I survived as as tank commander in Vietnam by burning up my .50 cal barrels..I carried 3 extra ones strapped to the side of the turret. Instead of a regular .50 ammo can, I placed a footlocker on top the turret and filled it with 50 ammo and linked it to the machine gun.
In the woods anything thing that moved I opened fire.. no base camp attorney is going to tell me different.
I am firmly convinced that at least 40% of the names on The Wall are a direct result of Johnson and his ilk’s stupid ROE.
That was something to see - .50 barrels glowing red and sagging.
We burned up both of ours on our 1st trip up the Perfume River during Tet 68. We learned our lesson and back in Da Nang we scrounged extra barrels. For the rest of our missions we carried two spares for each gun and 500 round cans of ammo. We’d fire up 500 rounds and change barrels. Our M-60 used 1000 round belts and also had two spares, when the belt was fired up the barrel was changed. No more drooping gun barrels. We were fortunate to have mutual coverage with the guns.
I don’t imagine it would be as easy on a tank. Our boat’s guns were on deck mounts and served by two men, barrel changes took less than a minute.
My father was a up from the ranks Major in Patton’s 3rd.
It was common in Europe in WWII for advancing American units to tell the mayor to tell them where the snipers and rear guard and traps were. That if any were encountered, they’d shell the village flat. After a a while it was common to encounter village representatives miles before, or the day before who came to us before possible entry.
That’s what I call beging a thinker.