniper course. Land navigation, spotting, and concealment are just as important, but unfortunately beyond the scope of this book. I did get to fire the M40A1 to gain an appreciation of this arcane shooting science. As a rule, sniping is done from the prone position, with pairs of snipers working together. One sniper is "on the scope" as a shooter, with the other using an M49 spotter scope to pick out targets and monitor the tactical situation. About every half hour, the two trade off, to avoid fatigue on the shooter.

  The first trick to hitting a target with the M40A1 at long distance is holding the weapon properly. To do this, you jam the rifle butt (with its special buttpad) hard into your right armpit. You then wrap the sling tightly around your other arm, using your left hand to cradle the rifle along the forward part of the stock. When the sling is about to cut off the circulation to your left hand and the buttstock is hurting your armpit, you've got the M40A1 about rigid enough to start sighting. You then look through the 10-power Unertl sniperscope, and begin to work the crosshairs. At 600 yards/548.6 meters, a target with an 18-in./45.7-cm kill zone is just a dark dot which appears to dance around the scope. You quickly realize that this is caused by your own breathing and heartbeat; experienced snipers learn to regulate these when shooting. Once you have the dot of the target reasonably lined up, you gently pull the trigger, and then the world explodes in your face. The kick of the M40A1 is like a shotgun, and the sound is like a bullwhip cracking in your h
ead. In less than a second, the round flies out to the target, and then the adjustment process begins. You look at the grass and dust clouds to evaluate the wind and heat shimmer to help adjust the scope to compensate for crosswinds and heat updrafts that "loft" the round. This done, you pull back the bolt, eject the spent casing, and push the bolt forward to drive the new round home. The fascinating thing, though, was that with only a few rounds of practice and some skilled help from one of Colonel Nance's sniper instructors, I was putting rounds regularly through the target some 600 yards distant ! This is over a quarter mile/half kilometer away, and the effect of hitting an object that far away with a hand-held weapon has to be felt to be believed.

  Now before you get too impressed with my performance, consider that Marine Scout/Snipers are required to do the same thing at almost twice the distance, with only one shot (that is all a sniper will usually get!) and no chance to make adjustments. All this on a mission that may last days, in any weather, against an enemy trying to kill you like a pesky varmint. It is a bizarre way to make a living, and the men who do it are strange birds. But to an enemy, the M40A1 in the hands of a skilled Marine Scout/Sniper is a hellish weapon, more feared than even a bomber loaded with napalm! It is scary to know that you might be hunted by another man; and this makes it tough to do your job. The overwhelming psychological impact of the sniper helps to explain why the Corps invests so much in maintaining this capability.

  Barrett M82A1A .50-Caliber Special-Purpose Sniper Rifle

  When you see it the first time, it just looks evil, like a preying mantis ready to strike an aphid. It could be the star of its own action/adventure movie with Stallone and Schwarzenegger as supporting players. It is the Barrett M82A1 A .50-caliber special-purpose sniper rifle, the most unusual weapon in the Marine small-arms inventory. The M82A1A is designed to augment the M40A1 sniper rifle when longer ranges and greater hitting power are required. The Barrett fires the same ammunition as the M-2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun. If you have ever fired the M-2, you know that it kicks like a mule, and requires a very firm mount or a heavy tripod dug into the ground. The whole M-2 machine-gun/tripod combination weighs several hundred pounds, hardly convenient as a sniper weapon. Nevertheless, Marine snipers like the legendary Staff Sergeant Carlos Hathcock (ninety-three con-firmed kills in Vietnam) mounted special sniper scopes on standard M-2s and scored hits at ranges over a mile/ 1.6 km.

  The amazing Barrett M82A 1 A sniper rifle. This weapon fires the same round as the M2 .50-caliber machine gun, and is used for extreme range shooting by the Marines.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  The M82A1A traces its roots to the rebel war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The United States, mostly through the CIA, aided the Mujhadeen rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. A well-publicized part of this aid included Stinger shoulder-launched SAMs to knock down attack helicopters and strike aircraft. The Mujhadeen also asked for a man-portable long-range armor-penetrating sniper weapon. (Sniping is a traditional art of the Afghan mountain tribesmen.) The answer was a weapon designed by Ronnie Barrett from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Barrett, a builder of homemade weapons for many years, designed a system of springs to buffer the recoil of a .50-caliber machine gun. By spreading the recoil energy over a longer duration, the springs reduce the peak load on the weapon and the gunner. Barrett built a weapon that could be broken down and carried as several man-sized loads. The CIA bought a number of these heavy sniper rifles for the Afghan Mujhadeen, who used them to terrorize Soviet troops. The Barrett performed so well in Afghanistan that the Marine Corps evaluated and eventually adopted it as the M82A1A sniper rifle. Today, the M82A1A (produced by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing) is deployed by Marine Force Reconnaissance units in three-man fire teams. Each team member carries one part of the weapon (upper receiver, lower receiver, or scope and ammunition). The team alternates the jobs of shooter and spotters.

  The semi-automatic M82A1A is 57 in./128.25 cm long, and weighs 32.5 1b/14.8 kg unloaded. It fires a .50-caliber bullet (Raufoss Grade A, DoDIC A606) against targets defined as "equipment-sized" (like a jeep or tent), at ranges of up to 1,800 meters/ 1,968.5 yards. A sniper team with a Barrett can reach out and hit useful targets at ranges of over a mile/ 1.6 km. During Operation Desert Storm, M82A1A teams were knocking out things like artillery-spotting radars and communications equipment, raising hell with Iraqi command and control. The M82A1A is basically a .50-caliber machine gun spring-mounted inside an aluminum housing. This gun-inside-a-box design allows a sniper to safely and comfortably fire the weapon with accuracy. A folding bipod and a special buttpad help to absorb the recoil. In fact, the peak recoil load is actually lower than the M40 because of the buffering system, the bipod, and a high-efficiency muzzle brake (which gives the Barrett its insect-like appearance). Mounted on top of the M82A1A is a 10-power Unertl sniperscope matched to the Raufoss .50-caliber ammunition. The M82A1A is chambered to accept any NATO-standard .50-caliber/ 12.7mm ammunition, though currently, only the Raufoss round is issued. The Barrett has a ten-round box magazine, which feeds through the lower receiver housing. Like the M40, it only fires single shots, after which the team rapidly breaks down the weapon, slides the various parts into specially designed backpacks, and exits the engagement area.

  The Beretta M9/92F 9mm pistol. This is the standard-issue personal side arm of the Marines.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  Firing the Barrett is almost as easy as the MP-5N. You load a magazine into the bottom of the weapon, pull back the cocking handle, sight the weapon (adjusting for windage and other factors), and pull the trigger. The weapon fires with a distinctive "crack," and then pushes back gently into your shoulder. It is surprisingly comfortable. Like the M40A1, the key to accurate firing is steadiness and patience. The Barrett M82A1A is a unique, specialized weapon. It enables Marine snipers to disrupt enemy units and make life miserable for them in their own rear areas. This degrades enemy morale and paralyzes their leadership. Unlike the dramatic gun camera video of laser-guided bombs hitting targets, you won't see this weapon on CNN, but the effect can be just as devastating.

  Beretta M9/Model 92F Combat Pistol

  No single piece of combat equipment is more personal to a combat soldier than a handgun. Not all personnel require one, but to those who do, the Marine Corps issues a combat side arm, the Beretta M9/Model 92F Combat Pistol. Selected to replace the classic M1911A1 Colt .45-caliber pistol which served for more than half a century, the Beretta has been a lightning rod for critics. These include advocates of the .45 and Congressional supporters of competing handgun manufacturers that lost out to the M9/92F. Nevertheless, the M9/92F is a fine handgun with excellent design features. Let's take a closer look.

  For nearly five hundred years, the Beretta family has been making firearms for soldiers and sportsmen (one customer was Napoleon's Grande Armee). Today, Beretta manufactures shotguns and automatic pistols that are among the best available. In 1985, the Italian firm was selected to supply the U.S. military with a common, non-developmental ("off-the-shelf") handgun compatible with NATO Standard 9mm ammunition. With a multi-year production contract for over 500,000 pistols, the losers in the competition came out with fangs bared, taking shots at any perceived problem.

  One complaint was that the U.S. military was buying foreign weapons, depriving Americans of jobs. In fact, the contract required production in a U.S.-based factory (Beretta operates a plant in Maryland). But the design did have its share of real problems, for, like any design, this one had its share of teething pains. During endurance testing, for instance, some slides on the test weapons began to crack. This resulted from an extremely hard mounting fixture which put too much strain on the weapons (strengthening the slides was relatively easy). Now, with over a decade of production and operational service behind it, the M9/92F is in its prime, filling most of the combat handgun requirements for the U.S. military. Let me show you how to fire one.

  The M9/92F is a large-frame semi-automatic 9mm pistol with a fifteen-round
magazine. It is an ambidextrous weapon, equally handy for right- or left-handed shooters. The M9/92F is lighter than the old Colt M1911 .45-caliber that it replaced, weighing 2.55 lb/ 1.16 kg with a loaded magazine. It fits nicely in the hand; my rather large palm and digits make it easy to grip. The M9/92F has exceptional safety features to minimize the risk of accidental firing. These include:* An open slide with an ambidextrous magazine-release button to speed up and simplify reloading.

  * A double-action trigger. When you start to pull the trigger, you feel a resistance; the weapon only fires when your finger provides additional pressure.

  * A visible firing pin block to show the user that a round is chambered.

  You have to want to shoot this gun to make it fire. A fumble or mistake is very unlikely to result in accidental discharge. This is critical when you are in a CQB situation.

  To show us how to properly handle the M9/92F and several other firearms, Colonel Nance graciously loaned me the expertise of Sergeant Kenneth Becket, an instructor from the High Risk Personnel training course at Quantico. Stepping up to the firing line, he handed me an empty M9/92F with the slide open and the chamber empty. The first thing you are expected to do is look up into the chamber to make sure it is empty. This done, you slide a magazine up into the grip until it clicks home. Now you firmly grasp the slide and cock it to the rear. This chambers the first round, and you are ready to fire.