Case Study

Case
Study

M16 Rifle

Warning

Some of the people involved in this case have extreme opinions about various matters. Although you are entitled to have your own personal view about the rights and wrongs of this case, you should try to make an independent judgement of the facts and organizational patterns as well.

Introduction

This case describes the introduction and use of a new automatic rifle by the US army, for use in the Vietnam war.

What's interesting about this case is the way the US army has attracted criticism, not just from its opponents but also from its friends. There are some extremely detailed accounts of this case posted on the Internet, apparently by people who are not otherwise ill-disposed to the US army and its military campaigns, and who support the gun lobby. The criticism extends from the technological flaws in the gun to the broader organizational context.

The US army needed a new automatic rifle for Vietnam as they discovered that most soldiers never fired single shot rifles. The obvious candidate was the Armalite but the Ordnance Corps decided it didn’t have quite the bullet velocity to meet their spec and it didn’t work well in Arctic temperatures.

It was modified and the ammunition was modified. The new ammunition often seized rendering the rifle useless – they could not be unjammed. The seized rifle could not even be used as a club because the stock had been made out of lightweight plastic.

When the Vietcong stripped dead soldiers they would take everything except the rifles which they considered to be useless.

(To my recollection similar complaints were made of a British rifle and of a radio the forces were using in the field.)

This case arouses serious passion and bitterness among Vietnam veterans and gun fanatics.

Dick Culver, The Saga of the M16 in Vietnam (part 1, part 2)

Jerry Martin, A Wing-Wiper's Experience with the Mouse-Gun

The AR15/M16 was introduced during the Vietnam War with a total lack of serious evaluation and testing. Although Stoner specified what kind of powder to use in the ammunition, the army instead purchased ammo using older "ball" powders causing serious reliability issues resulting in the deaths of American boys in combat when their weapons failed.
Bob Tuley, Eugene Stoner: Designer of the AR15 / M16

Task / Question

Consider why it is that soldiers in Vietnam can’t have a rifle that is effective in their own judgement.

Can you find any other examples of technology that is grossly unfit for purpose? How do these situations arise?

Sources

Scarbrough & Corbett, page 122.

If you follow the web references for the M16 you get a very different picture (and pictures).

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