An Open Letter To Members of Congress from Col. David Hackworth

WorldNewsDaily.com ^ | July 9, 2002 | Col. David Hackworth

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TUESDAY JULY 9 2002

An Open Letter to Members of Congress

© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

Dear Honorable Congresspersons:

One of your vital tasks is to ensure that our warriors who hang it all out on the killing field are equipped with the right stuff.

I don't see that happening anytime soon unless you get enough straight skinny to counteract lobbyist propaganda and other military-industrial-congressional-complex spin. So to help provide more fair and balanced input, I plan to occasionally pass along some of the most commonly recurring bitches that come my way weekly in e-mails, letters, phone calls, etc., from our warriors.

Let's begin with the M-9, the 9 mm Beretta pistol – which our combat troops say is the first item that should be tossed into the junk pile!

"They're constantly breaking," reports a warrior from Afghanistan. "To make matters worse, the 9 mm round is like firing paint balls. I had to pump four rounds into an al-Qaida who was coming at me before he dropped. We're dealing with fanatical crazies out here who won't quit until they die for Allah."

The Beretta can only be used bone-dry. Even then, it jams repeatedly if sand or grit gets into moving parts. Its ball round has proven to be worse than the .38 Colt pistol slug used by the U.S. Army in the Philippines until it was retired almost a century ago in favor of the .45 ACP M-1911 pistol – fielded to stop the Moros, who ironically were also Islamic fanatics.

Now Special Forces and Light Infantry soldiers in Afghanistan want to bring back the century-old .45, and some elite Marine units already have. A Special Forces sergeant says, "The large-caliber, slow-moving .45 bullet puts the bad guys on the ground. Lighter stuff like the Beretta's 9 mm will, too – eventually – but on the battlefield you almost always have to double tap, and in close combat a gunfighter hasn't the time or the ammo to lose firing two rounds."

Rangers, Marines and most Special Ops troops are some of the other elite warriors in the U.S. military who carry personal firearms in combat while the brass look the other way. Quite a few choose to pack two purchased handguns. But the only Rangers who use the Beretta – even as backup – are those who can't afford to buy their own firearms, and they and the rest of these elite fighters unanimously agree that they "can't trust this fragile, unreliable sidearm."

Almost all the Rangers engaged in hand-to-hand combat during Op Anaconda packed their own personal sidearms. "When I ran out of ammo with my rifle, I pulled my pistol," a Ranger sergeant says. "It saved my life. I hit a number of enemy 30-40 yards away who went down immediately from my .45 rounds. With a Beretta, I wouldn't have made it because of the far-too-light 9 mm bullet, play in the action and its limited range."

In another fight, a Ranger fired several torso shots with a .45 pistol before his foe fell. "When we looked at the corpses, we found their mouths full of khat," he says. "It was like these guys were pumped up on PCP. With the Beretta, I'd have had to fire all 15 rounds and then thrown the pistol at this wild-eyed dude."

We went into Vietnam with a bad weapon, the M-16 rifle, which was responsible for killing thousands of our soldiers. It was a jammer, and if you have a jammed rifle in a firefight, you're dead. The M-16 was such a loser that some jungle-smart grunts refused to carry it and packed captured Soviet AK-47s instead.

What the M-16 was to Vietnam, the Beretta is to Afghanistan. And a soldier with no confidence in his weapon isn't the most motivated fighter in Death Valley.

"We're frustrated here that no one in Washington seems to have the slightest concern for our survival," writes a sergeant from Afghanistan. "It's a damn good thing that we have air superiority and so far haven't had many heavy fights."

Perhaps you congressional folks can figure out how to recycle some of the bucks we'll save from the Pentagon-zapped Crusader and get our combat troops a decent sidearm. This would surely relieve some of that frustration and, just by the way, keep our warriors alive.

[Wisconsin]

Speaking from a gunsmithing viewpoint, a revolver is generally less sturdy than an automatic. I am not sure that you could not make a sturdy one, but most aren't.

The problems incude the frame shape, the necessity for a pawl to move the cylinder, some pretty significant considerations of headspace, and firing pin design.

Of course there are hermaphrodites....
I once had the pleasure of shooting a Webley .455 automatic revolver. One pulled the trigger it shot, then there were all kinds of noises and different forces on your wrist before it returned "to battery". I would seriously dounbt the accuracy of anyone's second shot.

The entire upper frame and barrel slides back in recoil, a stub rides in an angled groove on the cylinder to rotate it, and from the sounds a pair of gnomes come out and ring the clock tower bell on the hour.

[Pining_4_TX]

One of your vital tasks is to ensure that our warriors who hang it all out on the killing field are equipped with the right stuff.

Boy, is he wrong! Doesn't he know their most vital task is to see to it that companies, that is, those that are large contributors, get lots of government contracts? Politicians couldn't care less about what happens to our troops.

[nevergore]

"Did you miss the little part about jamming? "

No, but regardless of the weapon, whether it functioned flawlessly or not, the primary issue still is the unpowered value of the 9mm round and it's inability to stop a determined foe on the battlefield.

NeverGore

[300winmag]

I once had the pleasure of shooting a Webley .455 automatic revolver. One pulled the trigger it shot, then there were all kinds of noises and different forces on your wrist before it returned "to battery". I would seriously dounbt the accuracy of anyone's second shot.

Ah, the Webley-Fosberry "Zig-Zag". One of the world's truly whacky weapons. I've only seen one fired on "Tales of the Gun', but I'd give my eye teeth to own one. It just reeks of British "oddball scientist" (or gun designer), and seems so charming.

[river rat]

100% agreement on .45acp as the round to trust - when you must.

I was forced to retire my "very old" Colt 1911- after trying the 3" barrel pocket cannon "Ultra CDP II" from Kimber,.... I could not believe the performance right out of the box - or the extreme light weight or smooth finishes... Slips into jeans or light jacket pocket almost as easily as a wallet... All edges have been "melted" to prevent snags or catches. Very light weight! Shoots tighter groups than my 1911... Best money I've spent in a long time.

Check them out....lots of choices!
http://www.kimberamerica.com/CDP_Series.htm
Semper Fi

[LibKill]

"When we looked at the corpses, we found their mouths full of khat," he says. "It was like these guys were pumped up on PCP.

I have also heard reports of drugged soldiers in other third-world armies (Africa).

Go .45. 9mm ball won't do when faced with fanatics drugged to the point of feeling no pain.

[Shooter 2.5]

"the Webley-Fosberry "Zig-Zag". but I'd give my eye teeth to own one.

If you're serious, buy a Mateba .357. It's very impressive and you don't have to spend the museum price.

[Shooter 2.5]

"All edges have been "melted" to prevent snags or catches.

After looking at the "melted" pistols, I think they wasted their time. The areas that they "melted" aren't the areas that catch and the edges on the slide release and safeties where the cuts and abrasions do occur aren't "melted". Save your money and don't buy an ugly gun.

[Badray]

"There is a Geneva Convention that limits the use of fragmenting ammunition in rifles and pistols. I am unsure of the exact protocol. Thus our troops are restricted to using ball ammunition."

Leave it to the politicians. It's okay to get hit with a mortar shell or some type of artillery, or get torched by a flamethrower, but Heaven forbid, it's illegal to get shot with a hollowpoint bullet.

[PoorMuttly]

The Bereta has earned a legend of its own. Compare.

Horrible as it is, I am grateful that this "failure to stop" information is getting out, into America. The .45ACP still works on determined and altered persons.

When in a WAR, you don't need a sportjacket-friendly d.a. automatic, especially a big, cheap one. Two you damn-well better place fast, doesn't nearly beat connecting one fat one in the first place. Unless you're carrying ammunition for the next guy to use up in the mgazines you loaded, and won't get to use. No second-place winner. Don't work that way.

[PoorMuttly]

Some things just work, and others don't.

Sorry about your "incident." I am grateful for your sacrifice...and I hold your technical opinion in high regard. Thanks for sharing the facts with us.

[honway]

Hackworth, isn't he the Vietnam war protestor that went to Australia because of his disdain for America?

Is this the same guy that posted on his website he was an Army Ranger, even though he never earned that distiction?

Is this the same Hackworth that also posted on his website that he was awarded a medal that in truth he never received?

Is this the same Hackworth that was working on a hit piece in Newsweek on Admiral Boorda about an improperly worn device on a ribbon in which Admiral Boorda certainly earned?

Were men still fighting and dying in Vietnam when Jane Hackworth was protesting the war?

[honway]

http://www.cnn.com/US/9705/16/hackworth/

Hackworth says error doesn't compare to Boorda suicide case

[honway]

Hackworth said he also served with the 8th Army Ranger company, but Charles Pitts, who was the first sergeant of that unit, told CBS he "never knew him."

It appears Hackworth's resume is a figment of his imagination.

[decimon]

RISU: "I think a new "US ARMY 45 cal revolver" would be just about right about 90% of the time."

Funny you should say that. I've read that the .45 Colt (Long Colt) Revolver is what was pressed into service against the Moros and that the .45 ACP didn't get into that fight until near the end. Some say it is the Long Colt that is the stopper.

"Another bit of interesting historical trivia is that it was the .45 Colt/SAA that was brought out of retirement when the Moro insurrection in the Philippines started to get out of hand and the .38 Long Colt service revolvers used by the U. S. Army at the turn of the Century proved inadequate to the task of stopping the fanatical knife wielding natives. The .45 ACP/1911 auto pistol is generally credited with solving the problem, but that is not the case. It was the old .45 Colt SAA revolver that was brought out of storage and issued to desperate troops in the Philippines. This is easily verified by old photos of U.S. troops in the Phillippines that show their sidearms, as well as by the dates involved. Consider that the Philippines became a U.S. colony at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, which marks the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the Phillippines (long before the invention of the .45 Auto). The last battle of the Moro Insurrection took place in 1912 (this was the only battle in which any .45 Autos were used). The M1911 .45 Auto was not even adopted until 1911, when the war in the Philippines was almost over. So it was the .45 Colt revolver that provided the legendary "knock-down" power later (incorrectly) credited to the .45 Auto."

http://www.chuckhawks.com/45Colt.htm

[honway]

http://ww2.militarybookclub.com/mybookclub/tenhut/bookclubs/mil/Special/Chats/David_Hackworth.htm

Link

RoseClayborne asks: Of all the medals you received, which one means the most to you?

David Hackworth: I think that of all the medals I've received, the one that is probably the most meaningful to me is the United Nations Peace Award which I was given in 1995 by the United Nations for the work I had done in Australia to create an awareness on the absolute insanity of Ronald Reagan's nuclear policies.

orionsbelt2001 asks: What country was your favorite to be stationed?

David Hackworth: My favorite country in the world is Australia.

[Hang'emAll]

Check your freeper email for message.

[Dukie]

Thanks for the bump of Hack's letter & your good info from personal experience. My P89 9mm is ok for targets, but I wouldn't trust my life on the round.

Why did we accept the Euro standard ? If it had to be metric why not the nearest mm cartrige & size to a .45 ?

Best to you, harpseal

[PoorMuttly]

The .45 Colt is and was THE Stopper. The Colt can be impressive at long range, too, especially with heavy bullets. We have what works...we just want it to be something else. Can't go saying NATO isn't infallible, I guess. The .45 works for Americans, the ACP gives it to us in Automatics, and the 9 needs a trick bullet, going real fast. Perhaps the .40/10mm really is what we are looking for...w/more capacity and flatter-shooting characteristics like the 9....but a 10...a borderline "big" bore. More like what we KNOW has worked well for us before.

I bet just handing out .44 Mag revolvers and Special +P loadings would be all the handgun most would need.....except for little things the 1911 has already done, like hold down battlefields for longer than you'd ever expect, in this major war and that....and a 9mm can hardly stop deer, still.

[OKSooner]

Anybody here have any opinions about the new Para-Ordnance "LDA" .45?