@dangerclosetv

M109 Paladin: the howitzer has a crew of four, and the M992 ammo carrier behind it has four more and 98 rounds. Which crew matters more? #artillery #paladin #army #militaryhistory

M72 LAW: the Army swapped this throwaway rocket for the AT4. Then in 2004 the Marines asked for it back, to hit bunkers and buildings. Two tubes, one shot, and the launcher gets dropped. One rocket you throw away, or a launcher you keep? #m72 #law #usmc #militaryhistory

M26: the shotgun that bolts under a soldier's rifle, so the breacher stops carrying a second gun. A straight-pull bolt, a five-round box, and a stand-off on the muzzle that sets the distance to the door. One gun or two? #m26 #shotgun #breacher #army

M1014: the Marines got a shotgun that fires once per trigger pull, but less-lethal rounds are too weak to cycle it. Pump or semi-auto, which would you trust? #m1014 #shotgun #usmc #militaryhistory

Javelin: the 35 lb missile tube is thrown away after every shot, the 14 lb sight comes home. Which half would you rather carry? #javelin #antitank #infantry #militaryhistory

TOW: the gunner has to hold the crosshairs on the target until the missile hits, up to about 20 seconds, without flinching at the launch. Could you hold still that long? #antitank #army #militaryhistory

M110: the sniper pulls the trigger, but the spotter reads the wind, watches the bullet's trace and calls the shot. So who really made it? #sniper #m110 #army #militaryhistory

Stinger: the gunner's IFF box answers with a tone, friendly or unknown, but never hostile. That call is made by eye. Would you trust the tone or your eyes? #stinger #airdefense #army #militaryhistory

M9: SIG led the 1984 Army pistol trial until Beretta cut its price 18%. In 2017 SIG won the next one on price too. Right way to pick a pistol? #m9 #beretta #army #militaryhistory

Fast rope: no harness, no clip, 40 feet of rope and a 24 inch gap to the man above you. Would you go down it? #fastrope #airassault #army #militarytraining

Mk 19: 143 lb with the tripod, so the manual splits it across a gunner, an assistant gunner and an ammo bearer. Which job did you get? #mk19 #army #infantry #militaryhistory

3/1 Marines, Fallujah, November 2004: a Marine combat cameraman filmed them street by street, and the raw tapes went public in 2013. Were you there, or did you watch it from home? #usmc #fallujah #militaryhistory #combatcamera

M67: an average soldier throws it about 40 meters, and its fragments can fly 230. That's why the range has walls. Trust the throw, or trust the wall? #grenade #army #infantry #militaryhistory

Dronebuster: a soldier points it at a drone and jams the link, and the Army Secretary called it terrible this year. Jam it or shoot it, which would you trust? #drone #army #infantry #counterdrone

Carl Gustaf: the Army calls it a recoilless rifle, the Marine Corps' own release called it a rocket launcher. Rifle or rocket launcher, which is it? #carlgustaf #antitank #army #militaryhistory

M224: the Army's 60mm mortar can be fired by one soldier from his hands, off a 3.6 lb baseplate. Handheld or on the bipod, which would you trust? #mortar #army #infantry #militaryhistory

MP5: it fires from a closed bolt like a rifle, which made it the hostage-rescue gun after 1980. Body armor is what pushed a lot of teams to rifles. Right call, or is there still a job for it? #mp5 #smallarms #army #militaryhistory

M240: America's standard machine gun is Belgian, and it took the M60's job after a 50,000-round trial where the M60 jammed about three times as often. Right call, or do you miss the pig? #m240 #machinegun #smallarms #infantry

C-4: the M112 block is the explosive combat engineers carry, and troops in Vietnam burned small pieces of it to heat rations. Would you have risked it? #combatengineers #militaryhistory #army

Lensatic Compass: the Army's M-1950 lights its dial with sealed tritium that loses half its strength about every twelve years. How old is the compass in your kit? #landnav #army #militaryhistory #compass

MILES: in a training fight a laser harness decides who is dead, and it keeps sounding until the dead soldier pulls the key out of his own rifle. Did MILES ever kill you unfairly? #army #militarytraining #infantry #usmc

M16: the rifle was tested with one powder and sent to Vietnam with another, and empty cases started sticking in the chamber. Was it the rifle or the ammo? #m16 #smallarms #militaryhistory #vietnam

M120: the Army's heavy mortar has no trigger. The crew drops the bomb down the tube and lets go. Would you rather hump the baseplate or ride with it in the carrier? #mortar #army #infantry #militaryhistory

M18A1 Claymore: FRONT TOWARD ENEMY is raised on the case so a soldier can check which way it points by touch, at night. Would you trust your fingers in the dark? #claymore #militaryhistory #infantry #army

The last major American bayonet charge was led up Hill 180 in Korea in 1951 by a captain the Army had once court-martialled for desertion. The Army dropped bayonet drills in 2010, and the Marines still run recruits through the course. Keep it on the rifle, or drop it? #bayonet #usmc #koreanwar #militaryhistory

RQ-11: the Raven has no runway and no catapult. A soldier throws it by hand, and it flies itself home and lands on a 45 degree slope. Is a four pound hand-thrown drone still the right tool now? #rq11 #raven #drone #infantry

M134: the door gun on a Marine Huey has no gas system at all. An electric motor spins its six barrels, which is why it can fire up to 6,000 rounds a minute without cooking one. Would you rather carry the ammo or the gun? #m134 #minigun #doorgunner #militaryhistory

The Army already has a machine, PATS, that checks your mask fits, and its own procedure says it still sends you into the gas chamber because the machine doesn't build the same confidence. Did the chamber teach you anything? #cbrn #basictraining #army #militarytraining

M27: the Marines took the belt-fed M249 away from the automatic rifleman and gave him a magazine-fed rifle that looks like everyone else's. Right call, or did the fire team lose its base of fire? #m27 #usmc #infantry #smallarms

AH-1Z: Congress denied the Marines the Apache in 1981 and they were blocked again by 1996, so they rebuilt the Cobra, with over 84 percent of its parts shared with their Huey. Cobra or Apache, which one would you want overhead? #ah1z #cobra #usmc #militaryaviation