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Such frustration is beyond my comprehension, being in the middle of a fire fight, and the rifle doesn’t go bang when they pull the trigger.

Inexcusable. Too bad so much living, breathing, lowlife trash in our gubmint that would give these frontline guys and gals anything but the best.

unfortunatley this happens. the army never gets the best. it gets what is affordable for politicians and the tax payer. btw. i really nearly pissed in my pants in afghanistan when we stoped and did some training targeting because my rifle quited firing after the 3rd round. this was not fun. luck for me we had no live firefight this day because fight with the Glock 17 (backup weapon) against an AK? luck for me it turned out well. (ok i have to admit we had several rifles in the vehicles but just imagine this had happened during live combat “and this was why a nearly pissed myself at this moment”)

My only experience with the M16 jamming was up at Fort Drum. They sent a bunch of us Air Force troops up there for a 1-week contingency deployment. We made an encampment, us comm guys with some medical and chow hall people, made a perimeter with bunkers and the whole works.

They gave us M-16 A1's with MILES gear and blanks.

Long story short: The Ft. Drum OPFOR, all experienced Rangers in their 30's, infiltrated the camp and "killed" us all the first night.

(Oh, and they were carrying AK's, and that stuff about "distinctive sound" is right on. That and the huge muzzle flash was a downright eye-opener).

Next night, we killed each other, shooting at shadows, all hyped up with adrenaline, waiting for OPFOR to attack us again.

Them there Rangers were a lot smarter than us. They knew fratricide was gonna happen. Inexperience sucks.

Anyway, those dirty 223 blanks from the Viet Nam era stopped our rifles from functioning withing six rounds. Dirty, sooty things.

All I could think was, what if this was real? We were all dead. Several times over.