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Posted: 11/24/2021 6:09:34 PM EDT
From this link: https://gatdaily.com/john-tilt-meyers-macv-sog-loadout/
34 - 20 round magazines loaded 18 to a mag Sawed off M-79 grenade launcher with 12 rounds. Each team member carried this. 10-12 fragmentation grenades I assume water and some stripped down C-rats but that’s not stated here. My God that’s a ton to carry. |
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There was a book written about how infantry soldiers have been weighed down over decades with WAY too much crap.
Here it is, found the book. |
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Going where they did, behind enemy lines. I would want all the ammo I could carry. Also you did not add the weight of their big brass balls to the total weight
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Quoted: From this link: https://gatdaily.com/john-tilt-meyers-macv-sog-loadout/ 34 - 20 round magazines loaded 18 to a mag Sawed off M-79 grenade launcher with 12 rounds. Each team member carried this. 10-12 fragmentation grenades I assume water and some stripped down C-rats but that’s not stated here. My God that’s a ton to carry. View Quote "Sawed off M-79 grenade launcher with 12 rounds. Each team member carried this." That was just RT Idaho. Other teams could be different depending on personal choice. |
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Quoted: I assume water and some stripped down C-rats but that’s not stated here. View Quote There was usually plenty of water around so I suspect they mostly carried purification tablets. Probably just one canteen. By 1968 high energy protein bars were available for special ops missions. |
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My old neighbor was in a Marine recon unit in Vietnam back when they still had M-14s. I think it was their equivalent of the Army's LRRPs at the time. He told me he carried twenty 20 round magazines for his rifle and another 200 rounds in bandoliers. That is a lot of 7.62 just for himself, never mind the other gear he had to carry.
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I wonder if those were full sized frags or the V40's that were so loved when they were available.
ETA: Sounds like a little bit of everything.. |
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Quoted: "Sawed off M-79 grenade launcher with 12 rounds. Each team member carried this." That was just RT Idaho. Other teams could be different depending on personal choice. View Quote I’m sure they’re all different with cut down M-60’s in the mix along with AK’s and cut down RPK’s as well as suppressed M-76 SMG’s. It’s just mind blowing how much shit they carried and I’m sure this doesn’t include judicious numbers of Claymores. |
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S.O.G. Prairie Fire
SOG Vets contributed to the game, well worth a look, the interviews are very enlightening. |
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When I was a LRRP, some of the old-hand tricks passed down included taping your halazone water purification tablets to the canteen cap strap. We had 5-quart water bladders.
You could carry a bunch of Dutch V40 mini-frags in a canteen cover. These were B-52 patrol tips: B-52 Patrolling Tips |
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Loudly inserted themselves into places where they’d be outnumbered 20 to 1 or more. Attached File
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Jocko Podcast 180 w/ John Stryker Meyer: Covert Lessons from "Across The Fence." |
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Just learned my FIL was MACV. Had no idea. Trying to learn more now.
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Quoted: I can’t remember the episode numbers, but he’s got some with LeTourneau “Frenchman”, Dick Thompson, and a Kingbee pilot. Google Jocko SOG episodes and they’ll be easy to track down. View Quote I'm working my way through Jocko Podcast. and I just got through the "mini-series" with Tilt and the Frenchman. There's a fairly recent one with Cowboy too. Jocko Podcast 258 w S.Vietnamese SOG Warrior, Khanh Doan: Impossible Missions w/ John Stryker Meyer They put the names of the guest in the title so searching for tilt, frenchman and cowboy ought to turn up most or all of them. They're available on youtube or wherever you get podcasts. |
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Listening to WTF with tilt on jockos podcast today.
Unimaginable. |
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Quoted: There was a book written about how infantry soldiers have been weighed down over decades with WAY too much crap. Here it is, found the book. View Quote That may be but what he's talking about in the original post is mostly ordinance and some of those SOG guys absolutely needed that. They were behind enemy lines on their own in very small groups. I don't see a whole lot of choice. That list doesn't have the Claymores they'd carry to set up at night either. |
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Quoted: When I was a LRRP, some of the old-hand tricks passed down included taping your halazone water purification tablets to the canteen cap strap. We had 5-quart water bladders. You could carry a bunch of Dutch V40 mini-frags in a canteen cover. These were B-52 patrol tips: B-52 Patrolling Tips View Quote Toe poppers as well ? |
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Quoted: There was a book written about how infantry soldiers have been weighed down over decades with WAY too much crap. Here it is, found the book. View Quote Also have a look here ‘ https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/07/what-soldiers-carried-to-battlefield.html |
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Quoted: S.O.G. Prairie Fire SOG Vets contributed to the game, well worth a look, the interviews are very enlightening. View Quote |
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Quoted: My old neighbor was in a Marine recon unit in Vietnam back when they still had M-14s. I think it was their equivalent of the Army's LRRPs at the time. He told me he carried twenty 20 round magazines for his rifle and another 200 rounds in bandoliers. That is a lot of 7.62 just for himself, never mind the other gear he had to carry. View Quote That’s about 40 pounds of ammo. |
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Quoted: Toe poppers as well ? View Quote No kidding, one removes the safety clip, turns the head to arm, and throws it down on to the black top. Boom. One walked back into the orderly room peppered and blackened, his fatigues smoking, looking like Wile E. Coyote in a Roadrunner cartoon. Birth control glasses protected his eyes, but he couldn't hear for a couple of hours. He eventually made full Colonel. I don't know what happened to the thrower. |
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I really need to get more 20's and a XM177E2 FH for my 11.5" A1.
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Yall need to listen to Tilt's new SOGCast. 11 episodes up on Spotify, 1st YouTube vid went up today.
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Quoted: There was usually plenty of water around so I suspect they mostly carried purification tablets. Probably just one canteen. By 1968 high energy protein bars were available for special ops missions. View Quote They’d carry quite a few canteens, some on the pack and some on the body. The tablets took about 30 minutes plus to work on the water, so you’d have to mange your water carefully. While there is always water in the jungle, there isn’t always enough when your are talking multiple guys and it’s not always easily accessible, especially when you have a mission that takes priority. |
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Quoted: From this link: https://gatdaily.com/john-tilt-meyers-macv-sog-loadout/ 34 - 20 round magazines loaded 18 to a mag Sawed off M-79 grenade launcher with 12 rounds. Each team member carried this. 10-12 fragmentation grenades I assume water and some stripped down C-rats but that’s not stated here. My God that’s a ton to carry. View Quote |
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you guys know there is a podcast where Meyer talks to various SOG vets and support units dont you ?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sogcast-untold-stories-of-mac-v-sog/id1572904295 |
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The SOG dudes were badass for sure. However, I'd rather be in a SOG unit, LRRP Team etc in Vietnam than a normal grunt with no noise discipline or anything. Nice fat target for old Uncle Charlie. Pretty much goes the same for today. Sure you are behind enemy lines, but best part is they might think you are there, but they don't really have a good idea of where that is. I remember reading a book were the author pretty much stated as much, and is why he went special operations.
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Quoted: Quoted: Not everyone attached to MACV was SOG or high-speed. What other information did you want? A list of all the MOSs of people who wore the MACV patch? If so that's gonna be a long and boring list. Guy said he discovered his FIL was MACV in a MACV-SOG thread, so I was just commenting that one didn't automatically equal the other. |
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Quoted: The SOG dudes were badass for sure. However, I'd rather be in a SOG unit, LRRP Team etc in Vietnam than a normal grunt with no noise discipline or anything. Nice fat target for old Uncle Charlie. Pretty much goes the same for today. Sure you are behind enemy lines, but best part is they might think you are there, but they don't really have a good idea of where that is. I remember reading a book were the author pretty much stated as much, and is why he went special operations. View Quote That sounds cool until you crunch the numbers. Then it doesnt. Firstly, the idea that "normal grunt units" had no noise discipline is a bit much. There were some very good ones and some not so good ones. That being said, MACV-SOG had the highest kill ratio as well as a casualty rate around 100%. You were more likely to be a casualty there then most US line infantry units where it was probably more like 60%. The proficiency, training and leadership isnt up for question, but the hazardous nature of what they were doing is something else again. Being a normal grunt in WWII on D-Day probably guaranteed you a 300% casualty rate. There were elite airborne units that had far lower casualty rates then the line units. |
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First episode of sogcast guy tilts guest was talking about possibly having 100# of gear for a bright light mission.
Across the fence is a fantastic book |
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Quoted: That sounds cool until you crunch the numbers. Then it doesnt. Firstly, the idea that "normal grunt units" had no noise discipline is a bit much. There were some very good ones and some not so good ones. That being said, MACV-SOG had the highest kill ratio as well as a casualty rate >100%. You were more likely to be a casualty there then most US line infantry units where it was probably more like 50/50. The proficiency, training and leadership isnt up for uestion, but the hazardous nature of what they were doing is something else again. View Quote True, but I'd still take my chances. At least you knew what you were getting into, versus being told to "take the hill" for the 10th time that day. |
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To blend in with the local smells they would have cooked rice stuffed in socks, eating what the locals ate
No C rations allowed |
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