Mines
Mines are weapons that wait, sometimes for decades. Combat soldiers both love and hate land mines. They love to sit behind a minefield and watch the enemy blunder into it. But they hate the feeling of helplessness and terror that comes from being caught in a minefield, seeing their friends suddenly and horribly maimed. And then once the war is over, the winners get to pick all the damned things up and disarm them. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen, and large areas of luckless countries like Cambodia, Angola, and Afghanistan have been rendered uninhabitable by millions of land mines. Although some European countries that profited hugely from the sale of land mines are beginning to ban their export for humanitarian reasons, mines are so effective and cheap that there is little hope of a workable international law prohibiting their manufacture and use.
The Marines deploy a variety of different mines, including the following, which are man-portable:
• M16A1 'Bouncing Betty' — This is a 'bounding' anti-personnel mine. When someone steps on one of the firing prongs (which are left exposed when the M16A 1 is buried), a small propelling charge fires it about 6f/1.8m into the air, at which point it detonates. The M16A1 contains a 1-1b/ .45-kg explosive charge, which produces a lethal fragmentation range of around 88f/27m.
• M18A1 'Claymore' — This is a flat curved plate filled with steel balls embedded in plastic explosive. It has folding metal prongs that stick into the ground and a chilling label embossed on the housing: 'This side toward enemy.' It functions like a huge shotgun shell. Once the M 18A1 is emplaced, it can either be fired by a trip wire or command-detonated from a distance. When detonated, the 1.5-1b/.68-kg C-4 charge fires a 60deg fan-shaped pattern of fragments, each the size of a ball bearing. The fragments are lethal out to a range of around 328f/100m. The Claymore is primarily used for ambushes, but it can also function as a 'silent sentry,' covering ground that cannot be brought under direct observation and fire.
Anti-personnel mines are effective against opposing infantry, and Marines can carry them in sufficient numbers to make them a real threat. Though there are larger mines like the M15 and M18 used against tanks, they are too heavy to be man-portable.
Explosives and Breaching Tools
In addition to grenades and mines, Marines frequently carry supplies of plastic explosives and detonation gear for demolitions. They may use explosives to breach doors and other obstacles. In most cases, these are improvised devices, tailored to a particular situation. Today, C-4 is the most common explosive used by U.S. forces. With the consistency of modeling clay, it is extremely powerful, clean, and quick-burning. Another common explosive tool is detonator cord, which burns so hot and fast it can cut through metal. These explosives are usually detonated electrically, with a positive control whenever possible. Explosives experts hate time fuses, because they are just one more thing to fail, or to be disarmed later.
The growing menace of domestic terrorism raises legitimate concerns about showing people how to build homemade explosive devices. For that reason I will not give you specifics. That said, explosives have some positive uses; they are not always used to kill or injure people. Consider a door. Any cop will tell you that going though a door with a perpetrator on the other side is a good time to have your insurance policy paid up and your sins confessed. Door-busting quickly and safely is vital, especially in the tricky business of hostage rescue. So consider this little improvised device.
Cut a large coffee tin or other institutional food container in half, down the long axis. You now have a concave container, into which you loop a length of detonator cord and a detonator. On top of the detonator cord, you pack the remaining space with soft plastic packages of saline solution from the medical supplies carried by your Navy corpsman. Once this is done, the open side is sealed with duct tape. Now apply double-sided sticky foam tape over the duct tape. Then slap the sticky side onto the door you want to go through and step back. When the detonator is fired, it drives the saline liquid forward with such force that the door is knocked off its hinges. Since the explosion is quick and clean, and the area is drenched with the saline solution (its just salt water, remember), there is virtually no danger of fire.
Marines learn dozens of such tricks for taking down different kinds of structures. To a properly trained Marine, explosives are another tool, like a saw or bulldozer, to get a job done. In the arts of combat, Marines are world-class masters of creative improvisation.
Tools of the Trade
'We must not be lulled into complacency because we have always been ready, relevant, and capable. What might be ready, relevant, and capable today may be less so the day after tomorrow. We must anticipate change, adapt to it, and foster it. We shall remain relevant only if we are willing to meet future challenges and adapt to new needs.'
Even though the Marines focus on building better personnel and giving them superb personal combat skills, the Corps still lugs around a fair amount of stuff. Perhaps not as much per capita as an armored unit or an Air Force wing, but even a small Marine Expeditionary Unit — Special Operations Capable — MEU (SOC) — must operate in many environments and roles. On one day, you might see an MEU (SOC) staging an embassy evacuation or rescue. On another day, the mission might be disaster relief or peacekeeping. Meanwhile, a MAGTF still has to be able to perform traditional combat missions, such as amphibious and helicopter assaults. A battalion landing team (BLT) like that in an MEU (SOC) might operate about two dozen armored vehicles, while an equivalent Army unit like a cavalry squadron would own three times that many. The difference is like the one between a draft horse and a thoroughbred. You can ride both, but the draft horse can also pull a cart or plow. The MAGTF is a shock unit (a thoroughbred), which requires reinforcement to conduct really long-term operations.
The money that buys Marine weapons and equipment comes from three sources. First is 'Blue' (Navy) money, which buys landing craft and amphibious ships, operated and maintained by sailors. Second comes 'Blue' Navy dollars which buy 'Green' equipment for Marines, like aircraft, helicopters, and communications and electronic equipment. Finally, there are 'Green' Marine Corps funds, to purchase tanks, uniforms, missiles, etc. Marines only control the last category; they have to request the other two from the Navy. The Marines are technically part of the Department of the Navy, after all.
In Fiscal Year 1995 (FY-1995), the Marines only received about $554 million in 'Green' dollars. Even with the other 'Blue' dollars from the Navy, the total Marine Corps procurement budget is under a billion dollars a year. This level of funding will have to increase if procurement of new systems like the tilt-rotor MV- 22B Osprey transport helicopter and Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV) is to begin in the next few years. The Corps still enjoys a strong base of public and legislative support, and it is lobbying hard for what it needs.
Most Marine equipment is not designed specifically for the Marines. The Corps must depend on technologies and systems developed by other services, such as the Army and Air Force. The Air Force might define its key technologies as stealth, airframe structures, jet power plants, avionics, and precision guided weapons. The Army
