Misfire

The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam

By: Bob Orkand, Lyman Duryea

Narrated by: Jim Seybert

Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The M16 rifle is one of the world’s most famous firearms, iconic as the American weapon of the Vietnam War and, indeed, as the US military’s standard service rifle until only a few years ago. But the story of the M16 in Vietnam is anything but a success story. In the early years of the war, the US military had a problem: Its primary infantry rifle, the M14, couldn’t stand up to the enemy’s AK-47s. The search was on for a replacement that was lighter in weight, more durable, and more lethal than the M14. After tests (some of which the new rifle had failed) and debates (more than a few, rooted in the army brass’s resistance to change), secretary of defense Robert McNamara ordered the adoption of the M16 which was rushed through production and rushed to Vietnam, reaching troops’ hands in early 1965.

Problems appeared immediately. Soldiers were often not adequately trained to maintain the new rifle (in fact, some were told the new rifle was “self-cleaning”), nor were they always given cleaning supplies or instructions. The harsh jungle climate corroded the rifle’s chamber, exacerbated by the manufacturer’s decision against chrome-plating the chamber. The ammunition that accompanied the rifles sent to Vietnam was incompatible with the M16 and was the principal cause of the failure to extract malfunctions.

The result was that the M16 often jammed, making the rifle “about as effective as a muzzleloader” in the words of one officer. Men were killed in combat because they couldn’t return fire until the malfunction was cleared. Congress investigated, and the rifle and its ammunition were incrementally modified, greatly improving its reliability over the next few years. Troop training was also improved. But the damage to the M16’s reputation could not be undone, and many soldiers remained deeply skeptical of their rifle through the war’s end.

Misfire combines insider knowledge of US army weapons development with firsthand combat experience in Vietnam to tell the story of the M16 in Vietnam. Even as it details the behind-the-scenes development, tests, and debates that brought this rifle into service, the audiobook also describes men and M16s in action on the battlefield, never losing sight of the soldiers who carried M16s in the jungles of Vietnam and all too often suffered the consequences of decisions they had nothing to do with.

©2019 Bob Orkand, Lyman Duryea (P)2019 Bob Orkand, Lyman Duryea

repeats itself

repeats and restates the same information multiple times throughout the book. could have used better editing.

Somewhat disappointing

I was very interested in the title but found it somewhat lacking. The book was at its best describing the details of the M-16 and the U.S. Army’s unethical actions involving the problems with the rifle an cover up. It does less well in his geopolitical discussions.

I like the information provided.

interesting analysis of the impact of wide spread changes to management styles in government. I think the conclusion it misses is that macnamara may have underestimated the difficulty with which an army changes something as important to it as it's main battle rifle because of a basic lack of association with firearms

Redundant but Informative

Having been on a Vietnam kick for several months, I found myself wishing to know more about the near-mythological introduction and failure of the M16 rifle in the war. Orkand and Duryea do a great job of de-mystifying much of both, going so far as to absolve the troops of what were ghastly failures of leadership, as well as thoroughly rehabilitating the M16's performance record in Vietnam (at least in the war's latter years). What the book does well and convincingly is unpack the myriad levels of failure that led to the gun's hasty introduction to war. But what it does poorly is keep track of how many times it tells us these failures - often in the same words. Not knowing if this is the case, I must assume that Misfire is a collection of essays rather than a book. For all that, though, I listened to every chapter, and came away with a healthy appreciation of the Armalite rifle platform, the men who used it in Vietnam, and a burning reminder not to believe anything the government and military say.