Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
a.) In heavy forest/jungle you can't see the target but you still have to suppress them, so high volumes of fire across broad arcs is merited. The physics of dispersion means this will only work at pretty close range.

b.) At longer ranges, your fire has to be directed either at the enemy that can be seen, or at his suspected position, so more deliberate aimed semi-automatic fire would seem useful. This would also apply in the urban terrain.

Translating that into training may require some thought.
From my perspective, it's less a training problem and more a tactical problem.

I remember reading Sydney Jary's '18 Platoon' (accounts of a WW2 British rifle platoon commander) and he placed great weight on the commander being able to 'read the battle'.

Taking the example of close country, winning the firefight may often necessitate the rapid rate of fire to gain the initiative but then - in my opinion, anything goes. Maintaining the rapid rate and fire-and-manoeuvring forward - hey, it works. Being more aggressive, going watch-and-shoot and then assaulting so the soldiers only shoot at targets they id on the advance? Risky, aggressive, but it has a time and place.

I see the section/ squad commander being someone who should have the 'bag of tricks' up his sleeve and be able to pull them out as he 'reads the battle'. Controlling the wight of fire and method of movement comes down to training and drills, but templating how you shoot in what example, beyond the initial IA of returning fire, is to me unnecessary.

I did some training with a Canadian recce sect a year ago and their NCOs told me that they (whether this was the Canadian Army, their Bn or simply their recon pl I don't know) had given up on the concept of double-tapping in favour of a slower rate of single, well aimed shots.

Ken One thing I beg to differ in is calibres. My experience is completely limited to that of training, but I don't really see the need for a 7.62 round instead of a 5.56 in close country/ jungle. Your either shooting to kill the enemy or shooting to suppress him, and I don't really see 7.62 penetration doing much in punching through cover to justify the extra weight.

My opinion (and I have yet to find someone who shares it, which is probably saying something!) is that the rifle section is suited to a 5.56 LSW in all environments as the standard support wpn.