Want to tell us the story behind that one? Bonus points for MS paint on detailing the ambush.




As for the OP, that would weight a fuck ton

I remember hearing William Atwater on one of the gun shows comment that in his platoon some guys packed 1500 rounds of ammo on patrol in Vietnam. Lot of weight if true.

We were on an platoon sized ambush in the open space between the two half's of dogleg village, about 35 miles north of Saigon. The other squad had the starlite scope that night and they were scanning the area when they sighted a lot of NVA heading directly at us . we were hoping they would turn before they reached us, but the came straight in. The other squad blew the claymores and we all stared firing, the nva opened up and tried to flank the ambush, but they ran right ito our claymores. they fell back, and then regrouped and came back again, this time they got close enough to throw grenades, a white phosphorus grenade went off between the positions. but all of the others fell short, we answered with a barrage of grenades, M79 rounds, and M60 fire.
The guy that was next to me says that his rifle trigger is stuck, so I hand him mine and felt the side of the rifle and found the trigger pin sticking half way out. I don't know if the M16 manual recommends that you push the trigger sideways and pound the pin in with the bottom of a grenade, but it works.
By this time the NVA were scattered around in small groups firing like crazy, 105 iiium started popping and could see them, that's when I really got scared, it looked like hundreds of then were out there. We were still firing like crazy, I was shooting, hollering on the radio, throwing grenades, trying to get everyone to switch to semi auto because the ammo was going fast. Finally the people at NDP Normandy II fired up the APCs from the 1/4 Cav to bring us ammo and fire support.
We were almost out of ammo when the NVA broke off and retreated, we called in artillery in the direction we thought they went. The tracks showed up and shot up the area with 50s, and we swept the area and picked up 1 prisoner, a NVA Lt., 8 bodies, 6 AKs , and some RPG rockets. The prisoner later said that there were 120 NVA out there, there were 18 of us, 9 in each position. Here is your ms paint, and for extra extra credit a copy of the article from Stars and Stripes, they interviewed the squad leader of the other position. About a week later we found a ditch about 500 yards in front of position with 22 bodies, the NVA Lt looked at the papers we found and said they were from his company, we had no casualties.

360 rounds = 3 bandos or roughly 12 "full mags" +/- a round.

I agree.

Thanks for the story Denner. Did your unit download the magazines by one or two?

I've read many accounts by Vietnam veterans and it seems very mixed. Some did, some didn't.

it's been a few years since I read anything about the black hawk down incident but as I recall resupply was a big issue, it's likely that this individual you're asking about could have been an ammo bearer carrying ammo in to the guys at the 1st crash site.

When my brother was in Somalia (post Blackhawk Down) he could draw anything and any quantity from the armorer without question. The space under his bunk was crammed with rifle ammo, grenades and other assorted explosives. He had pics to prove it. Now, did he carry 1,000 rds on his person when they went on patrol...NO. But when the SHTF you don't want to run to the armorer for more supplies. That was his thought. Yes, he did turn in every unused piece of ordnance when he left.

Never served, but carrying a 1000 round box of 5.56mm around is heavy, I couldn't imagine doing it in the heat of Somalia, much less add the humidity of Vietnam.

If you are in a vehicle, this all changes, I would take a few ammo cans of extra magazines just to have.

Er um .....

I was in Somalia before and after Black Hawk Down. Yes. I carried a shit ton of ammo. I of course was in the Marine Corps not the Army.