During the Vietnam War, American soldiers' new XM16E1s were malfunctioning at an unprecedented rate, yet their leadership seemed unwilling to listen. As it would turn out, the problems with the M16 in Vietnam went much deeper than most at the time knew; with a long history of mistakes and mismanagement leading to a plethora of malfunctions in combat. So, what really happened to the M16 in Vietnam that ballooned into such a massive controversy? What was causing the malfunctions that were afflicting the brand new rifles of America’s armed forces? And how did the GI end up being sent to fight with a weapon that clearly had a multitude of problems?
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:11 A Note On Sources
02:40 So, What Happened?
05:07 Interdepartmental Politics, Part I
07:18 Enter Robert McNamara
09:07 Let The Problems Begin
11:24 Interdepartmental Politics, Part II
13:55 Powder Change & Related Disasters, Part I
16:35 Powder Change & Related Disaster, Part II
19:17 An Idiot's Guide To M16 Malfunctions
23:22 Investigating The Issues
26:23 Somehow, More Mistakes & The M16A1
29:07 Conclusions
31:34 Outro
Sources:
Ezell, Edward Clinton, Thomas M. Pegg, and W. H. B. Smith. Small Arms of the World: A Basic Manual of Small Arms. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993.
Stevens, R. Blake, and Edward Clinton Ezell. The Black Rifle: M16 Retrospective. Cobourg, Ont: Collector Grade Publications, 2004.
Orkand, Bob, and Lyman Duryea. Misfire: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam. Guilford, CT: Stackpole Books, 2019.
Ichord Committee Report - https://archive.org/details/M16IchordReport1/M16 Ichord Report 1/
Report of the M16 Rifle Review Panel - https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA953110.pdf
SAWS Report - https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0488336.pdf
Chris Bartocci's video - https://youtu.be/NYar4Zf8jH8?si=ss_HRXtekHUjyKTG
IvanPrintsGuns videos - https://youtu.be/Eg8JabQjyqs?si=RU4SeSrWUhbNrFk4, https://youtu.be/A8Y46d5IGSo?si=zX-87_B8BwofY3pF, https://youtu.be/Bx-Ov9s_Tek?si=OjNMH7Lvv3oOlhOi