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The U.S. Military’s Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), has designed and developed the Drone Killer Cartridge (DKC). The cost-effective family of ammunition is designed to increase a warfighter’s probability of a hit and kill against drone threats.
DKC is designed for use in rifles, automatic rifles and machine guns, but it disperses a cluster of projectiles upon firing with an effective range far greater than a conventional shotgun’s capabilities.
The effect increases probability hits and kills against Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) threats in a way that also minimizes risk of collateral damage from projectiles that don’t impact the target.
The DKC family of loads includes both pelletized and segmented designs. The segmented version includes a one-piece projectile that mechanically self-separates into discrete, spin-stabilized sub-projectiles prior to muzzle exit. Pelletized DKC includes a projectile assembly containing a stack of high-density, spherical buckshot-sized pellets mechanically disbursed at muzzle exit.
“We’re enabling extended range, shotgun-style effects through automatic rifles and machine guns with nothing more than an ammunition change,” said Brian Hoffman, man-portable weapons chief engineer at NSWC Crane. During a recent demonstration at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Ind., DKC achieved a 92 percent success rate against drones.
Colonel Andrew Konicki, program manager of Ground Based Air Defense for Program Executive Officer Land Systems, said the Marine Corps plans to broadly implement the cartridges at the operator level.
“The Drone Killer Cartridge represents a pivotal shift in countering the pervasive threat of enemy drones,” Col. Konicki said. “This type of ammunition provides an immediate and significant improvement to our kinetic kill capabilities by using standard-issued weapons that are already in the hands of Marines.
The collaborative work between NSWC Crane and the Marine Corps has positive impacts across the ecosystem of Homeland Defense as well as self-protection for our forward deployed troops in harm’s way. With DKC, we are adding capability well beyond conventional options, while also bending the cost curve for neutralizing drone threats, particularly to the individual Marine.”
Unmanned systems are reshaping military tactics, challenging established operations and creating life-threatening threats for warfighters. To counter the critical threat, the Department is aiming to improve overall defense capabilities.
“By design, DKC provides broader terminal coverage on and around the intended target, which increases effectiveness against stationary and moving drones by helping offset imperfect aim,” said Hoffman. “There’s a good reason why bird hunters use shotguns. We’ve applied a similar philosophy to killing drones while amplifying overall performance. DKC sub-projectiles exit the barrel at velocities typical of centerfire rifle ammunition. Those velocities, and associated energies, far exceed shotgun capabilities and serve to extend effective range while offering more devastating effects on target.”
DKC was developed from internal NSWC Crane Naval Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) funding and investments from the Department of Homeland Security and Marine Corps. The load involves only an ammunition change, eliminating new-weapon qualification requirements and accelerates initial fielding. It also removes any requirement that warfighters carry an additional weapon dedicated to countering drones.
“When you compare the cost it takes to kill a drone using DKC versus some other solutions that are being employed, it’s a night-and-day difference,” said Hoffman. “The projectiles used in segmented DKC and pelletized DKC are both inert, meaning there is no energetic material in the projectile itself. The separation mechanisms are purely mechanical, and the cartridge case, primer, and propellant are common to other ammunition types already in production. These attributes combine to help keep it elegantly simple yet effective while ensuring low-cost producibility.”
Stereocard,“Hospital at Fredericksburg, Va., May, 1864” War Photograph Exhibition Company. (VMHC 2002.460.123)
In the Civil War’s wake, thousands of veterans became addicted to morphine and opium, medicines used to treat painful injuries and lingering sicknesses sustained during the war. Veterans’ families looked on in horror as opioid addiction destroyed old soldiers’ health and damaged their self-esteem, relationships, and reputations.
Opiates were some of the most widely used medicines in 19th-century America. During the Civil War, surgeons administered morphine injections and opium pills to soldiers who had endured gunshot wounds and amputations.
Opium was also a major remedy for diarrhea and other diseases that spread through army camps during the war. The medicines worked well—too well, in fact. Countless veterans became addicted to opium and morphine, which they continued to take after leaving the army.
Veterans dubbed opioid addiction “opium slavery” and “morphine mania,” among other names. As these monikers imply, addiction had severe consequences for veterans’ lives. Drug addiction, although it was widespread, was deeply stigmatized in the Civil War era.
From many Americans’ point-of-views, veterans who struggled with opioid addiction were immoral and unmanly. They deserved to be punished, not helped, according to this line of thinking. Consequently, addicted veterans struggled to find sympathy or medical care, and they often died of accidental drug overdoses.
The experience of Confederate artillerist John Tackett Goolrick and Frances Bernard Goolrick, his wife, illustrates the wide-ranging health, emotional, and social consequences of opioid addiction for Civil War veterans and their families.
The Goolricks wrote scores of letters describing the staggering costs of John’s morphine addiction, which stalked the family for nearly a half-century after the Civil War. The letters are housed in the Goolrick Family Papers collection at the VMHC. Most Americans were reticent to discuss opioid addiction openly. But the Goolricks were frank about their struggles, and their letters provide an unparalleled window into the broader phenomenon of opioid addiction among Civil War veterans.
John enlisted in the Fredericksburg Artillery as a young man. He was an ardent supporter of the proslavery Confederate cause, remaining with Robert E. Lee’s army until the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865, the bitter end to the war in Virginia. Many of Lee’s men had deserted by that point. John suffered a severe gunshot wound in the left leg at the siege of Petersburg in August 1864.
He was transported behind the lines to Richmond’s massive Chimborazo hospital, where surgeons apparently prescribed morphine for the pain before patching John up and sending him back to the frontlines. At Chimborazo, or some point in the ensuing years, John became addicted to morphine.
Lithograph, “Campaign Sketches: The Letter for Home” by Homer, Winslow L. Prang & Company. (VMHC 2000.165.6.5)
John and Frances cared deeply for one another, but his morphine addiction took a serious toll on their marriage. The Goolricks were a fixture of the social scene of Fredericksburg, where they built a life in the decades after the Civil War.
But all the while, John consumed ever-higher doses of morphine. As his addiction grew worse, it debilitated his body and mind. Finally, in 1896, John suffered a morphine-induced breakdown, some 30 years after leaving the army. This was not uncommon, as many veterans lived with chronic addiction for decades. But John’s breakdown imploded his relationship with Frances.
Morphine abuse clouded John’s mind and judgment, leaving him unable to practice law, his postwar occupation. The family’s finances dwindled, and, with little hope that John’s state would improve on its own, Frances demanded that he submit to harsh medical care for addiction.
In the 19th century, medical care for addiction often entailed having one’s morphine dose abruptly discontinued, triggering agonizing withdrawal symptoms. John most assuredly did not want to undertake this grueling medical ordeal. But Frances insisted, threatening divorce if he did not comply. As Frances explained to her brother in a February 5, 1896, letter, John “will beg and implore me not to do this. But I must, I must, I can bear neither for myself or the children, this life any longer.” “I am obliged to leave him,” she added, for “I can see nothing else to do…. His mind and brain [are] clouded by” morphine, and “there is no dependence to be put in him.”
John and Frances’s family took the news of John’s addiction hard. Extended family members appear to have known about the veteran’s morphine addiction before his 1896 breakdown, but almost certainly did not realize the severity of the situation. Because morphine addiction was stigmatized, it threatened the upper-class Goolricks’ social standing. So, the family had to deal with John’s addiction swiftly and quietly.
One option was institutionalization. Virginia’s public mental asylums, like Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, often admitted Civil War veterans and other Virginians suffering from drug addiction.
But, as John’s brother warned in a March 7, 1896, letter, this measure would bring great shame to the entire family because asylums were, like addiction, stigmatized. If word got out that John had been committed to an asylum, it “would be commented upon and asked about” in the newspapers.
Fearing damage to the family’s reputation, Frances, along with John’s brother and sister-in-law, settled on a more private solution. Within a few days of his collapse, Frances sent John away to his brother’s farmhouse, just outside of Fredericksburg. The family ultimately restrained John by locking him in a room, where hired nurses prevented escape while John endured the agony of opioid withdrawal over the course of several weeks.
John’s ordeal was heartbreaking for his family to witness. As Nora, John’s sister-in-law, explained to Fannie in a March 10, 1896, letter, “my heart aches to look at him.” Eventually, John’s body and mind recovered, and he returned home to Frances. But the family’s letters hint that John relapsed several times before his death in 1925.
The Goolricks’ saga illustrates several aspects of addiction commonly experienced by Civil War veterans who struggled with opioid addiction.
First, the Civil War, despite ending in 1865, caused health complications for John that lasted for decades. This facet of the Goolricks’ story, which was not unique to John and Frances, complicates the persistent myth that most Civil War veterans simply returned to normal after leaving the army.
In reality, many veterans dealt with challenging, war-related disabilities for the rest of their lives. Additionally, like other couples of the era, the Goolricks based much of their self-esteem on their ability to fulfill certain social roles.
Men like John were supposed to act as breadwinners, while women like Frances were supposed to manage the “domestic sphere” of life. Yet, addiction inverted these roles, leaving John unable to work, while Frances stepped in and managed the family’s public and financial affairs—an inversion of gender roles that neither Goolrick relished.
The couple also experienced great shame at the public airing of John’s addiction, demonstrating how opioid addiction was not merely a health problem, but one that affected from all other aspects of life, as well. Finally, the Goolricks’ story reminds us that Americans of generations past struggled with opioid addiction, much like the millions of Americans grappling with addiction amid today’s ongoing opioid crisis. Opioid addiction has a long history dating back to the Civil War.
This article was written by Jonathan S. Jones for Virginia History & Culture Magazine, Spring/Summer 2020. Jonathan received his PhD in History from Binghamton University, Spring 2020. The George and Ann Richards Civil War Center at Pennsylvania State University awarded Jones a postdoctoral fellowship, and he accepted an assistant professorship in the history department at Virginia Military Institute, which he began in the fall of 2021.
Johnathan’s book project, “‘A Mind Prostrate’: Opiate Addiction in the Civil War’s Aftermath,” chronicles the Civil War–era opioid addiction epidemic—America’s original opioid crisis. The project uncovers the traumatic experiences and harsh consequences of opioid addiction for Civil War veterans and their families. The project also reveals America’s long, but largely forgotten, history of opioid crises. The book project stems from his PhD dissertation (Binghamton University, 2020), and his research was enhanced by an Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellowship at the VMHC in 2019.
Here is what the poor guy looks like. Col. Long was a commissioned officer of the United States Army from 1814 until his retirement in 1863. He served in the Corps of Engineers and, after the 1838 reorganization that created the Corps of Topographical Engineers, in that separate corps until its merger back into the Corps of Engineers in 1863.Major Long meets with the Pawnees at Council Bluffs, Iowa (1819).
Much of Long’s work on internal improvements and early railroad surveys was performed on detached duty or through federally authorized engineering boards. During the American Civil War, he remained in Federal service and held the rank of colonel at the time of his retirement.
Army marksmanship has always played a key role in American military readiness, starting with musket drills in the Revolutionary War and continuing through today’s precision rifle competitions.
The Army’s firearms training has evolved from a basic battlefield skill into a comprehensive program that encompasses training, competition, and recognition. Understanding this history shows how Army marksmanship badges maintain strong combat skills and set a standard that also shapes civilian shooting sports.
Historical Foundations: Army Marksmanship Badges
The American military has valued marksmanship since its earliest wars. During the Revolutionary War, frontier riflemen demonstrated the importance of accurate shooting, but formal training was not always consistent.
During the Civil War, many soldiers lacked strong marksmanship skills. Studies showed that thousands of rounds were fired for each casualty. This led military leaders to recognize that winning in battle required more than just giving soldiers weapons.
The Army began to focus more on marksmanship after the Spanish-American War, when it was clear that American soldiers often did not shoot as well as their opponents. In response, the Army set higher training standards and started keeping records of who qualified. In the early 1900s, the Army introduced standardized courses in which soldiers demonstrated their skills at various distances and in different positions.
World War I accelerated these changes. The Army realized that good marksmanship required organized training, not merely prior hunting or shooting experience.
Training camps added rifle ranges, and marksmanship became an essential part of basic training. This was also when qualification badges were introduced to recognize shooting skill, a tradition that continues today.
Timeline Of Notable Developments
Developed by Eugene Stoner at Armalite in 1957, the M16 replaced heavier weapons and became the military’s standard-issue battle rifle.
World War II
This era saw large-scale mobilization, so the Army made marksmanship training uniform across all bases. The M1 Garand became the primary infantry rifle, and training courses focused on its use. Training also became more realistic, with time limits and added stress to better prepare soldiers for combat.
1956
The Army started the United States Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) at Fort Benning, Georgia. This unit was created to improve marksmanship throughout the Army and to compete in shooting competitions both in the U.S. and internationally. The USAMU has produced numerous Olympic medalists and world champions, thereby establishing a strong reputation among military shooters worldwide.
During The Vietnam War
The Army adopted the M16 rifle, which was lighter and had less recoil than the M14. This change meant soldiers had to learn new shooting techniques. Training began to focus more on combat skills, such as moving while shooting, engaging multiple targets, and practicing in realistic scenarios. The Army stopped training exclusively with stationary targets and then adopted more active methods.
Since The 1980s
The army’s marksmanship programs have continued to improve. New equipment, such as better rifle optics, night vision, and laser sights, led to changes in training.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan made combat marksmanship even more important, as soldiers had to hit targets at different distances in both cities and rural areas. Today’s training includes practicing under stress, making quick decisions, and combining shooting with other combat skills.
The USAMU remains a leader in American competitive shooting. Its Service Rifle, Action Shooting, and International Rifle and Pistol Teams have won many national championships and Olympic medals. In addition to competing, the USAMU is the Army’s primary center for marksmanship, developing training methods and equipment that support soldiers across the Army.
Civilian Marksmanship Program Connection
Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Green, Bogalusa, with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Service Rifle Team. (Credit: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)
The Army’s link to civilian shooting sports is managed through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). Congress started the CMP’s earlier version in 1903, believing that citizens who could shoot well would help national defense. The Army initially operated the program but transferred it to a federally chartered nonprofit organization in 1996.
The CMP’s mission remains closely linked to military readiness. It provides firearms safety training and rifle practice for citizens, especially young people. Through the CMP, civilians can purchase surplus military rifles, participate in shooting competitions, and receive marksmanship training. Many CMP matches use courses similar to those in the Army, directly linking civilian practice to military skills.
Army marksmanship teams often compete with civilian shooters at CMP events. The National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, bring both groups together in what some call the “World Series of Shooting.” These events allow Army shooters to compete with top civilians and help spread marksmanship culture across the country. Many soldiers continue to compete in civilian matches after leaving the Army, so skills and experience are shared both ways.
The CMP also runs programs in schools and shooting clubs across the country, often with help from Army marksmanship experts. Because of this community approach, many recruits already possess basic shooting skills when they begin basic training, so qualification takes less time and effort.
Marksmanship Qualification Badges
The Army displays shooting skill with qualification badges worn on uniforms. These badges recognize individual achievement, encourage soldiers to improve their performance, and set clear standards for marksmanship.
Marksman Badge
The basic qualification level is awarded to soldiers who meet the minimum standards on the Army’s weapons course. It still requires safe handling and the ability to hit targets at different distances. This badge’s design is a squared-off cross.
Sharpshooter Badge
This award is the middle level and requires better performance on the qualification course. Soldiers who earn it demonstrate consistent accuracy and strong foundational skills. The badge resembles the Marksman badge but adds a set of target rings to the center. Many soldiers see the Sharpshooter badge as a true mark of skill, not just the minimum standard.
Expert Badge
The highest regular level, indicating exceptional marksmanship. To earn it, soldiers must hit targets at long range, do well under time limits, and show strong shooting skills. The Expert badge is a source of pride, and many units hold friendly competitions to see who can earn and keep it. This badge takes the sharpshooter design and adds a laurel wreath around it to indicate its highest status.
Each badge can be awarded for different types of weapons. The Army gives badges for rifles, pistols, machine guns, and more. Bars hanging below the badge show which weapon the soldier qualified with. For example, a soldier might wear an Expert Rifle badge with several bars for different rifle types.
Distinguished Badges
These are above the regular qualification levels and honor outstanding marksmanship. The Distinguished Rifleman and Distinguished Pistol Shot badges are the highest awards outside of competition teams. To earn one, a soldier must collect points by placing high in several matches over time. These badges are rare and highly respected in the Army.
Soldiers who earn Distinguished badges often become marksmanship instructors for their units and share their skills with others. The selection process ensures that only those who demonstrate consistent excellence, not merely a single exceptional performance, receive this honor.
Army Marksmanship Badges: Heritage & Prospects
Army Marksmanship Badges: Soldiers earn marksmanship badges to recognize achievement and encourage excellence.
The program continues to change to meet new challenges. Today’s training draws on lessons from recent wars and focuses on integrating shooting with movement, communication, and decision-making. Advanced simulators enable soldiers to practice scenarios that are difficult or impossible to reproduce on conventional ranges.
The connection between military marksmanship and civilian shooting sports remains strong. The CMP continues to help Americans improve their shooting skills. Army shooters who compete internationally continue a tradition of excellence that is over a hundred years old, representing both their service and the wider American shooting community.
The badge system is updated periodically to reflect new weapons and training, but its primary goal remains the same: to recognize achievement and encourage excellence. Whether a soldier earns a Marksman badge through hard work or a Distinguished badge after years of competition, these awards show the Army’s ongoing commitment to marksmanship as a key military skill.
Even as technology and warfare change, the basics of Army marksmanship remain the same: disciplined training, standard testing, and recognizing achievement. These principles help American soldiers keep the shooting skills they need to succeed and set a high standard that extends across the Army and into civilian life.
Code named Operation Urgent Fury, the United States invasion of Grenada is perceived by some as a minor military engagement during the Cold War. However, the conflict was more important than many people might realize.
BTR-60 “028” after it was knocked out and pushed off the road by the Rangers. Image: NARA
What may have also escaped the notice of most Americans was the unexpected aggressiveness that the Cubans displayed with their armored vehicles, resulting in the only American armored engagement in the Western Hemisphere.
The Case for War
“On the small island of Grenada at the southern end of the Caribbean chain, the Cubans, with Soviet financing and backing, are in the process of building an airfield with a 10,000-foot runway. Grenada doesn’t even have an air force. Who is it intended for?
“The Caribbean is a very important passageway for our international commerce and military lines of communication.
More than half of all America’s oil imports now pass through the Caribbean. The rapid build-up of Grenada’s military potential is unrelated to any conceivable threat to this island country of under 110,000 people, and totally at odds with the pattern of other Eastern Caribbean States, most of which are unarmed.
“The Soviet and Cuban militarization of Grenada, in short, can only be seen as power projection into the region, and it is in this important economic and strategic area that we are trying to help the governments of El Salvadore, Costa Rica, Honduras and others in their struggles for democracy against guerrillas supported through Cuba and Nicaragua.”
— President Ronald Reagan, in a nationally televised speech on March 23, 1983.
Selwyn Strachan, the Grenadian Minister of Mobilization stated publicly in 1981: “that Cuba would eventually use the new airport to supply their troops fighting in Africa, and the Soviets would also find the runway useful because of its strategic location astride the sea lanes and oil transport routes…”
Enemy at the Ready
The U.S. invasion of Grenada had just begun, and it appeared that the assault troops were already in trouble. The Lockheed AC-130 gunships sent to support the United States Army Rangers landing were equipped with low-light TV sensors and these immediately showed that the Point Salines runway had been blocked with boulders, construction vehicles, and a tangle of pipes and cables to prevent aircraft from landing.
US Army ID photo of the BTR-60PB. Note the 14.5mm KPVT machine gun in the turret and the firing ports for riflemen to fire from cover. Image: NARA
The decision was made to drop the Rangers from low altitude, and they jumped from the lead Lockheed MC-130 planes at just 500 feet. Nearly 700 Rangers were floating down in their parachutes while they were engaged by small arms fire from Cuban troops were clearly ready for their arrival. Several ZU-23-2 twin-barreled 23mm anti-aircraft (AA) guns and a ZPU-4 quadruple 14.5mm AA gun, positioned above the Point Salines runway were firing on the MC-130 transports.
Two of the three BTR-60s involved in the abortive attack on the Rangers at the Point Salines airfield. The vehicle in the foreground attempted to reverse and collided with the second. Image: NARA
The first group of Rangers were scattered along the length of the 10,000-foot runway and while the men struggled to get out of their parachutes, two Soviet-made BTR-60 armored personnel carriers (APCs) appeared at the end of the runway and quickly began to close on the American airhead. The KPV heavy machine guns mounted in the BTRs began to chatter, and soon 14.5mm rounds were splattering off the tarmac among the American troops.
Another view of the two BTR-60s — this one from the reverse angle. Note the flattened tires. Image: NARA
As the People’s Revolutionary Army BTR-60s quickly closed the range, it may have appeared that the Rangers’ drop zone would be overrun.
However, the American Rangers were tougher than the communists expected. When the armored vehicles reached the mid-point of the runway, the BTRs were suddenly struck with hollow-charge anti-tank rounds. Fast-acting Rangers set up M67 recoilless rifles and immediately scored hits with 90mm HEAT rounds. This anti-tank miracle came just in time, as the sky above was filled with the descending parachutes of the next wave of Rangers.
Supported by two AC-130 gunships circling overhead, the second group of Rangers immediately assaulted the 23mm AA guns positions atop a hill near Point Salines airfield. Within 10 minutes, the AA guns were silent too. Most of the American transports had been hit at least once by their fire. This is how the invasion of Grenada began on the morning of October 25, 1983.
American Forces Engaged from Beirut to Grenada
Operation Urgent Fury was already fast and furious as America’s Rapid Deployment Force, including elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army Delta Force, and the U.S. Navy SEALs, moved to secure the island from revolutionary Grenadian and Cuban communist forces.
Men of the 82nd Airborne in a M-151 “Mutt” scout jeep pass BTR-60 “072”. Image: NARA
President Reagan’s concerns about the communist forces stationed there grew to a point where he directed US forces to Grenada to guarantee the safety of 600 American medical students on the island. The action in Grenada came just two days after the deadly terrorist attack on the U.S.M.C. barracks in Beirut, Lebanon where a suicide truck bomb killed 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and 3 soldiers. The Cold War was quickly escalating to a boiling point.
Order of Battle
Communist forces on Grenada, comprised of the Grenadian “People’s Revolutionary Army” plus more than 700 Cubans (many posing as “engineers”) had no tanks, but they did have other armory vehicles including eight BTR-60 APCs and a pair of BRDM-2 armored cars. The BRDM-2 amphibious armored scout car was armed with a KPVT 14.5mm machine gun and a PKT 7.62mm co-axial machine gun. Its welded steel armor was 14mm at its thickest (in the hull nose), with the turret frontal armor at 10mm.
The BTRs came dangerously close to compromising, even closing the airhead at Point Salines. Image: NARA
The BTR-60 armored personnel carrier had the same armament. The BTR-60’s thickest armor is on its turret front at 10mm, and protection on the hull front is 9mm.
American troops were alerted to the presence of wheeled armored fighting vehicles on the island, and the assault troops arrived on Grenada with M72 LAW rockets, M47 Dragon AT missiles, and the venerable M67 90mm recoilless rifle. All would see action during the three-day battle for the island.
Armored Counterattack at Point Salines
By mid-afternoon on the first day, the communist troops regrouped and counter-attacked the American positions near the Point Salines International Airport. Three BTR-60s led the attack, which drove into the Ranger platoon’s forward positions. The Rangers responded with fire from their rifles, M60 machine guns, LAWs, and a 90mm recoilless rifle.
The critical runway at Port Salines. Image: NARA
The first two BTRs were hit, with the lead vehicle struck in the turret mantlet. The second BTR crashed into its rear, and both were knocked out of the fight. The third BTR-60 attempted to retreat but was hit in the rear.
An AC-130 gunship was called to the scene and finished off the third BTR.
A Rough Time for SEAL Team 6
During their raid on Radio Free Grenada, SEAL Team 6 fell afoul of a Grenadian force supported by a BRDM-2 armored car.
Caught without anti-tank weapons, the SEALs were forced to retreat after destroying the radio transmitter. They escaped into the ocean and swam to safety aboard the USS Caron (DD-970), a Spruance-class destroyer supporting the combat operations offshore.
Men of the 82nd Airborne Division armed with the M47 Dragon anti-tank missile (background) and the M72 LAW anti-tank rocket (foreground) during Operation Urgent Fury. Image: NARA
During the SEAL’s October 25th mission to rescue Governor Gerald Scoon at his mansion in St. George, the teams again came up against Grenadian armor.
After the SEALs reached the Governor’s residence without opposition, BTR-60s quickly appeared and trapped the operators in the mansion — hammering the building with their 14.5mm KPVT machine guns. Despite several airstrikes the SEALs remained trapped for nearly 24 hours.
U.S. Marines with M60 Tanks
Meanwhile, the Leathernecks of the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit, diverted from a deployment to Lebanon, and landed four M60 main battle tanks at Grand Mal Bay. By the next morning, they had advanced to the Governor’s mansion to relieve the SEALs and rescued Governor Scoon.
A U.S. Marine M60 tank comes ashore from Landing Craft Utility 1656 (LCI-1656). Image: 1LT R. R. Thurman/NARA
Soon after, the fast-moving Marine tankers engaged and knocked out a BRDM-2.
After three days, communist resistance evaporated, and the armored engagements of Grenada were over. They were unique as the only time U.S. forces have engaged enemy armor in this hemisphere.
Tankers give hand signals from M60 main battle tanks while moving in formation. Two AH-1 Cobra helicopters are hovering overhead. Image: NARA
While the mission was a success, it was not bloodless. Nineteen American troops were killed on Grenada and nearly 120 were wounded. Communist forces lost 5 dead with about 350 wounded. Of the eight enemy armored vehicles on Grenada, Americans destroyed seven of them.
This was the price to halt Soviet and Cuban communist expansion in the Caribbean. The American students on the island were returned safely to the U.S.A.
BTR-60: Unexpected Adversary
While intelligence reports noted the existence of BTR-60 armored personnel carriers on the island, the planners of Urgent Fury certainly did not expect them to be used aggressively (by their Cuban crews) to contest the Rangers’ airhead. Consequently, American troops found themselves in a pitched battle against enemy armored vehicles within the Western Hemisphere.
US Army ID photo of the BTR-60PB. The BTR-60PB had a crew of three and could carry seven infantrymen. Image: NARA
To provide some background on the BTR-60, the following information comes from a US Army evaluation of the BTR-60 written in 1989:
Versatility, lethality, and deployability of the BTR-60
The BTR is fairly lethal for a wheeled vehicle. It has two of the Soviet Union’s most durable machine guns mounted in the turret. The most powerful of the two is the 14.5mm KPVT. It has an effective range of 2000 meters and can fire at the rate of 600 rounds a minute. The armor-piercing round of the 14.5mm KPVT can penetrate 32mm of armor at a range of 500 meters and 20mm at 1000 meters…
The other machine gun, mounted coaxially, is the 7.62mm PKT. It has an effective range of 1500 meters and can fire 650 rounds per minute. It can penetrate 8mm of armor with its armor-piercing round fired from 500 meters…The BTR has stowage space for two AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers. The AGS-17 can also be mounted on the outside of the vehicle and fired from the inside…
Looking Back on the Danger
Despite the careful preparations made for the attack on Grenada, the aggressive use of the BTR-60 and BRDM-2 armored vehicles could have created a disaster in the landing zone at Point Salines.
One of the twin 23mm guns (Zu-23-2) defending the Port Salines runway. These guns managed to score some hits on U.S. transport aircraft. Image: NARA
Lt. Col. George A. Crocker of the 82nd Airborne Division wrote in Grenada Remembered: A Perspective, A Narrative Essay on Operation Urgent Fury:
“The 82nd has been criticized for being slow to move out of the airhead, and too deliberate in expanding the operational area to take the strategic plum of St George’s city, but let’s review from the worms-eye view:
-The Rangers had incurred unexpected opposition.
-The Frequente arms cache had revealed large amounts of weapons, enough to give credence to some intelligence reports of several thousand enemy.
-The airhead had been counterattacked by armored vehicles.
-The Rangers had lost a gun Jeep and crew to an ambush just east of the airfield.
A Personal Perspective
Operation Urgent Fury has often been passed off as a lesser military engagement, without any particular significance. But the island location of America’s only armored clash in the Western Hemisphere is much more important than just the answer to an AFV trivia question.
The M67 recoilless rifle (47 pounds loaded), using the M371A1 HEAT round can penetrate up to 350mm of armor at a maximum of 300 meters. Image: NARA
The Soviets and their Cuban partners were preparing for major operations in Central and South America, with Grenada as an important base. In the opinion of many, they had to be stopped.
Despite several tense moments, particularly at the beginning of the operation, the communist threat in Grenada was removed. Most of America never heard much about it. Maybe that is for the best, and we can talk about it in detail now, more than forty years later.
I recently lost a dear friend who was with the Marines on Grenada during Urgent Fury. It was just one of many violent places he visited in his long career in the U.S.M.C. We talked about Grenada a couple of times and he’d always say something like: “Hell Lem, we barely had time to break a sweat. It wasn’t much fun, but we’ve seen a lot worse.” True enough, I suppose, but America still needs to know about the sacrifices made there. And to Major Mac, I say farewell and thanks for all the good times. Semper Fi!
I have a great friend named Sario who captured some of the first Kalashnikov rifles encountered in Vietnam. Sario just happened to be a Green Beret. While today he’s a fit, vibrant, jovial man in his 80s, back in 1965, he was a Special Forces advisor running patrols with the Montagnards against the Viet Cong during his first of three combat tours downrange.
The radically advanced AK-47 rifle surprised American troops when it first appeared, but became more common the longer the war in Vietnam dragged on.
On one particularly memorable outing, Sario’s patrol was ambushed. His vicious tribesmen fought their way out of the kill zone and overran the enemy positions. Along the way, they picked up a pair of brand new AK-47 rifles.
The AK-47 was a rude awakening for American troops who expected to outgun whatever they faced in the field. It was hard-hitting and seemingly indestructible.
AK’s are background clutter nowadays, most anywhere in hot zones where people are trying to kill each other. Back in 1965, however, they were still pretty exotic. So much so that General Westmoreland himself choppered in with his entourage to take possession of the captured weapons. Westmoreland’s aide promised to get the guns back to Sario and his mates. However, as expected, they never heard from them again.
The Guns
The AK-47 came as a shock to American troops in Vietnam. We were accustomed to having the best of everything when it came to combat equipment. However, here we had insurgents packing a select-fire rifle that was hard-hitting, maneuverable and practically unkillable in the field.
The author’s friend, Sario, began his career in the U.S. Special Forces in the late 1950’s. He is an amazing man and patriot.
At the time, Sario carried either an M2 Carbine or an M3 Grease Gun in action. His Montagnards wielded WWII-surplus weapons as well — Garands and lighter M1 Carbines, mostly. The M16 had not yet made its way out to his Special Forces camp. Those AK-47 rifles were the shape of things to come.
Origin Story
The Russians called it the Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 1947. The Chinese variants most commonly encountered in Vietnam were the Type 56. Over on this side of the pond, we would designate the gun the Type 3 AK-47. Regardless of what you call it, this seminal rifle — the most-produced firearm in human history — will forever be indelibly linked to one man.
Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov was born in 1919. He was the 17th of 19 children in a Russian peasant family. Families were big back then to compensate for the simply breathtaking infant mortality rates. Not all of the Kalashnikov kids survived into adulthood. Apparently, young Mikhail’s dad had run afoul of Stalin at some point, so the young man’s early life was spent struggling to survive in Siberia.
Kalashnikov designed this rifle so that almost anyone could run it effectively, and the Vietnam War proved just how right he was.
Despite leaving school after seventh grade, Kalashnikov actually aspired to become a poet. He ultimately penned six books of assorted verse. After the family’s deportation to Tomsk Oblast in Siberia, young Mikhail used his father’s rifle to hunt game to help feed his family. Kalashnikov remained an avid hunter well into the 1990s.
World War II meant something entirely different to the Russians than to us. The Western Front was ghastly, but the Eastern Front was unimaginable. By war’s end, one in every seven Russians had been killed. That’s just tough to get your head around. This likely shapes (and distorts) the Russians’ weird geopolitical behavior to this day.
The under folding-stock version was rare in Vietnam but highly prized by those who got their hands on one. Special Forces troops and helicopter crews appreciated its compactness when carried or stored.
Mikhail Kalashnikov did his bit fighting the Nazis as a tank crewman on a T-34 tank and was badly wounded fighting the Germans during the Battle of Bryansk. While recovering in the hospital, he purportedly heard his wounded infantry counterparts complaining about the ineffectiveness of their small arms. Kalashnikov subsequently devised the design for a new assault rifle to defend Mother Russia. This radical new gun and the comparably radical 7.62x39mm intermediate cartridge it fired would ultimately fundamentally change human civilization.
Particulars
Kalashnikov’s original rifles orbited around a stamped steel receiver. These early guns were deemed to be insufficiently robust, however, so he developed a milled steel receiver version instead. These guns were ridiculously labor-intensive to produce, but the communists had plenty of laborers. The Soviets turned them out by the literal shiploads.
Magazine followers on Vietnam-era Chinese AK mags (right) were chrome-plated.
The Soviets and the Red Chinese have always had a strange relationship. Not unlike Sunni and Shia Muslims, they share a common philosophy, but they still don’t always see eye to eye.
During the Cold War, their common hatred of the West made them allies. As a result, in 1956, the Chinese began production of AK rifles themselves. These were the weapons that were most commonly encountered in the latter stages of the Vietnam War.
1956 was a big year for guns in Red China, and they named their weapons based on when they were introduced. As a result, the Chicom SKS, AK and RPD light machinegun were all called the Type 56. Yeah, that’s pretty confusing.
Most of what the world calls an AK-47 is actually an AKM. This modernized stamped steel AK did not enter Soviet service until 1956. Now they’re everywhere. Back during the Vietnam War, however, almost all of the Kalashnikov rifles we encountered in combat were the milled receiver Type 56 sort. It’s easy to tell the difference at a glance.
The machined receivers sported prominent lightening cuts on both sides. The muzzle included a flat muzzle nut rather than the slanted muzzle brake of the later AKM. The rear sling attachment point was located on the left side of the receiver rather than the toe of the stock, and the pressed steel top cover was smooth where that of the AKM was ribbed.
Wartime Chicom Type 56 rifles typically sported hard-chromed bolts and bolt carriers, as well as chrome-lined bores. This contributed substantially to the gun’s legendary reliability in the hot, fetid jungle climate.
Pulling the trigger on a Vietnam-era-style AK-47 gives you an immediate and visceral sense of what American soldiers were up against in the jungle.
Type 56 furniture was cut from Chinese chiu wood stained dark. The wooden pistol grip sported some light cross-hatching not found on the later AKM sort. It was a big larger as well. Additionally, the foregrip on the Type 56 was left smooth, whereas that of the AKM included bilateral palm swells. There were some other minor differences, but those were the big ones. The cleaning kit rode inside the buttstock. These guns fed from pressed steel 30-round box magazines with chromed followers.
The real apex predator among Vietnam AKs was the under folding sort. Originally designed to equip paratroopers, mechanized infantry and the like, they were quite rare in the Vietnam theater. I have been told that these folding-stock AKs were prized among special forces troops and helicopter crews.
The Next Best Thing
Precious few transferable Vietnam bringback AKs made it into the registry before the 1968 cutoff. Possession of one of these vintage guns would be a great start on a decent 401k today. The closest normal people can come to a legit Vietnam-era Chicom AK came from Poly Technologies.
Chinese AK-47 rifles sported a simple muzzle nut as shown here. The commonly seen AKM features a slant-style brake.
The Chinese firm Poly Technologies made stuff like bicycles back in the 1980s. They also still produced semi-auto versions of Vietnam-standard AK-47 rifles. Their workmanship was frankly amazing, and they were priced accordingly. They were imported under the name Polytech AK47/S Legend.
These guns were made in Factory Number 386 in Long Yan, Fu Jian Province, in Southern China. The number “386” in a circle is stamped into the left side of the receiver. The gun’s milled steel receiver required 105 separate steps to complete. This was the same factory that made these guns during the Vietnam War.
The number “386” in a circle on an AK-pattern rifle receiver designates the Chinese factory of origin.
At the time these weapons were being crafted, Factory 386 was a self-sufficient community. The workers lived on the premises, and there were onsite schools for their children. Very little of the plant was automated, so most of these guns were essentially hand built. Children of Factory 386 workers were expected to grow up and work in the plant as well. It was communist China, after all.
Back in the 1980s, Polytech offered these guns in both fixed and folding-stock versions. I’ve read that they only imported about 2,000 copies. They were expensive back then, and they are astronomically expensive today. These can be found for sale online, but expect to pay upwards of $4,000 for one. The folders are even worse. These guns originally came with a 6H2 bayonet, sling, cleaning kit, and three magazines, all in a fitted Styrofoam box.
Denouement
The Viet Cong and NVA used whatever weapons they could scrounge, but the classic AK-47 will forever be associated with that protracted decade-long conflict. Some 58,000 great Americans lost their lives fighting in Vietnam. The war touched most everybody in the country.
The sighting system on the AK-47 is simple, robust, and effective at the ranges for which it was designed.
Nowadays, if you want a decent rendition of the original Chicom AK-47 you’d best have deep pockets. We’re not on the best of terms with the Chinese, so there will never be any more imported. However, just hefting one of these classic Kalashnikov rifles is akin to touching history. It is a tangible connection to a most remarkable time.
Major Long meets with the Pawnees at Council Bluffs, Iowa (1819).
