Good questions.
Yes to the first question, depends to the second...Originally Posted by Markus
After a fair amount of exposure in differing terrain, climates and with different opponents -- as well as with US and other units of varying quality and experience and with varied weapon mixes -- the quick answer is yes but usually only briefly.
Once the initial shock passes most units so engaged will work their way out of it one way or another. Generally, a small volume of accurate fire suppresses (I prefer 'deters' because it really doesn't suppress or stop for much time...) while a large volume of inaccurate fire will not. Any volume and accuracy level works against poorly trained or inexperienced troops; as they become better trained or more experienced, any volume and accuracy will often barely cause them to break stride.
Terrain, vegetation, urbanization also have an impact. A well trained unit dispersed to 100m intervals in the desert isn't much of a target and will react rapidly to fire; a poorly trained element, bunched up a few paces apart OTOH will likely take some casualties and thus be deterred. Yet that same crew in an urban area with lots of cover may do much better. In jungle or heavily wooded areas training becomes quite important due to lack of visibility and thus control is very difficult -- people have to know what to do and others must rely on one to do the right thing at the right time.
METT-TC and training, yet again...
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