Reload!!

[tangolima]

Saw the HBO series "the pacifics". There the marines always yelled "reload! " when they ran out and needed to feed anothet clip into their 1903. In fact they might be doing that for all weapons, including the belt fed machine gun.

I haven't seen or heard this before. Is it a real practice in combat? I guess it was to inform his buddies that his gun was out, and temporarily not available to provide covering fire. But is it also letting the enemy know your gun was out too?

-TL

 

[g.willikers]

A guess would be the noise of a battlefield would prevent anyone hearing it anyway, especially a distant enemy.
But anything the military mind can come up with is possible.
Never mind what Hollywood can invent.
But you'll have to ask an old Marine who was there to be sure.

 

[tangolima]

HBO is not Hollywood Hollywood. Besides the adviser was Captain Dale Dye, a no-bull guy. He was responsible for bringing us the realistic battle scenes in saving private Ryan.

The distant enemy hears it or not doesn't matter, as they are distant. But when they are close enough to over run your position, they will hear it if your buddies can.

So that was a pure theatrical invention?

-TL

 

[Jim243]

You have to stop watching that much TV (LOL) I was 12 years old before I found out that western single shooters didn't come preloaded with one million rounds of ammo. And those Winchester 73's never needed to be reloaded.

I very seldom believe what I read in the news papers and never believe what I see on TV. I am sure that if that was at all true, the History Chanel would have it on film somewhere.

I have head of calling out for AMMO when out of cartridges, but reload? NO, maybe on a firing range but not in combat.

Stay safe.
Jim

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...realistic battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan..." Like a left handed ARMY sniper who could remove the scope from an '03A4 and replace it without losing zero? That is pure Hollywood fairy tale.
Troopies don't yell anything when needing to reload. They just do it. Makes for high drama on TV though.

 

[tangolima]

Found this one

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...SHWevr1uZM_BFVKIQ&sig2=esbG5iDaX2WiIv57li4UrA

It is a marines thing, perhaps.

- TL

 

[Jim243]

Undoubtably, why there was so many dead 2nd LT's. In Naum their life expectancy was 4 days. Or was it 4 hours? The only ones that I know that survived were in Admin positions or Sgt's that received field commissions.

Stay safe.
Jim

 

[NHSHOOTER]

Great reference tangolima, seems what you saw on tv was the "real deal"

 

[tangolima]

Undoubtably, why there was so many dead 2nd LT's. In Naum their life expectancy was 4 days. Or was it 4 hours? The only ones that I know that survived were in Admin positions or Sgt's that received field commissions.

Stay safe.
Jim

I am sure there were officers who started out in junior rank and survived the real fighting. I don't think this practice of yelling "reload" had too much to do with their survival rate.

The lieutenant in that particular battle scene actually survived. He got so scared that he stayed in a foxhole sucking his thumb. He lost his marbles when the slaughter began. The 2nd in command took over. The lieutenant was relieved of his command when the fight was over.

-TL

 

[ndking1126]

There is definitely no issue with the enemy hearing you yell "reloading". They can't hear over the gun fire... and if our guys are doing their job, the enemy has their head down because we have maintained fire superiority. Our tactics plan for Soldiers/Marines running out of ammo in their magazine and having to reload.

Same with the "ping" of the m1 when its clip is empty and flings out.

 

[globemaster3]

I have spent the majority of my combat zone time in a cockpit, routinely landing at various MOBs and FOBs.

Thus far, I've pulled 2 ground tours, 1 in Iraq and 1 in Afghanistan. Both included outside the wire work, and in AFG it was about 3X/week. In the deployment spin up, there was emphasis on calling "reloading" so your teammates would know your fire was stopping and your zone might be uncovered. Fortunately, never had to test it in live conditions, only over the course of 3 weeks in our training scenarios.

Who knows validity, but in Blackhawk Down, after SFCs Shugart, Hallings, and MSgt Gordon are inserted at Super 62's crash site, they do the same.

 

[Rob228]

I spent quite a bit of time on the ground in some bad places, and there are two things that you always sound off if they are happening (well, one is actually more CQB specific and you'll only hear it inside a house)

You sound off with loading if you are reloading, HOWEVER if your unit (fire team, platoon etc) has enough dispersion to where it cannot be heard, the guys to your left and right will pick up on it fairly quickly when they don't hear you shooting. It is still polite to do.

There are various situations inside of a house that call for rapidly dropping to a knee. As there are several other people following you into that room, and things can get complicated very quickly, should you take a knee for any number of reasons (reloading, a bad guy pinned behind the door your just came in and you are shooting at an upward angle so as to not hit anyone in the stack on the other side of the wall -this technique has slowly faded away- clearing a malfunction,etc) prior to standing you announce "Standing" and anyone behind you will respond with "Stand" to ensure that you are not standing up into someone's line of fire.

 

[tangolima]

Thank you gentlemen for all your replies, especially the valuable information from guys who were there. I consider this one confirmed.

Since it is on TV doesn't make it right. But it doesn't make it wrong either. Same goes to internet, Hollywood or whatever. Some commented I had watched too much TV. In fact I don't. There hasn't been broadcast TV program in our house since 2008. We only have DVDs and Netflix.

Thanks again.

Members of our Armed Forces, former or current, I salute for your service.

-TL

 

[44 AMP]

Another point to consider is that even if the enemy is close enough to hear you over the noise of battle, what are the odds they will understand you? (particularly in WW II Pacific??)

There are benefits to the practice, alerting the guy(s) close that you're out and they need to cover for the few seconds it takes you to reload.

Enemy that hears this (and recognizes it) and is able to pinpoint that it is you that is empty (and not the guy next to you) gives them a what? 2-5second window? Hopefully a very short time, and one during which your buddies are looking for them to try something??

Same thing with the Garand "ping" when the clip ejects. Yes, its remotely possible an enemy close enough might hear it, and recognize it, but they still have to be able to DO something about in, in the short time it takes you to reload.

SO, in a firefight, with gunfire, grenades, and maybe heavier going off, people shouting in both your, and a foreign language I don't think its an automatic death sentence announcing your status to the guys on the firing line with you.

The night combat on Guadalcanal in the PACIFIC series was frighteningly real looking. Dark as a yard up the inside of a cow, with only flashes, tracers and explosions giving momentary glimpses of dark jungle.

 

[kraigwy]

4 hour LTs in Vietnam, Total BS. No one wore rank anyway.

As to reloading bolt guns. Don't get the idea that if someone says they are loading that you can get to them before they are finished. Bolt guns can be and are loaded pretty quick. M1903s are about the fastest I've seen.

I started shooting HP in the Mid 70s, ARs on the rifle range were non-existent. M1As weren't available, and the DCM parceled out Garands at a slow rate.

Most civilian shooters used Bolt guns, Winchesters and Remington's or Springfields in EIC or service rifle matches.

At that time Setting Rapid fire was 60 seconds for bolt guns, 50 for gas guns, Prone Rapid was 70 and 60 respectively. That's from standing to sitting/prone. Also then, in EIC matches you had to load from the person, not laying the reload on the ground.

These guys were pretty quick. Mind you, not just reloading and firing, but getting hits in the 7 inch 10-X ring at 200/300 yards.

Not fast enough for you, then think about the Rattle Battle, or Infantry Trophy Match, where you start out at 600 yards, firing as many rounds as possible in 50 seconds.

If you ever watched one of those matches, you would know that bolt guns and stripper clips aren't as slow as you think.

Now everyone is going to ARs, quick mag changes and even scopes. But you can still see bolt guns at CMP matches. Take in a CMP Springfield match. All versions of as-issued 1903s. Personally I never get the scores with my Garand that I get with my M1903A3. And I shoot the 'A3 every bit as fast, if not faster then my Garand.

The Springfields are smooth and fast, but my AMU built Model 70 is faster yet.

On TV shows you see cops yelling "reloading" when they are out of ammo. Go to a USPSA match, these guys are reloading faster then they can yell "reloading"

 

[g.willikers]

Somewhere on the web is a video of the bolt gun guru at Gunsite.
He hits a popper steel target three times before it falls completely down.
Can't remember the distance, but it wasn't real close.
Very impressive and supposedly can be duplicated by most students by the end of their bolt gun course.
There's lots of fast bolt gunners on youtube, too.

 

[Rob228]

There is one big one that I forgot, if you have a type 3 or 4 malfunction it really is polite to let your team mates know that you aren't going to be shooting for a bit. Hence the first step in clearing a type 3 is getting to cover whilst shouting "Malfunction malfunction malfunction"

 

[Slamfire]

If you make a lot of noise yelling, won't that give your position away? Rifle blast would be bad enough, but voices would sure determine for certain, that a person is in that direction.

 

[Rob228]

Yelling leaves a lot less of a signature both visually and noise wise than does muzzle blast. If you are in a concealed position delivering accurate fire that is one thing, but the majority of the time you are going to be moving forward towards the enemy, meaning a series of mutually supported bounds. They are going to know where you are despite any yelling.

 

[cw308]

Never announced it, dropped one mag. & slapped in another. When your out that's another story.