Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Still Losing? Yup.
What's wrong with this picture, internets? Well, Ok I'll tell you. The weapon the Marine in the picture is holding is an M79 Grenade Launcher. It's a giant, single-shot shotgun that shoots a 40mm grenade at the bad guys. That sounds pretty cool. Having something go boom over by the bad guys instead of right next to you is a good thing. But, the M79 is, for lack of a better word, obsolete. It was front line equipment during Vietnam. It has since been replaced (in the 1980s, I do believe) by the weapon in the picture at the bottom of the post. Do you notice anything different? That's right, it shoots 40mm grenades just like the M79, but the whole thing is attached to an M16. That seems like a much better weapon to carry around. You can still shoot grenades one at a time, but you also have an actual rifle you can use to shoot at the bad guys.
So now in addition to still not providing body armor to the troops, the Pentagon is sending them to war with weapons that their Grandfathers carried around in Southeast Asia.
: April 15, 2007 12:32 PMM79
-More accurate than the m203, better sights
-provides a grenade launching capability for those who are not carrying an m16/m4
-leaves their primary weapon lighter
-and as far as it being outdated, look at the m16,ak47,m60,m2 browning. M16 and the m60 are as old as the m79, and the ak47 and the m2 are much older, and are still being used, not to mention the 1911. If it aint broke, dont try and fix it.
: November 29, 2009 10:00 AM