How much ammo is issued to active troops?

[JShirley]

leveled the town with a few volleys from our 120mm mortars

Hey, god bless 120mm when you need it. We preferred U.S. rounds, but the NATO rounds (being a bit lighter because of impact-only fusing, maybe?) extended the range a couple of hundred meters. Not that we fired very often at targets over 7,000 meters away.

John

 

[theken206]

Well one of my friends over seas humps the 249/SAW and IIRC he carrier 4 200 round drums and two 100 round sacks.

He once swapped his SAW with a 240 gunner for the short amount of time that was left on patrol and snagged a good amount of his ammo as well.

He said he felt like a video game charecter with all that ammo. He must have weighed a ton with all that ammo and gear lol.

 

[UKJ]

Just to defend the OP from the ultra paranoid who think the Taliban are reading the High Road for top secret military info -

Aside from specialist missions, does it really matter if the average soldier on the ground in Iraq / Afghanistan carries 6 mags or 60 mags?

I'm not being disparaging about our brave fighting men and women, quite the opposite, everything I've seen, read or heard about unfirendly encounters suggests that the bad guys lose every single prolonged firefight with our troops.

This could be down to training, tactics, rifles, ammo supplies, body armor - or multiple airstrikes from F-18s or Apaches - I'll let the people who were on the ground clue me in.

The fact of the matter is, the enemy has killed more Allied soldiers through mortar attacks, IEDs and suicide bombings then with AK-47s. Bearing that in mind, I think the enemy will be more interested in truck armor then the amount of rounds being carried by a typical Marine.

Before you flame me, I support our troops whole heartedly but I also support fact over paranoia.

 

[Al Thompson]

Training. We could beat them if they had our equipment and we had theirs.

 

[theken206]

hehehehehehehe^^

 

[essayons21]

All the vets in the thread:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE! And the information!

Essayons21, in particular - thank you for the info regarding the use of flak vests and/or proper body armor by the enemies facing us in Iraq. I think a lot of us - or at least me - fall into the trap of considering these guys more simple, and less well equipped, than proper information from the front line clearly shows them to be.

You are correct, there is a misconception that the guys we are fighting are poorly equipped, poorly led, and generally inferior.

In March-May 2008, there was a little reported operation to retake the lower 1/3 of Sadr City. A BBC correspondent on the ground (one of the few present) said that it was the most intense ground combat he had ever witnessed, including Desert Storm and the initial push in 2003. A 5x2 city block area of Sadr City was literally reduced to rubble (and then promptly rebuilt with US taxpayer money).

The opposition was Muqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. They operated in platoon sized elements, conducted complex ambushes with heavy weaponry, MG and RPG teams, and indirect fire support. Most of the weaponry was brand new sourced from Iran. The IEDs were mainly Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) which can penetrate any US armor, including the new MRAPs. The enemy's marksmanship was pretty poor, with the exception of their snipers/SDMs. There were at least 2 insurgent snipers using 12.7mm rifles. One had an up close encounter with a hellfire, and the other took a GMLRS. On another occasion, 4 JDAMs were dropped on 4 buildings to eliminate one particularly troubling sniper.

On two occasions my patrol (squad sized) was ambushed by platoon+ sized insurgent forces in prepared complex ambushes involving multiple IED's, RPGs, MGs, hand-grenades (including AT grenades), snipers, elevated positions (6 story buildings), prepared and fall-back fighting positions, even using the sun to their advantage.

On both occasions (and many smaller engagements) the insurgent forces were suppressed and fixed in position by heavy suppressive fire until support-by-fire elements (M1s or Apache's) could kill them. 10-20 enemy KIA, with no US casualties.

You could say the Mahdi army militiamen made the real sacrifice

 

[jsamuel77]

How much ammo?

Although I am not Government Issue anymore, I carry nine 30 rd mags for my AK in LBE with one locked. That's 300 rds for combat load. Gotta have the legs for it, though. Fairly heavy load with everything else on LBE. Make 'em count.

 

[stolivar]

check out these links on ammo in WW2

Typical infantryman's ammunition load in WWII

How many rounds/clips/magazines of ammunition would a typical WWII rifleman carry (for their personal weapon, some armies would have riflemen also carrying support weapon ammunition)? From looking around at various articles on modern loads and carrying equipment, it looks like a typical US soldier carries ~200 (the Combat medic article cites 180-210), but that is of a much smaller caliber and thus allows the soldier to carry more. 76.254.29.171 (talk) 21:45, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

My father, who was a WWII rifleman, says 9 clips of 8 rounds each, if you had a bandolier, which most of them did. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 22:53, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. Would your father know how much someone would carry if they were using a submachine gun or automatic rifle (ie, a Thompson or BAR)? 76.254.29.171 (talk) 01:51, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

The standard US Army load for the M16 is a total 7 magazines (1 in the gun), which is 210 rounds. 24.6.46.177 (talk) 00:09, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

The M16 is not a WWII weapon. My father carried an M1. 76, he says he didn't carry a Thompson or a BAR, so he doesn't know. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 04:31, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I know, I was referring to the modern combat medic article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.46.177 (talk) 18:43, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

This very detailed website may give you the information you require.--KageTora (talk) 19:30, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

steve








http://www.45thdivision.org/Pictures/General_Knowlege/combatload.htm

 

[TEDDY]

ammo

an ammo belt with 10 pockets 8 rds clips.2 or more bandoliers 6 pockets each
176 rds.BAR man 6 pockets 20 rd mag.then the 2nd and 3rd man.with spare.
my friend in pacific carried a Reising with all he could carry,the mags held 20 but he loaded 18.and water.
only the Bar man fired auto and then only some times.rest was single.

 

[Mags]

Here in my unit you get 6 30 round mags with your M4, 2 15 round mags with your beretta, and 25 rounds with your Mossberg 500

 

[Tim the student]

The Real Mags, are you issued all 3 weapons?

 

[Mags]

No you get one long gun and a pistol or just one gun.