What did smaller soldiers do?

[45/30-06OKIE]

My too. I gained about 30 lbs. I lost it all in Nam.

Sir, I have mad respect for guys who went to Vietnam... Y'all saw some serious stuff over there and came back getting a very crappy welcome home by their fellow Americans and took it standing up... I Wish more young people like me would understand that about you guys... I swear y'all were/are tougher than us now... I'd love to meet some of y'all in person because I have read the books by John Stryker Meyer and it has opened my eyes to a lot of stuff I didn't already know...

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

The ball turret gunner was the loneliest position in a 4 engine bomber. You were locked in for the whole mission, sitting on your haunches, when you looked down the ground was 20,000 feet below you, you better make sure your electrically heated suit and its contacts worked properly, at 20,000 feet it's 20 below outside. Heaven help if you had to make a belly landing.
Audie Murphy was a good example of the old adage "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."
In one National Guard unit we had a Porto Rican sergeant-a body builder. Had the bodybuilder's physique, broad shoulders, narrow waist-watch him do a lat spread. He had no trouble carrying his load.

 

[Tortuga]

I was/am 5'9" back in 1963 and weighed 120 #. I carried a M-1 up and down every hill, I think, at Fort Jackson, SC. Managed to get one of those "Expert" badges when we qualified. I never was cut any slack for my small size, but was yelled at lots of times when I didn't do something right.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

The average male back then was about 5'6-5'8 and they dealt with it.

US Army Infantry. This was basically my experience. I served with people in the ROC and soldiers from Guam. Those guys are way shorter on average. My closest battle buddy was probably 5 foot 4.

Part of OSUT is that everybody has to qualify on every weapon. So that little guy had to carry the 240 Bravo and M249 on long ruck marches. The Army doesn't care. If you can't do it, they just yell at you until you can. If you still can't do it, they start punishing everyone else around you to motivate you to do it. If you still can't do it, you get kicked out.

Although I now hear we have a kinder, gentler Army.

 

[Tortuga]

Sir, I have mad respect for guys who went to Vietnam... Y'all saw some serious stuff over there and came back getting a very crappy welcome home by their fellow Americans and took it standing up... I Wish more young people like me would understand that about you guys... I swear y'all were/are tougher than us now... I'd love to meet some of y'all in person because I have read the books by John Stryker Meyer and it has opened my eyes to a lot of stuff I didn't already know...

If it's any consolation, most modern American soldiers / veterans have the exact same admiration for a lot of you guys in Vietnam for exactly this reason.

Any Vietnam (or Korean, Gulf war, WWII veterans for that matter) vets reading this, you really have our respect.

 

[MechAg94]

Small Soldiers (1998)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122718/

 

[Phrog Driver]

Heh, talked to a guy who went to Navy boot camp in the early 60's. He told me at uniform issue they ran out of dungaree trousers with 28" waists, because that's what most everybody had.

 

[Blackrock]

In 1969 basic training we were still issued the M14. We had a little guy named Quinonez who the DI's called Alphabet. He was real short, probably just came in a quarter inch over minimum. He was a mean little guy and would glare at the DI as he pumped out pushups, sometimes one armed. After a couple of weeks they quit messing with him though when they figured out he was tougher than they were.

 

[mjsdwash]

The Garands I have handled do just fine for people 5'5'. Its important to remember that WWII's people can from the depression, and lots of them were short and skinny. Garands are heavy, but well balanced. Other rfles use to be shorter too. The US knew with peep sites, you needed a really short stock, and they have that. M14's too. Its stuff from 2000 and up I see with stupid long stocks, and awkward weight. Especially out of Europe, and plastic shotguns. AK's, SKS, Garands, M16A1, Mausers 98's, Mosins, and lots of civilian market rifles have what we would consider very short LOP now.

 

[hartman23foscari]

5'5" would be a good height for a tank crewman. I have a vague memory of some authority (maybe the Chieftan on YT) mentioning that the Soviets selected smaller-statured men to crew the rather cramped T34.

My thanks to all the vets reading or replying to this thread for their service.

you beat me to it.

or an airman.

 

[Boattale]

All this concern for little guys. They turned big guys like me into government mules. Carried the same load a rifleman would, plus a 25 pound radio, plus a 60 mm mortar tube, baseplate or bipod, plus half dozen or so rounds for the mortar. Then to add insult to injury, them dirty bastages wouldn't even let me talk on the radio.

 

[herrwalther]

Part of OSUT is that everybody has to qualify on every weapon. So that little guy had to carry the 240 Bravo and M249 on long ruck marches. The Army doesn't care. If you can't do it, they just yell at you until you can. If you still can't do it, they start punishing everyone else around you to motivate you to do it. If you still can't do it, you get kicked out.

All true. The Army has an unusually twisted sense of humor. The weapons I did best with in Infantry school was the M4 and M203 combo. Inside 200 meters, I didn't need a sight to put a 40mm grenade where I wanted it. My first duty station put me through SDM school and made me an assistant gunner on a 240B.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I remember some big ole guys with big mouths bragging about how tough they were and how good they could shoot. They were the first to run and then get tackled by the drill Sargents when they threw tear gas on us. I figured the quicker I got the mask on and cleared the better off I would be, no running away.

Have a blessed day,

leon

 

[lysanderxiii]

All true. The Army has an unusually twisted sense of humor. The weapons I did best with in Infantry school was the M4 and M203 combo. Inside 200 meters, I didn't need a sight to put a 40mm grenade where I wanted it. My first duty station put me through SDM school and made me an assistant gunner on a 240B.

You?

 

[lysanderxiii]

As a side note, the smaller the guy the more equipment they get to carry for airborne drop operations.

The old T-10 parachute has a 360 pound suspension limit, so a 250 pound linebacker can only safely carry 110 extra pounds of equipment out the door, whereas that 120 pound guy can safety bring down 240 pounds of extra junk strapped to his person.

 

[GRIZ22]

They put on their big boy pants and went to war.

This is the answer to the OP' s question.

I spent over 40 years AD, Guard, and Reserves. Never knew a good soldier that didn't do what he or she needed to do.

Taught smaller soldiers who didn't have the upper body strength to pull back the bolt on a M60 by putting their feet on the bipod, holding on to the charging handle, and falling onto their back.

Where there is a will there's a way.