I went to Iraq with 7 mags, the standard load out. Half way through the deployment I was carrying 15 on every patrol. Ammo is like money.... there's never enough when you absolutely need it
Yeah I'm not planning on going to either Iraq, nor Afghanistan. If America sees that level of combat....we're going to have way worse things to kill us than just gun fights. Starvation, disease, etc. Odds of most of us even surviving a firefight where we reload once or twice is pretty damn slim
@@danahowerton9638 I kept 6 on my flak (2 double mag pouches, 2 single mag pouches) and I moved them more to my sides so I could get lower to the ground if I had to go prone. So 6 on my flak, 1 in my weapon and 8 in my private purchased assault pack. And FYI my assault pack, which I still have and use, is the Spec Ops THE Pack.
Vietnam Vet here, at 126 pounds, I carried 100 pounds of gear that started with 25 mags and as many stripper clips as I could find. Our mags were 20s but usually carried only 18 due to irrational fears of spring issues. After my first "out of ammo patrol" I ended up carrying even more ammo. We carried 2 gallons of water (8 quart canteens) and refilled anywhere we could. Our patrols were 14 day unless we were stuck. I was shot twice and at 75 today have scars showing from frags, RPGs, mortars and bullet burns. Kids, talk to the old guys!
I've been working towards being able to do a Roman forced March. 30miles with 80-100lbs. I normally like 15 to 20 mile hikes in the mountains. I like the thought of being able to ruck out of anywhere with everything I'd need to survive.
valid point, suggestion? people should train with a weighted vest that is actually heavier than their full load out; most people would struggle in an adrenaline charged scenario and really have no concept of how in 20 lbs can impact your stamina
As a Marine Infantry Plt Sgt with combat experience before 2003 Iraq, I learned to carry extra ammo, the number 1 priority. When we went into Iraq, I carried 10 perso mags, 9 preloaded mags (3 per squad), and six bandoleers (2 per squad) of ammo. There were many a firefight we got into, where my perso mags went down to 1 or 2 just for myself. So, I totally agree with your assessment. Carrying 4 mags into a fight is only asking to be killed before the fight even starts; that is how quickly ammo disappears in real-life combat.
It's crazy to me how many guys own ARs and have never dumped a few mags so they have no idea that 5 mags can last as little as a couple of MINUTES when you're laying it down really heavy in semi auto.
Question: Just curious, could you clarify what you mean by "perso mags" and "preloaded mags?" for those of us who don't know...Not really sure what those terms mean myself, (perhaps I should).
@@KevinH_753he's a marine. You're working with barely a GED'S worth of intellect. You have to fill in the blanks yourself the best you can. Be thankful he's not communicating halfway in emojis and excessive elipses like a boomer.
Again, another vet ( like myself) who doesn’t understand that he doesn’t have the US military logistics train to allow him to piss away ammo. When you shoot it all up, what will you do then? Suppressive fire is for selectfire weapons with massive resupply available. Carrying a lot of ammo to shoot in the general direction of the enemy will NOT work in SHTF You are the combat vet, not me. You are one of the guys the rest of us are looking to for guidance when the balloon goes up. If any of us are going to survive, your group of experienced veterans need to rethink how business should be done BEFORE it is upon us.The ways you were trained in rely heavily on the superb logistics train you fought under. You must understand that this new scenario will be radically different different and will require different tactics than those you were trained in and used in battle. I do not understand why this is not common sense to everyone who has been shot at. It is to me.
@@robertgoodrich8953 You make a good point which is precisely why I would reach for something that could be pressed into a DMR role if I was looking to do damage on a budget. Or a shotgun if I KNEW that what I was about to do would be 100 metres and in. You can't ever be on a tighter budget than "what I can carry on me for a year" after all...
During night time small boat insertions where the entire thing win or lose is resolved with a handful of weapon discharges it's absolutely critical to carry 12 magazines + another 8 for your pistol so you can just sink and die efficiently if you fall.
Speaking as a sea goung bell hop (Marine), you put a water proof bag in your pack and seal it with a twist tie. Now your pack floats. Idc if I'm on a carrier, if I'm feet wet, I have that bag in my pack.
That's how I feel about the plate carrier too. I love his videos but don't understand why he always says not to bother? I feel like 6 pounds of armor is well worth it's weight when it could save your life.
My fear is when things go bad, it just my wife and I. I can do my job but, my wife will not. I don’t expect to meet a peer, I expect to meet a peer who works for the government and has enhanced kit and firearms. It won’t be only one, it will be a team. This team has trained together to violate my Rights and ensure I can never testify in a court of law. Semper Fi!
@@sgt.grinch3299 I am exactly in the same boat. I moved to a new state with my wife. We are alone. No friends family. Well, she has made some friends but I have not. My wife is also 5"1 around 90 lbs. Obviously she can't carry much weight. It's hard that my full time job also keeps me busy. I have no male friends here I can trust to help if things go down. Feels bad man.
@EruAnor get into church man. Find a small group in that church and talk to the men. Most men in church are all about protecting theirs and want solid people.
@@woodymcwooderson7579 Depends on the church. Unfortunately I think some Christian men struggle with balancing Christ like love while still being masculine. If that makes sense. Unfortunately with my job I basically only get Sunday off once every month+ so I don't really go enough, frequently enough to meet people there. My job pays well but it makes social life hard, plus most people our age also already have kids so that makes it hard to plan things too.
@EruAnor im sorry about your situation. If you can find opportunity to volunteer with the local pantry/soup kitchen or volunteer FD, that might be a valid in. It's hard to find time, though. I get it. Good luck. Keep an open heart and a sharp mind.
One in the gun, seven mags on my chest rig, three more molle'd to the hydration pack, and six additional in the patrol pack. I well remember the identical statements made to me by two separate, well decorated combat vets... "You can NEVER have too much ammo!"
17 mags, so 510 rounds? Damn. That's enough ammo to get you through just about any firefight. My personal setup is 12 mags on the plate carrier, 1 in the gun, 4 on the battle belt and 3 spares in my pack. But my setup is for a G3 platform (PTR-91) load so I'm carrying 400 rounds of 3-0-Hate.
@shockwave6213 I have to admit that I'm either carrying the patrol pack (with water onboard) OR the hydration pack, not both at the same time. So, at most, 14 mags (420 rnds). Your 3-0-hate is a heavier load, in a few ways! 👍😉
They do say "I was carrying too much." And also say "I wasn't carrying enough X" where X isn't ammo. Everyone wants more of everything! Everyone wants to be weighed down less. This is not a simple dilemma.
So there I was playing escape from tarkov, I had at least a 1000rds of 556 plus my m4, plus the 12 other guns I was carrying as loot. My stamina bar was draining so fast. One thing I was thinking was I wish I didn't carry all this ammo.
@@titaniumquarrion9838 exactly. Another problem rarely talked about is when a soldier goes into combat their objective is to kill and disrupt the enemy. As a citizen just trying to gather things or get from point A to point B their objective is to be as invisible and non combative as possible. These are entirely separate missions sets and while some things can greatly benefit a citizen that the military does in combat, carrying 14 magazines and heavy gear isn't part of that. But unfortunately realistic citizen survival skills, techniques and state of mind aren't as sexy as just telling people that they need a combat load because 4 magazines wasn't enough when they went into a city filled with terrorists that knew what they looked like and knew that they all were coming. In most situations where citizens are traveling through martial law they aren't even going to be able to conceal their rifle on them that they focus on so much to need 30 magazines for it and their pistol skills probably suck lol.
Ive been reading the comments for an hour and am fascinated by the many experiences shared, and am so proud of these real men. I have a good amount of ammo but am buying more after reading these many accounts. What's currently happening in Aurora Colorado might be coming to a neighborhood near you. Nice to know America has lots of armed veterans. Never forget, they tried, and are still trying, to disarm veterans. Never give up your guns, and for our country's sake, load up on ammo!
I’m SFC DeVos, K. 2-6 INF, 1st AD. I’m retired now and I won’t forget the day when SSG Clay was killed in Ramadi in 2005. As a platoon sergeant I always carried a couple mags of all tracer ammo that I used to mark points where I want concentrated fire and it also worked for any aviation assets in support, I just told them to look for all tracer fire and it worked perfectly. And yes, we always carried at least 2 basic loads and NCO’s carried a few HC smoke grenades and a couple red smoke grenades. We have 6 magazine bandoleers and they’re perfect for carrying a LOT of ammo loaded and ready to use. Don’t be afraid to use smoke grenades and have the 203 gunner pumping HE at the enemy as you maneuver your men.
@@mtnbound2764 My dad was also a war vet, he told me before going in that if I was ever in a firefight I'd truly understand the pucker factor. I think that was a pretty good description, what a cluster fuck feeling :)
Just thinking about a time I did run out of ammo makes me feel sick! After that experience I always had 12-15 loaded mags. Pockets full of ammo, ammo everywhere! That time I did run out of ammo was terrifying and a helpless feeling I never want to experience again!
So is running out of a bunch of other needed items that weren't packed due to space constraints or simply because people focus on the wrong things and didn't even think to pack it.
Thanks for the education Randall. Us civilians who have zero experience in the real world but who are concerned about what’s coming need to hear this stuff. Not some Rambo fantasy. Keep it coming.
@@KYAg227 We'll as a former grunt, patrolling will get you killed, because you're the one moving. There's videos that prove it. When Kardashianstan (Armenia) and Azerbaijan were going at it, Azerbaijan soldiers ambushed an entire platoon, laying them all dead in well under a minute. In Israel, Palestinians posted a video recently where 3 Israeli soldiers got ambushed, eating a hail of bullets. Only one attempted to fight back, because the Palestinians thought he was dead. One of the soldiers freaked out and tried to run after seeing the lead guy flop. So if you're patrolling, you're just asking to be a target. Eyes attract to irregular things moving.
Citizens, never civilians. Don't use that term made up by the military, to make soldiers think they're better than us. Nobody is more important than the US citizen.
@@Murderface666 sounds kinda like hunting honestly. Everything else is gonna find you first if you go stomping around through the woods, you sit and wait. And if you move, you move carefully and quietly to the next concealed position so you can be the one to find the game, or the enemy, moving and be able to see them first so you can plan and actually do something.
I was in a unit that had the Delta guys teach only carrying 5 mags--2 on each side of your vest and 1 in the weapon. The reason was that we were in an urban area and climbing over a lot of walls and in windows, etc. We kept the front relatively slick for that reason. HOWEVER--we were MECHANIZED. We had HMMWV's and MRAP's absolutely laden with loaded mags and bekts never more than a block away. We slso had a support platoon. Outside of this specific situation, you need a combat load. Regarding recon, I spent most of my time in a sniper section and we carried two combat loads a piece. QRF might be 15 minutes away, but thats a LONG 15 .inutes if people know where youre at and theyre trying to kill you. Also--Army doctrine is 3:1 odds whenver posdible. Meaning, if you come into contact with an enemy firce, you break contact unless you have 3:1 odds. Overwhelming firepower. Most "real" firefights are lots of suppressive fire with indirect or close air support doing the real killing. If things really collapse, we won't have ibdurect, we won't have CAS, and we probably won't even have machineguns. Every magazine counts. Every magazine is approximately one minute you will have a say in whether someone else kills you or not. Finally, you have to be able to carry it. While running. For speed and for distance. Blah, blah, blah--I'll shut up now.
I wonder if those guys were in Somalia. Because all the Delta guys who ever talked about that day talk about running low in ammo and scrambling to scrounge up ammo or sending guys to retrieve ammo dropped out of helicopters, pre-speedball days. 3 things that stick out from their talks was water, ammo, and never leave behind the NVG.
@thmsmgnm the movie doesn't do the book justice, and the book (as I discovered in my youth) is an invaluable source of info regarding the reality of urban firefights - even for the uninitiated civvie. I still have that book 25 years later.
As previously stated in Vietnam in a light infantry unit you could not carry enough ammunition. The average soldier was humping 100lbs or more. The standard issue was 7 - 20 round M16A1 magazines carried in 2 old M14 ammo pouches plus grenades. The soldiers would also carry 3 bandeliers with 7 - 20 round boxes w/ 1 stripper clip adaptor and canteens of water. Then most soldier got 7.62mm 100 rounds belts for the M60s and a few carried extra 40mm grenades, claymores and LAWs instead of M60 rounds. Empty canteen covers was the general-purpose carry pouch. The Lt. and Sergeants swapped out with smoke, flash lights, batteries and flares. Then there was the other shit, like machetes, axes, det cord, etc. Heat exhaustion and stroke was a constantly dropping physical fit 19 yr. olds.
My favorite class in bayonet fighting went like this. Gentlemen, I am here to teach you Bayonet Fitn'. Rule number one. Never, ever, run out of ammo! Class... dismissed
I’m old but many years ago I worked as a LRRP. With all of the shit we had to carry, ammo was always the most important. The old adage of “travel light, freeze at night” probably started like that. Comfort items like poncho liners or an extra poncho were left behind for a couple extra mags or at least ammo on stripper clips. I kept 12 mags on my belt and another 10 in the ruck. Our order of importance…ammo, water, grenades, socks, optics and everything else. A 100 pound ruck was the norm. Six men down range and often beyond the reach of help, have to carry a lot of gear. When the shit hits the fan and you’re being hunted, what do you want to have. Four more mags or a poncho liner.
More years ago than I will admit, I was a leg infantry squad leader. You would not be able to get me into theater with only 4 mags. It would take a hell of a lot more than that to even consider going near the wire, let alone outside of it.
@@JeffHanauer light weight yes, but they took up so much space. I always choose food over the poncho liner if we were going to be out for long. You can put a lot of ramen or rice in the space that a poncho liner takes up.
@@blackhawk7r221 Yep, you can shove that in there and give all of the wait a minute vines something extra to grab hold of. Not to even mention what it would have smelled like after being submerged in a swamp for a couple hours. Mosquito net and that green towel was enough for the few hours of sleep we got at night.
‘Fortunately for me, the Major in his spit shined boots, starched stateside fatigues and nice shiny belt buckle didn't notice the FTA on my helmet. My once black boots had been completely scuffed to a grayish tan after two months in the field. I carried my particular sixty-plus pound standard basic combat load (in the field there'd be at least an additional LAW and Claymore). I stood there with M-16, tin pot, seven hundred and fifty rounds of 5.56 mm ammo, four frags, three full one quart canteens, entrenching tool with pick, a bayonet, a parachute flare, a trip flare and a half-dozen cans of C rations in old socks tied on the back of my web gear, and I was wearing the same sweaty, faded, brown stained jungle fatigues that I’d worn for two months. We lived in separate realities.
..... pretty sure the same guy was running things in central America in the middle 80's when I was down there. We literally were forced to walk around on patrol without a mag in our weapon. IT was insane!!!
I want to share something with all of you, something about the topic you are discussing. A while ago I read several books written by MACV-SOG veterans, I invite you to read: across the fence, on the ground, whispers in the tall grass for example, in these books they tell how each operator carried around 50 mags, over the water or any other element they preferred to carry ammunition.
@CormacBride "drugs" (beer is one of the worst drugs) and guns, don't mix. Gun possession or use is only cool if totally sober and drugs aren't with you either. Naughty naughty. Guns are for the sober. If euphoria in mind is altered chemically, guns should be at home and locked up. Shouldn't even be doing any mind altering if ur a gun owner. I traded weed and beer for guns. I'd rather be able to defend my self then get fucked up my self.
I carried 13 mags in Iraq and Afghanistan. 12 on my rig and 1 in my rifle. 5 times I was on my last 1-2 mags before I got access to resupply. Not for lack or fire discipline. On the contrary. If you find yourself initially reacting to contact, suppressing, then firing at a sustained rate for fire and movement…and that lasts or has intermittent engagements over a period of a few minutes to an hour depending on intensity, you can easily notice how light your rig suddenly feels because you have burned through the majority of your ammo.
@@zeck8541 Most, if not all of these fire situations come from being ambushed and the enemy have the element of surprise and have unobstructed view of the killing area. At first contact you can imagine as the adrenaline is pumping you are in a serious life and deaf situation and your first mag is gone in 5 seconds.
The average CCW actually needs zero. I get the logic behind carrying extra ammo, but real life picking up plants at Home Depot and driving to and from work is not the freaking Tet Offensive
This is a superb video and I agree with everything you said. When I saw the title, my first response was: suppressing fire consumes massive amount of rounds and if you don’t plan is when the worst thing happens. Instead of talking, you could’ve just shown a video of a seal team doing an extraction maneuver. One man retreats set up man in front stop firing and retreats. The station man has heavy suppressing fire is empty the seal suppresses and they’re 10 to 20 yards at a time. Massive, massive amount of suppressive Fire. Easily one seal went through 10 magazines doing that . And they weren’t wasting any rounds… That drill shows you why! Super content. Besides that they made the 30 round magazine for exactly this type of tactics!! Ammo is cheap compared to the cost of training a good soldier.
I remember my dad talking to me about Vietnam. I cant remember his exact load out. He ran supply convoys. He said he didn't have to worry about weight because he had a truck. M14 and probably 50 mags between what was on him, ruck and an ammo crate he took out of the truck with him.
One friend was a field engineer in Nam He had 2 1/2-ton cargo truck M14 24 loaded mags crate or two of ammo, crate of grenades crate of LAWs plus a supply of demolition gear for clearing LZ and Arty positions fast.
when I was a rifleman in the marine corps we each carried at least 7 mags on patrol in Iraq, and then on top of that had a marine with a day pack filled with spares in case we got stuck for a while. you can never have enough ammo if you think you may get hit.
You mean that you had a dedicated ammo humper? What, one in a squad, or fire team? How many spares? Where did all the extra mag's come from? RVN '66-'67 1st Mar Div 0311.
Great points. The military has ammo resupply. In SHTF, you only have what you carry. If you've had to leave your house and have no ammo supply nearby, you're screwed. As a civilian out in the woods, ammo and water are king.
14 was most common in Somalia and Iran. Full 7 issued, 210 rounds. Another 7 in your day/mission pack, and as much water as you can carry. Some of us carried a few spare mags near the bottom of our packs too. Ammo and water are two of the heaviest things you HAVE to carry, but they are, by far, the two most important consumable items you don't want to run out of.
I was an 0321 man 7 of my 12 years. Whether it was indirect or direct action, I always had at least 12 magazines on me. The situation may dictate, but the situation never dictated how much ammo I carried. Whether I was running long range or breaching. One instance we actually had to run a modified QRF to, believer or not, assist CAG and Afghan Kommandos because they were being suppressed by small arms fire and they were out of ammo. These are great guys with a phenomenal skill set, but even with all that skill and knowledge, they were sitting ducks once they ran dry. Stay training, gents, and stay strong so you can carry more than the cool guy four mags. Great video by the way.
LAUGHING OUT LOUD! 12 magazines total in a 4 man team. I think my current minuteman LBV + Ruck is like Ten of my 28 round magazines and Two of my 18 round magazines just for little old me. God Bless you brother for being unashamed to put this quality truth content out. This notion of “once it’s time to bury our boots in the butts of a tyrannical force, every single one of us just needs to sneak around and avoid fights” is straight up NUTS. What if my whole goal is to find enemy forces and hurt them whether or not I think I’ll survive ?? 3 or 4 30 round magazines per ultralight high speed “operator” is ridiculous in my mind. Where is your resupply coming from? The only answer better be “off my enemies’ bodies and in my enemy’s camp” I guess. And if you’re actually that awesome/anointed then hats off to you.
I wondered if my 18 30 rounders on me, 40 in the rifle and 8 more 30s in my pack was enough but you carry more than it looks like anyone else here does.
As a fellow U.S. Army Combat Veteran, you make a lot of great & valid points. At a minimum, Seven 30 round magazines need to be carried, because that is a combat load. 👍🏾🇺🇸
Good vid and point bro. I carried 16-20 mags and 4 bandoleers in 1980 and 6 canteens, it sucked, but when rounds was flying you forgot about it. We didn't have vests, just our LBE We reported back to company or Div 😊
I was in Vietnam 71-72…i carried 10 bandolers …. 1000 rds 5.56……water & ammo are life…..beer & pussey is later….. the plane i flew over over on was full 219 seats…. The same type plane coming back was half full….you figure it out….
In simplistic terms. Its Halo CE versus Halo 2. In Halo CE your AR has. 60 round mag, that you can carry 10 spare. That's 600 rounds. Majority of the time that will get you through half or almost all the way through mission without having to resupply or change weapons In Halo 2 you have a BR with 36 round mag and you can only carry 4 spare.... 120 is what they give you in game. Even though that number doesn't add up to 4 full mags There is not a single Halo 2 mission that you are not down to you last or second to last mag by the end of each fire fight
Halo 2 compared to 1 in general pushed out effective engagement distances with the covenant carbine, battle rifle, beam rifle, etc., but seeing as how that just led to a low-risk play style where most enemies were not even a little effective against the player, they just limited the ammo capacity of all those guns. I wish they upped the effectiveness of enemies at distance, or made them close to engage the player better.
You guys do realize that you are using video games as reference points! How much does 600 rounds weigh? On top of all your other standard gear! Light is faster and quieter than hauling everything plus the kitchen sink! Minutemen probably won't have any backup or resupply coming to them so in most areas things like water, food, shelter all will have some level of priority! Also, the minutemen have the advantage of home turf, they can and should have multiple caches already in place before they can effectively patrol an area as well as pre-made OPs, LPs and ambush sites!
@@bombomos Guys it's a game, not reality. You won't be able to carry all of your necessary gear plus 600 rounds of ammo. Do a real load out and then try to move effectively. Not happenning. Do some real world training and you will become educated real fast.
This has to be the most real life informative comment section and video ever. Been reading for a while now. Realized that my understanding has been correct. Carry tons of ammo. Thank you to all the vets, active duty, police and every other person protecting our freedoms. GOD bless us all.
I've been arguing with people for years brother keep spreading the word hopefully they'll listen to you we do not have a resupply we do not have a medical tent to go back to with surgeons people need to understand this is not about looking cool and having fun if you're not willing to actually die for your cause stay at home people need to be running through the woods right now with a plate carrier and plenty of mags with stripper clips in your bag ready to feed your mags I pray that God bless this Republic and keep it even though I feel that we no longer deserve it
I'm bringing a red wagon full of magazines with me. This is some excellent information man. The Coors Light visual aids are great, definitely keep them going.
I think he was my brothers CSM in 3rd Ranger BN in the late 80s. He submitted a training plan where all of the Rangers were shot in the leg with a 22 - then ruck march, so they knew what it was like.
Suppression is hell of a lot more than "just shooting". It's limiting enemy movement, and providing potential casualties on target. If you can pin the enemy, you can advance or retreat. To do so, you need ammo. My community teaches and practices infantry skills through Arma 3. Super useful tool
Don't forget to let everyone know that most of the fighting will be at night when you can't see squat . Alot of people think it will be like a Wild West gun fight . Thanks for the video and how to make tactical movements . Definitely want buddies that have trained together .
@@drd1924 realistically after about 3 days I'd say 7 to be safe most people's night vision isn't going to work anymore due to a lack of thinking about power sources. People tend to worry about having 30 magazines and goggles and forget about not so sexy things like water purification and batteries.
I've been on both ends of the spectrum - I was the dude carrying a minimum of 12 mags on body and 10+ in a team bag every time I went for a walk, then cut back to 7 mags (6 in the rig and 1 in the blaster) when our DA ops got a little more up-tempo and shorter duration...then we got stuck on a hillside, pinned by a DShKM, and everyone went dry in the 3+ hours that followed - I'm still here because an Apache saved our a$$es. I went back to carrying a minimum of 420 rounds on body. The moral of the story is told for me around the 9:04 of this video. I wish you were drinking Banquet instead of Light...
FACTS bro, on point and great examples. Minimum combat load I had in the Army was 8 (7 on rig and 1 in the gun) with at least 3 or more in my patrol bag (on top of all my 40mm ammo and an extra nutsack for the SAW gunner, and then more in our Humvees), in Contracting we also run a minimum of 8 (same deal) and a metric shitton more in our vehicles and get home bags (very reliant on that per the nature of the work). Just on my personal Chest Rig, it can hold 8 to 10 AR Mags (if I'm not carrying a radio and other bits and bobs, then +1 in the gun be that a drum, 40 rounder or coupled mags, whatever) and have a minimum of 3 to 5 or more mags in my day patrol bag. Same deal for LBE's, should be no less than 8 on the rig and 1 in the gun along with whatever else you have with you to carry some more. That's a base minimum standard everyone should have/ attain.
8 mags on rig + 1 in the gun and exactly enough ammo in the pack to reload all primary mags once, some of said ammo usually in spare mags for emergency use or a quick refit.
@@theGhostofRoberttheBruce Yeah pretty much in any configuration thereof, if you wanna carry 8-10 more loaded mags in your day/ patrol pack too, do it, whatever works and fills the need of a proper combat load plus.
@@User78813 Ahhh no these are practical TTP's for adequate operational load capacity. There is a difference to a combat/ patrol load and a sustainment load (with a large Rucksack). Operational practices are to stage your sustainment load once at your established PB/ OP/ COP/ whatever and then regulate equipment for priority only for patrol load, so you're shedding weight and staying as light as possible while having what you need with you. A combat/ patrol load is nothing compared to a full sustainment load moving on foot, your knees and back should not be hurting at all with a patrol load.
We used to carry 22 mags, 2 frags, one LAW, one claymore and a pound of C4, plus a case of C-rations. That was our body armor too. We would fire the LAW in the first or second firefight so we wouldn't have to carry it any further.
As an ex LRS guy, the amount of ammo you carry will be mission dependant. It's up to you and your team to decide how much ammo you are going to need. Minuteman defense forces will require a lot of observation with a few well planned strikes on supply chains to crush the moral of your enemy. I believe minutemen should be light and fast for probing missions like reconnaissance or supply chain disruption. Good leadership and well planned missions is going to be extremely crucial! Friendly fortified defensive positions will require the most ammo. Breaking contact is 1000m or a major terrain feature and it will require a lot of ammo especially if you dont have a good exit plan. Have multiple exit plans! If your infil route is a long one, you should identify multiple rally points along the way for a break contact situation (perhaps a rally point between every valley or ridge line). Contact is most likely on infil and exfil, so that's when you should have extra ammo on your body. Within your OP or hide sight, you can lighten the load. I recommend bounding techniques for all your movements so that if contact is made, you dont have all your eggs in one basket. It will reduce the signagure of your movement, but Also, it keeps your guys fresh as theres more breaks from humping heavy gear. "If you aint cheating, you aint trying" Make every fight unfair in your favor.
I had to look up what LRS means. Your feedback makes more sense than the video!🎉 Ex military rescue seaman...if I go into the jungle for whatever reason I will bring a 44 Magnum revolver, a machete & a tomahawk.
3-4 in a chest rig sounds about right for a SWAT team executing a search warrant or dealing with a couple of barricaded bank robbers. Everyone else... it's a little light. "Amateurs study tactics, pro study logistics" has been quoted to death, but when your log is what you're carrying turns into "carry more ammo".
I am a nurse in an Evac unit. I command that unit. I am not a combattant and not expected to end up in a TIC... I carry six to eight magazines for my long weapon and three for my side-arm. So when people who want to look all ally carry less than the softest guy on the battlefield, they're being incredibly stupid and likely to end up in my care!
This is the first video I’ve seen on your channel and I very much appreciate your input and advice. Up until now I was going for a “maneuverability over firepower” thought process, but this makes a ton of sense. Keep it up and thank you for the content!
Thank you for keeping things real & the Coors light tactics work for me. I was a maintainer on Navy jets so I started from scratch in the personal kinetics field . The Marines I have had an opportunity to ask about this subject agree with you whole heartedly. If you think you have enough your wrong.
I'm an old retired Zoomie and even in the AF I thought the standard load out was a joke. State side it was only 4 magazines. When I was at Kunsan AB ROK it was only 7 and during exercises we'd often run out of ammo. When I went out as Red team, I carried as many as I could cram into pouches, pockets and even packs, but then we were just 6 guys against an entire base.
In the late 90s we (Canadian infantry) were shown a new load bearing vest that we were about to be issued. All pouches were sewn in position and it was not modify-able. We criticized it for only having 4 mag pouches. The rep from HQ sputtered about that being all we needed. Afterall, your EIS (eqpt issue scale) was only 5 mags. We jumped on him verbally and pointed out that this was for peacetime... war was different. We cited examples (as you do at the end of the video). I read an account of Australian soldiers in Vietnam who had back packs with additional mags that, when added to their belt kit, would total 20... and these were steel FAL mags with 7.62 rds in them! By the time I overcame some medical issues and did my first deployment to Afghanistan, we'd been there for 8 yrs. Luckily we'd learned some valuable lessons. Despite just being there in a staff weenie capacity, I was still issued 10 mags and 300 rds of ammo... standard for every soldier on the deployment - regardless of their job. Of course the LBV I had still only had 4 mag pouches... can't have everything...
And that vest with only 4 mag pouches is still the issued tac vest today (they tell you to use the side pouches, but it's not really ideal). Now you see a lot of guys just pay out of pocket for their own vest/plate carrier/chest harness to make up for shortcomings in our kit.
@@kutter_ttl6786 My second time to Afg I had bought (from CP Gear) 2, 2xmag envelope-style mag holders that wedge behind the basic pouch on one side and the water bottle on the other. This, with the one on the rifle, would provide 9 mags fairly handy. This kept the basic pouch relatively free for other needed items. Mag storage for the Browning was another issue...
In 1988 my MI company commander had me sit down with the LSRD commander for a conference. For the record, I was no super trooper, just read a lot of comic books. One recommendation was doubling the rifleman's basic load because breaking contact ONCE would take at least four magazines and quite likely more--and then the LSRD would have to fight its way to the pickup point. I had historical references including Vietnam special operations war stories that made it into open sources. A minimum of nine magazines was good as long as the LSRD managed to minimize contact, but I recommended 12 to 14 loaded magazines and if they could stand the weight, another bandolier or two . The "20 magazines" in Vietnam were 20-round magazines loaded with 18 cartridges each, 360 rounds or a dozen STANAG rifle magazines. Ones LSRD was detected in the rear of the Red Army, everything was going to be hunting for them. At the time, LSRU didn't have the M249, they were swapping out their M16A1 for M16A2 rifles. There was another problem--by doctrine, LRSU and LSRD six-man teams were supposed to be information people, not primarily fighters. That would all change in war because if the LSRU was already there, using those people for sabotage or for removing key personnel or even disrupting command post operations in violation of doctrine. Demolition gear isn't rifle ammo but the means to set off enemy munitions meant a couple of pounds of C4 plus caps, fuse and fuse igniters--these needed to have enough delay to permit the saboteur to get out of blast radius, and these long-delay improvised hand grenades could be used to slow pursuit if they went off thirty to ninety seconds after activation instead of three to five seconds for the M67 frag. Nothing like an unanticipated boom-boom to slow down the enemy. Tanks were going to be a problem, but the enemy would have light armor recon vehicles used for rear security duties. The M433 DP 40mm grenade could take care of the latter ON PAPER and the M203 was standard issue, but with mission critical gear (at least two radios and a supply of batteries) the 40mm grenade and the M72 LAW were going to be painful excess weight--until suddenly the patrol needed a dozen of them. Stick together or break up into two- or three-man teams? Sticking together made for greater firepower, could overwhelm the usual Soviet or East German squad (if they were on foot, too), If it was a platoon that was still mounted up in their armored carriers, outrunning a BTR-60 wasn't going to be easy. Popping one or two light armor vehicles might be necessary. Fortunately, troops under armor are deaf and blind. If not, and without proper anti--tank weapons, small arms fire would at least keep them buttoned up--perhaps they'd run into a stone wall or a tree or flip over in a ditch that the driver couldn't see. Suppressive fire gobbles up ammo supplies. Thanks. It turned out that my advice was not necessary. This video says that I gave good advice.
Great video. As a former USAF guy this was never something we really spoke about, we were more about base defense, where all the ammo is. My thought processes are shifting, thanks for the heads-up.
My thought process has always been exactly as you said, I don’t have belt feds, Carl g’s, overwatch, a drone over head or air support… I need to be able to lay down as much firepower as possible.
In regaurds to this I need some advice as to "Am I doing the right things?" from people who are more in the know than me. So my wife and I have the same rigs for us to wear if SHTF for emergency GTFO situations. We both have AR-15's that are set up for ourselves so slightly different. But on our rigs we can each carry 6 AR mags, a glock 17, and 4 extra pistol mags on the front. On the back we each carry an additional 8 AR mags. Each rig has bladders for up to 3 liters of water which can be quick filled. Each has an IFAK while her rig contains more extensive medical supplies and mine contains the heavier stuff like electronics. Each of us can feesably if not easily/quickly reach 4 of the 8 AR mags off our back for ourselves if we need it. The mags on the back are mostly there for eachother to reload and resupply off of. I have been told the mags on the back are useless and the idea of carrying a pistol on a chest rig is also useless. I just find the idea to be able to reach into my closet grab the rig throw it on, grab my rifle and run and be out of the house in under 60 sec appealing even though its likely we would have more time. What is the interwebs opinion?
If you cannot reach your mags you might as well not carry them. I had 8 mags on my kit: 4 in front 2 on each side. The front ones can be difficult to get when you pinned down on your face that’s why I like the side option. And I like them on both sides for the same reason ease of use if one side is harder to get than the other. I started off carrying my M9 with me but soon decided I’d rather have that weight be extra ammo for my M4. However most of my engagements were from 200-800 meters so the pistol was useless. If I was closer or CQB more often I would keep the pistol. Just my thoughts. I also had 8 more mags in my daypack and a bandoleer
It has been 31 years since Mogadishu. They had helicopter back up, and got shit beat out of them when they ran out of water and ammo. They were Rangers and Delta.
Civilian here. I have a few rigs for different purposes. A chest rig with four mags and medical staged with my HD rifle, a couple of larger chest rigs for general purpose use, plate carrier+battle belt, PLCE webbing for a get home rig, an ‘83 pattern South African battle jacket that holds ten mags and a gallon of water and medical without even trying, and a few other options. Pretty sure I’m not going to not make it for want of gear or ammo….. Now to get that cardio up…..
@@rebel_infinity7326 Yeah, not to mention huge amounts of plot armour too..being the main Rockstar & all. And, all the movie bad guys are inept, and largely irrelevant, except when their scripted not to be.. Not so much, in real life.
Yazzz ammo, ammo, ammo.. Thanks for your no BS assessment of this. I laugh when guys say they carry a full load out lol.... in the SHTF scenario you need to be carrying at least 10 mags loaded along with rounds on stripper clips in your assault pack to reload them! Enough said and excellent info bro! You are clearly speaking from experience as I and I'm picking up what you are putting down bro!
I know someone who has three 7.62 x 39 rifles and only has seventeen magazines for all of them. (Some are thirty round, others are twenty-eight and twenty round magazines.) That equals about 145 rounds with five magazines for one and around 170 rounds for the other two men. They hope that is enough to hold out. Magazines can take a while to reload.
I’ve been running an ELBV kit. 6 mags on the chest, 6 mags on the waist. It also carries 2 quarts of water on the belt and I run a 2 or 5 liter camelback in a backpack. I have been doing some hikes with that weight and it’s very manageable if you train. You could run a slick plate carrier under the kit as well.
As a patrol officer, I carried 13 30-round AR mags. One in my M4 carbine, three on the front of my active shooter plate carrier, three more in a velcro shingle to loan out at gun calls, and six more in my patrol bag on the front passenger seat in case any of us needed more ammo from my patrol car.
Ammo, yes. Period. A question or thought about plate carriers in the woods / hills. Drop the plates and still use the carriers with maybe just soft armor inserts. (I am aware they won't stop rife rounds) Thoughts below.
As a civilian you will have zero support… I just say have multiple load outs for different things… have a bandolier and honestly you need as much ammo as you can carry…. I think the biggest thing is when is it too much…. Most people with sense get have a lot of it…but when is it too much?
This right here. You shouldn't need twelve mags for home defense. I have a four mag chest rig staged with my HD rifle... But serious SHTF usage? 100%. As much ammo as possible is the way.
You need as much ammo as you can realistically physically carry for assaults/raids, ambushes, etc, especially if you're operating as a partisan/guerrilla in a small unit in an asymmetrical fight.
@@theGhostofRoberttheBruce agreed, only thing is a lot of things will play into how much you can bring.. are you using vehicles or not , how far do you have to go.. how many are in the squad you’re working with.. things like that.. in my mind though the most important things are Ammo then water, some medical, but I guess that’s why I’m a unit some guys carry different amounts of something then others, in your personal preparing you have to do it all and that’s why it can get complicated
@RedDawnReadiness it truly is a slow process of stocking and training, stocking and training. Both can pay dividends even without SHTF too which makes the whole prep process easier to stomach as a way to spend stupid amounts of cash.
A thing I would like to add is I see a lot of guys train as if once they take contact they immediately bound to the contact or break contact. The truth is the first thing you should do is immediately seek cover you are not going to last long by thinking you can just immediately start pushing towards contact with out seeking some type of cover. Super important and I feel like way to many ppl train to react and they push or break contact but none of them are actually reacting to contact and rushing to cover immediately.
Thank you for sharing knowledge im no Rambo I'm a a 55yr old retired rough neck and I'm not able to charge the enemies.. but I am smart enough to know to try to be as prepared as I can with my limited income and know knowledge is very important to a guy like myself. I appreciate you teaching me vital things that will help me stay in the fight longer than I would without knowing
I will always carry a full 8 mags. I even carry extra mags in a bag for my EDC pistol. In 2005 in Baghdad while my unit was helping put up barriers for polling sites so the Iraqis could vote, my Bradalac driver hit some concrete and got us stuck right in the middle of a round about off a major msr(I don't remember the msr) It was 3AM and all the pog's we had been escorting just moshed home, and the other Squads and Bradalacs went back to get the tow dudes. I don't remember how long it took for them to get back, but when they got back to us we had blown through just about all our ammo. I had maybe 10 rounds left, we had only 7 rounds left for the SAW.... Everybody was down to less than half a mag And that's JUST from firing warning shots at everybody to not come fuckin near us
I always make sure to be able to carry a minimum of 10 mags on my chest rig or plate carrier and belt. I keep a 40 rounder in the gun and 6-10 more in my patrol pack
It’s just different I know swat guys who get out of their trucks with a 20 round mag in their rifle and a 30 round mag in their pocket, play their pistol I don’t think attempting to duplicate an infantry platoon is the best way to go but if that’s your plan you’re going to need a sh!t of ammo to make up not having indirect fire support, spicy rocks, crew served’s etc etc
When hunting with my .308 bolt action I take the box of ammo I opened and 20 to 60 more rounds (pistol rounds included) depending on how long I plan on hiking and where I'm at. North Idaho which has plenty of black bears. Grizzly Bears. Mountain Lions and Wolves. I'd hate to fall, break a leg and only have what's in my rifle and pistol. My back pack for hunting has at least one extra knife also. Plus food, water, socks and the usual. I'd rather carry a heavy pack with to much than not enough.
Have been in many situations where I was the only one that came prepared. My wife understands now,but early on she would give me the eye when we would go out. Prepared is self sufficiency squared. Think about this; how many times have you went somewhere and only planned on being out for 15 minutes and it turned into hours. Thats when you enjoy knowing your preps and go bag are with you. No better piece of mind!
In civilian law enforcement for over 30 years. Granted, not the same as our wartime military members, but we started carrying large amounts of mags and boxes of ammo… extra mags for our sub guns on the tactical and different types for penetration, etc. ammo is gold, ammo is life.
I just happened across your video, so I don't know who your followers are, but as a JAG - read that Special Staff - I had a 12 mag loadout. Some people laughed about the silly JAG, but as a prior service Marine, more ammo means less bleeding. I loved your explanation. Thanks. Course I'm too old for this stuff anymore. I'd probably get a hernia trying to carry my old loadout. LOL.
When I was first in Iraq I went from 7 mags standard and by the end of my first tour I was carrying at least 12 or 13. 7 on me and 5 or 6 more in my assault pack. In Afghanistan I always had 13 fully loaded Mags and a spare ammo can of loose 5.56 in our Mrap. My whole team did that each.
The SOF guys probably stole that idea from the guerrillas and insurgents. During the Vietnam war, the Vietcong went with three mags plus one in their riffle. They were light on their feet and they were not there to sustain a firefight but to hit the enemy from an ambush and disappear back in the jungle. That is why they carried only a limited amount of magazines. In this country if a war breakout, insurgents and guerrillas would be better using that tactic. Shoot at the enemy and disappear.
Infantry Marine Iraq and Afghanistan vet here, my gear load was close to 200 pounds....and because I'm the big guy I get the SAW. 23 pounds for my machine gun, then 6.9 pounds per 200 round drum which I was carrying 10 total. Almost 70 pounds of ammo, so 1 drum attached to my weapon 2 in my chest pouches 7 drums packed into my assault pack. Then my Molle vest, helmet, plates probably another 30 pounds. Food water medical supplies and breaching tools....no wonder my lower back is fked up.
SOG Tilt Meyer.."I would carry at least thirty-four 20-round magazines for the CAR-15 - we only placed 18 rounds in each magazine, which gave me 612 rounds for that weapon, and at least 12 rounds for the M-79. The CAR-15 magazines were placed in ammo pouches or cloth canteen pouches, with the bottoms facing up to prevent debris from getting into the magazine and all of the rounds pointing away from the body. We taped black electrical tape to the bottom of each magazine to make it easier to grab them out of the pouch during firefights. I also carried 10 to 12 fragmentation grenades, a few of the older M-26, the newer M-33 “baseball” grenades and one or two V-22 mini-grenades".....So how much more weight did all them nades add? No nades? How many more mags can you carry without them then.
I think we need to get you a Coors Light sponsorship 🤣🤣 In seriousness, for extra ammo, is it all in Magazines, or split between half in a can, and half in mags?
It is better to have them in mags, if you can get extras. Canned or loose ammo is better than nothing. If you have a pause, in a few minutes you can reload some mags.
@@briangrant2005 In AFG I used to have 10 mags on me for my M4, and around 300 loose ammo in a bag in my backpack.. I had my AK in the Humvee, with 10 mags and two 75 rds drums, a collapsible bipod and an AMD muzzle brake. We used this AK as a LMG. I had a M203 on my M4, I carried smoke and illum, but I had 9 DP with me in a bandolier, and 5-8 in my backpack. Plus my sidearm, a 9 mm with two mags. And a M9 LanCay bayonet. I am not american, so we were issued another types of firearms too. We had M4, AK, PKM, M249B, NSVT, DShK, M2HB, Mk19, RPG, M24, SVD, Glock 17, and a certain type of anti-material rifle I wouldn't name, because it instantly gives away from where I am coming. 😅
Carried 21 30rd mags for the M4. 13 HE 40mm rds, four smoke and two illums for the M79 and five pistol mags with one being in the pistol. On top of that carried 4 frags, two smokes and one WP. On top of that carried a unit radio and a sat com and a gps. Also water and power bars...no room for any kind of food. On the leg opposite the pistol carried a med blowout pouch. Some other small things I can't recall right now....fun days.
I went to Iraq with 7 mags, the standard load out. Half way through the deployment I was carrying 15 on every patrol. Ammo is like money.... there's never enough when you absolutely need it
Out of genuine curiosity and a need for information were these at immediate access or were some in your pack thank you man.
i bet there were guys asking you for mags when they ran out too!
Same for me in Afghanistan. I'd carry ten extra mags in my pack.
Yeah I'm not planning on going to either Iraq, nor Afghanistan. If America sees that level of combat....we're going to have way worse things to kill us than just gun fights. Starvation, disease, etc. Odds of most of us even surviving a firefight where we reload once or twice is pretty damn slim
@@danahowerton9638 I kept 6 on my flak (2 double mag pouches, 2 single mag pouches) and I moved them more to my sides so I could get lower to the ground if I had to go prone. So 6 on my flak, 1 in my weapon and 8 in my private purchased assault pack. And FYI my assault pack, which I still have and use, is the Spec Ops THE Pack.
Vietnam Vet here, at 126 pounds, I carried 100 pounds of gear that started with 25 mags and as many stripper clips as I could find. Our mags were 20s but usually carried only 18 due to irrational fears of spring issues. After my first "out of ammo patrol" I ended up carrying even more ammo. We carried 2 gallons of water (8 quart canteens) and refilled anywhere we could. Our patrols were 14 day unless we were stuck. I was shot twice and at 75 today have scars showing from frags, RPGs, mortars and bullet burns. Kids, talk to the old guys!
Welcome home ❤
@@jeffreygreene7574 Thank you!
Hell u were probably also carrying a 100 round belt also for the machine gunner… loaded down like a pack mule
@@carlkidd9571 Also 2 radio batteries...
🎯🎯🎯 Those are some wise words from a wise man. And wisdom comes from experience
I think I a lot of people in the community need to work on being able to hike a couple miles at elevation before they even consider these things
I've been working towards being able to do a Roman forced March. 30miles with 80-100lbs. I normally like 15 to 20 mile hikes in the mountains. I like the thought of being able to ruck out of anywhere with everything I'd need to survive.
or do both, fitness is an implied task.
Dead😂
valid point, suggestion? people should train with a weighted vest that is actually heavier than their full load out; most people would struggle in an adrenaline charged scenario and really have no concept of how in 20 lbs can impact your stamina
Easy there Meal Team 6…
14 magazines was our standard SOP.
Shoot, shoot often, shoot a lot, I can get more ammo later, I cannot get more of you.
How many rounds in the mag?
what was your non standard SOP?
@@jaythemachine3845 30 rounds
@@titaniumquarrion9838 no, better to have it, then be short on ammunition.
@@ZmonsterSMZ but that means less room for grenades. 😥
As a Marine Infantry Plt Sgt with combat experience before 2003 Iraq, I learned to carry extra ammo, the number 1 priority. When we went into Iraq, I carried 10 perso mags, 9 preloaded mags (3 per squad), and six bandoleers (2 per squad) of ammo. There were many a firefight we got into, where my perso mags went down to 1 or 2 just for myself.
So, I totally agree with your assessment. Carrying 4 mags into a fight is only asking to be killed before the fight even starts; that is how quickly ammo disappears in real-life combat.
It's crazy to me how many guys own ARs and have never dumped a few mags so they have no idea that 5 mags can last as little as a couple of MINUTES when you're laying it down really heavy in semi auto.
Question: Just curious, could you clarify what you mean by "perso mags" and "preloaded mags?" for those of us who don't know...Not really sure what those terms mean myself, (perhaps I should).
@@KevinH_753he's a marine. You're working with barely a GED'S worth of intellect. You have to fill in the blanks yourself the best you can. Be thankful he's not communicating halfway in emojis and excessive elipses like a boomer.
Again, another vet ( like myself) who doesn’t understand that he doesn’t have the US military logistics train to allow him to piss away ammo. When you shoot it all up, what will you do then? Suppressive fire is for selectfire weapons with massive resupply available. Carrying a lot of ammo to shoot in the general direction of the enemy will NOT work in SHTF You are the combat vet, not me. You are one of the guys the rest of us are looking to for guidance when the balloon goes up. If any of us are going to survive, your group of experienced veterans need to rethink how business should be done BEFORE it is upon us.The ways you were trained in rely heavily on the superb logistics train you fought under. You must understand that this new scenario will be radically different different and will require different tactics than those you were trained in and used in battle.
I do not understand why this is not common sense to everyone who has been shot at. It is to me.
@@robertgoodrich8953 You make a good point which is precisely why I would reach for something that could be pressed into a DMR role if I was looking to do damage on a budget.
Or a shotgun if I KNEW that what I was about to do would be 100 metres and in.
You can't ever be on a tighter budget than "what I can carry on me for a year" after all...
When can you have too much ammo?
1. You just fell off the boat into deep water.
2. You are on fire.
During night time small boat insertions where the entire thing win or lose is resolved with a handful of weapon discharges it's absolutely critical to carry 12 magazines + another 8 for your pistol so you can just sink and die efficiently if you fall.
Speaking as a sea goung bell hop (Marine), you put a water proof bag in your pack and seal it with a twist tie. Now your pack floats. Idc if I'm on a carrier, if I'm feet wet, I have that bag in my pack.
That's funny as F...
Naw because your plate carrier has you fubar regardless of mag load out in both cases lol
😂
Ammo, water, socks. That get's you through many things.
Per the Fat Electrician: "Caffeine, nicotine, and hate" should get you through the rest...😂
@@piratecat990 yup. I was gonna add nicotine to his short list. You beat me to it
....Rifle
My WWII Father always said that.! ✳️⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐✳️👍
@@FeralApache I stand corrected! Yes you are correct.
I also MUST have hemorrhoid cream. No lie.
Extra ammo seems pretty light when you know it may save your ass.
and it gets lighter fast, as you consume it.
That's how I feel about the plate carrier too. I love his videos but don't understand why he always says not to bother? I feel like 6 pounds of armor is well worth it's weight when it could save your life.
@@iplayfenderbass1 depends upon the situation. for most real-world minuteman stuff, it does not make sense.
Nothing is saving you in an ambush by a group. The best way to stay out of an ambush is to not do patrols. This isn't Band of Brothers.
@@Murderface666 all the veterans who've survived ambushes prove you wrong. There is more than one way to avoid being ambushed as well.
The best part of being a M-60 gunner was the fact that everyone carried ammo for me!
never minded carrying 100 round belt for them. its sure was worth it
😊 my point u carry ammo for me
My fear is when things go bad, it just my wife and I. I can do my job but, my wife will not. I don’t expect to meet a peer, I expect to meet a peer who works for the government and has enhanced kit and firearms. It won’t be only one, it will be a team. This team has trained together to violate my Rights and ensure I can never testify in a court of law. Semper Fi!
@@sgt.grinch3299 I am exactly in the same boat.
I moved to a new state with my wife. We are alone. No friends family.
Well, she has made some friends but I have not.
My wife is also 5"1 around 90 lbs. Obviously she can't carry much weight.
It's hard that my full time job also keeps me busy. I have no male friends here I can trust to help if things go down.
Feels bad man.
@EruAnor get into church man. Find a small group in that church and talk to the men. Most men in church are all about protecting theirs and want solid people.
@@woodymcwooderson7579 Depends on the church. Unfortunately I think some Christian men struggle with balancing Christ like love while still being masculine. If that makes sense. Unfortunately with my job I basically only get Sunday off once every month+ so I don't really go enough, frequently enough to meet people there. My job pays well but it makes social life hard, plus most people our age also already have kids so that makes it hard to plan things too.
@EruAnor im sorry about your situation. If you can find opportunity to volunteer with the local pantry/soup kitchen or volunteer FD, that might be a valid in. It's hard to find time, though. I get it. Good luck. Keep an open heart and a sharp mind.
@@woodymcwooderson7579 It's apreciated.
"Carry enough ammo for the fight you don't want to be in" Skully SOE
"I never heard of anyone complaining about having too much ammo in a fight" - Clint Smith
Skullcap a cool guy. Aside from youtube land.
What fantasy fight are people here seriously excepting beyond the retard looking to rob you at a gas-station?
That is fucking dope
One in the gun, seven mags on my chest rig, three more molle'd to the hydration pack, and six additional in the patrol pack. I well remember the identical statements made to me by two separate, well decorated combat vets... "You can NEVER have too much ammo!"
I regularly hear it put in the format of “you never have too much ammo… unless you’re drowning or on fire”
This💯
17 mags, so 510 rounds? Damn. That's enough ammo to get you through just about any firefight.
My personal setup is 12 mags on the plate carrier, 1 in the gun, 4 on the battle belt and 3 spares in my pack. But my setup is for a G3 platform (PTR-91) load so I'm carrying 400 rounds of 3-0-Hate.
@shockwave6213 I have to admit that I'm either carrying the patrol pack (with water onboard) OR the hydration pack, not both at the same time. So, at most, 14 mags (420 rnds). Your 3-0-hate is a heavier load, in a few ways! 👍😉
@@shockwave6213 Great choice on the blaster, it's such a great machine. I call mine The Beast, especially when it has a 50rnd drum in it.
I've never heard anyone say after a gunfight say, "I was carrying too much ammo."
They do say "I was carrying too much."
And also say "I wasn't carrying enough X" where X isn't ammo.
Everyone wants more of everything! Everyone wants to be weighed down less.
This is not a simple dilemma.
So there I was playing escape from tarkov, I had at least a 1000rds of 556 plus my m4, plus the 12 other guns I was carrying as loot. My stamina bar was draining so fast. One thing I was thinking was I wish I didn't carry all this ammo.
I feel like I'd be that guy just to agitate my sergeant.
That’s because those people died
@@titaniumquarrion9838 exactly. Another problem rarely talked about is when a soldier goes into combat their objective is to kill and disrupt the enemy. As a citizen just trying to gather things or get from point A to point B their objective is to be as invisible and non combative as possible. These are entirely separate missions sets and while some things can greatly benefit a citizen that the military does in combat, carrying 14 magazines and heavy gear isn't part of that. But unfortunately realistic citizen survival skills, techniques and state of mind aren't as sexy as just telling people that they need a combat load because 4 magazines wasn't enough when they went into a city filled with terrorists that knew what they looked like and knew that they all were coming. In most situations where citizens are traveling through martial law they aren't even going to be able to conceal their rifle on them that they focus on so much to need 30 magazines for it and their pistol skills probably suck lol.
Ive been reading the comments for an hour and am fascinated by the many experiences shared, and am so proud of these real men. I have a good amount of ammo but am buying more after reading these many accounts. What's currently happening in Aurora Colorado might be coming to a neighborhood near you. Nice to know America has lots of armed veterans. Never forget, they tried, and are still trying, to disarm veterans. Never give up your guns, and for our country's sake, load up on ammo!
I’m SFC DeVos, K. 2-6 INF, 1st AD. I’m retired now and I won’t forget the day when SSG Clay was killed in Ramadi in 2005. As a platoon sergeant I always carried a couple mags of all tracer ammo that I used to mark points where I want concentrated fire and it also worked for any aviation assets in support, I just told them to look for all tracer fire and it worked perfectly. And yes, we always carried at least 2 basic loads and NCO’s carried a few HC smoke grenades and a couple red smoke grenades. We have 6 magazine bandoleers and they’re perfect for carrying a LOT of ammo loaded and ready to use. Don’t be afraid to use smoke grenades and have the 203 gunner pumping HE at the enemy as you maneuver your men.
Running out of ammo is terrifying, nuff said.
and when you run out you'd give anything fo rmore
@@mtnbound2764 My dad was also a war vet, he told me before going in that if I was ever in a firefight I'd truly understand the pucker factor. I think that was a pretty good description, what a cluster fuck feeling :)
Just thinking about a time I did run out of ammo makes me feel sick! After that experience I always had 12-15 loaded mags. Pockets full of ammo, ammo everywhere! That time I did run out of ammo was terrifying and a helpless feeling I never want to experience again!
@sauliluolajan-mikkola620 Knife fighting during a gun battle is bad for the health ^5
So is running out of a bunch of other needed items that weren't packed due to space constraints or simply because people focus on the wrong things and didn't even think to pack it.
Thanks for the education Randall. Us civilians who have zero experience in the real world but who are concerned about what’s coming need to hear this stuff. Not some Rambo fantasy. Keep it coming.
agreed, never served im 53 next month training best i can.
@@KYAg227 We'll as a former grunt, patrolling will get you killed, because you're the one moving. There's videos that prove it. When Kardashianstan (Armenia) and Azerbaijan were going at it, Azerbaijan soldiers ambushed an entire platoon, laying them all dead in well under a minute. In Israel, Palestinians posted a video recently where 3 Israeli soldiers got ambushed, eating a hail of bullets. Only one attempted to fight back, because the Palestinians thought he was dead. One of the soldiers freaked out and tried to run after seeing the lead guy flop. So if you're patrolling, you're just asking to be a target. Eyes attract to irregular things moving.
Citizens, never civilians. Don't use that term made up by the military, to make soldiers think they're better than us. Nobody is more important than the US citizen.
@@Murderface666 sounds kinda like hunting honestly. Everything else is gonna find you first if you go stomping around through the woods, you sit and wait. And if you move, you move carefully and quietly to the next concealed position so you can be the one to find the game, or the enemy, moving and be able to see them first so you can plan and actually do something.
They drew first blood ! Ra-wwwwwww .
I was in a unit that had the Delta guys teach only carrying 5 mags--2 on each side of your vest and 1 in the weapon. The reason was that we were in an urban area and climbing over a lot of walls and in windows, etc. We kept the front relatively slick for that reason. HOWEVER--we were MECHANIZED. We had HMMWV's and MRAP's absolutely laden with loaded mags and bekts never more than a block away. We slso had a support platoon. Outside of this specific situation, you need a combat load. Regarding recon, I spent most of my time in a sniper section and we carried two combat loads a piece. QRF might be 15 minutes away, but thats a LONG 15 .inutes if people know where youre at and theyre trying to kill you. Also--Army doctrine is 3:1 odds whenver posdible. Meaning, if you come into contact with an enemy firce, you break contact unless you have 3:1 odds. Overwhelming firepower. Most "real" firefights are lots of suppressive fire with indirect or close air support doing the real killing. If things really collapse, we won't have ibdurect, we won't have CAS, and we probably won't even have machineguns. Every magazine counts. Every magazine is approximately one minute you will have a say in whether someone else kills you or not. Finally, you have to be able to carry it. While running. For speed and for distance.
Blah, blah, blah--I'll shut up now.
I wonder if those guys were in Somalia. Because all the Delta guys who ever talked about that day talk about running low in ammo and scrambling to scrounge up ammo or sending guys to retrieve ammo dropped out of helicopters, pre-speedball days.
3 things that stick out from their talks was water, ammo, and never leave behind the NVG.
@thmsmgnm the movie doesn't do the book justice, and the book (as I discovered in my youth) is an invaluable source of info regarding the reality of urban firefights - even for the uninitiated civvie.
I still have that book 25 years later.
Please continue the rant - good advice there!
@@CthonicSoulChicken this is probably the most practical comment I've seen on these kinds of channels.
@@RighteousJ what is the book you are referring to?
As previously stated in Vietnam in a light infantry unit you could not carry enough ammunition. The average soldier was humping 100lbs or more. The standard issue was 7 - 20 round M16A1 magazines carried in 2 old M14 ammo pouches plus grenades. The soldiers would also carry 3 bandeliers with 7 - 20 round boxes w/ 1 stripper clip adaptor and canteens of water. Then most soldier got 7.62mm 100 rounds belts for the M60s and a few carried extra 40mm grenades, claymores and LAWs instead of M60 rounds. Empty canteen covers was the general-purpose carry pouch.
The Lt. and Sergeants swapped out with smoke, flash lights, batteries and flares. Then there was the other shit, like machetes, axes, det cord, etc. Heat exhaustion and stroke was a constantly dropping physical fit 19 yr. olds.
My favorite class in bayonet fighting went like this.
Gentlemen, I am here to teach you Bayonet Fitn'.
Rule number one.
Never, ever, run out of ammo!
Class... dismissed
OMG I laughed out loud. Great story. My number one rule in life, never run out of ammo.
I told my wife all the time that “You can never have enough ammo.” She thinks I am crazy while she stock up on lipstick.
Your wife's lips will be more useful to her in a SHTF environment than the ammo. Women know their weapon's of choice.
😂
Women just cannot wrap their heads around shit hitting the fan. Honestly its really annoying
Different ammo for different tactics!
@@bleu_chzst924 What shit exactly. Live in the real world not some bizarre fantasy.
I’m old but many years ago I worked as a LRRP. With all of the shit we had to carry, ammo was always the most important. The old adage of “travel light, freeze at night” probably started like that. Comfort items like poncho liners or an extra poncho were left behind for a couple extra mags or at least ammo on stripper clips. I kept 12 mags on my belt and another 10 in the ruck. Our order of importance…ammo, water, grenades, socks, optics and everything else. A 100 pound ruck was the norm. Six men down range and often beyond the reach of help, have to carry a lot of gear. When the shit hits the fan and you’re being hunted, what do you want to have. Four more mags or a poncho liner.
More years ago than I will admit, I was a leg infantry squad leader. You would not be able to get me into theater with only 4 mags. It would take a hell of a lot more than that to even consider going near the wire, let alone outside of it.
I get your point but a poncho liner dont weigh nothing.
@@JeffHanauer light weight yes, but they took up so much space. I always choose food over the poncho liner if we were going to be out for long. You can put a lot of ramen or rice in the space that a poncho liner takes up.
I’m here to tell you brother, that woobie fits into your cargo pouch.
@@blackhawk7r221 Yep, you can shove that in there and give all of the wait a minute vines something extra to grab hold of. Not to even mention what it would have smelled like after being submerged in a swamp for a couple hours. Mosquito net and that green towel was enough for the few hours of sleep we got at night.
‘Fortunately for me, the Major in his spit shined boots, starched stateside fatigues and nice shiny belt buckle didn't notice the FTA on my helmet. My once black boots had been completely scuffed to a grayish tan after two months in the field. I carried my particular sixty-plus pound standard basic combat load (in the field there'd be at least an additional LAW and Claymore). I stood there with M-16, tin pot, seven hundred and fifty rounds of 5.56 mm ammo, four frags, three full one quart canteens, entrenching tool with pick, a bayonet, a parachute flare, a trip flare and a half-dozen cans of C rations in old socks tied on the back of my web gear, and I was wearing the same sweaty, faded, brown stained jungle fatigues that I’d worn for two months. We lived in separate realities.
..... pretty sure the same guy was running things in central America in the middle 80's when I was down there. We literally were forced to walk around on patrol without a mag in our weapon. IT was insane!!!
I want to share something with all of you, something about the topic you are discussing. A while ago I read several books written by MACV-SOG veterans, I invite you to read: across the fence, on the ground, whispers in the tall grass for example, in these books they tell how each operator carried around 50 mags, over the water or any other element they preferred to carry ammunition.
All are available on Amazon I just checked. On the ground I may have a copy of but I will buy a fresh copy when I have the funds.
"A gun without spare ammunition, is a temporary gun." ~ Massad Ayoob
@CormacBride "drugs" (beer is one of the worst drugs) and guns, don't mix. Gun possession or use is only cool if totally sober and drugs aren't with you either. Naughty naughty. Guns are for the sober. If euphoria in mind is altered chemically, guns should be at home and locked up. Shouldn't even be doing any mind altering if ur a gun owner. I traded weed and beer for guns. I'd rather be able to defend my self then get fucked up my self.
Really? And under what circumstances do you figure you are going to need 120 rounds of ammo?
@@garbagemail55any situation someone shoots at you
@@garbagemail55 thats only 4 mags you goober
@garbagemail55 When the base plate of your first 60-round mag busts open and drops all your rounds on the ground.
I would add just for reference that a dump pouch is a must as a militia we don't have uncle sugar to keep giving us new mags
yep
@@MrGreblin 100% Spot on.
Hell yeah. If your resupply comes in a ups van, youre only getting resupplied when the mail system is working.
I carried 13 mags in Iraq and Afghanistan. 12 on my rig and 1 in my rifle. 5 times I was on my last 1-2 mags before I got access to resupply. Not for lack or fire discipline. On the contrary. If you find yourself initially reacting to contact, suppressing, then firing at a sustained rate for fire and movement…and that lasts or has intermittent engagements over a period of a few minutes to an hour depending on intensity, you can easily notice how light your rig suddenly feels because you have burned through the majority of your ammo.
@@zeck8541
Most, if not all of these fire situations come from being ambushed and the enemy have the element of surprise and have unobstructed view of the killing area. At first contact you can imagine as the adrenaline is pumping you are in a serious life and deaf situation and your first mag is gone in 5 seconds.
@@markf3229 that’s basically what I said in different words.
@@markf3229 that’s pretty much exactly what the original commenter said
bro stop being fake.. you called CAS and hid in the vehicle
@@clifc5144 yeah you are right. That’s what every 0311/11B does. Fucktard troll.
If you are carrying n magazines, you will end up needing n+1.
The average CCW actually needs zero. I get the logic behind carrying extra ammo, but real life picking up plants at Home Depot and driving to and from work is not the freaking Tet Offensive
@joshj7012 in a lot of self defense circumstances one is enough, but I guess if you're already carrying a gun why not be one step more prepared
@@joshj7012 *Yet
@@joshj7012 You ever hear the phrase: "Two is One, One is None"?
@@joshj7012 The average CCW doesen't need ANY magazines? You just put one in the chamber and hope you can turn deadeye on when it hits the fan?
This is a superb video and I agree with everything you said. When I saw the title, my first response was: suppressing fire consumes massive amount of rounds and if you don’t plan is when the worst thing happens.
Instead of talking, you could’ve just shown a video of a seal team doing an extraction maneuver. One man retreats set up man in front stop firing and retreats. The station man has heavy suppressing fire is empty the seal suppresses and they’re 10 to 20 yards at a time.
Massive, massive amount of suppressive Fire.
Easily one seal went through 10 magazines doing that . And they weren’t wasting any rounds…
That drill shows you why!
Super content.
Besides that they made the 30 round magazine for exactly this type of tactics!!
Ammo is cheap compared to the cost of training a good soldier.
I remember my dad talking to me about Vietnam. I cant remember his exact load out. He ran supply convoys. He said he didn't have to worry about weight because he had a truck. M14 and probably 50 mags between what was on him, ruck and an ammo crate he took out of the truck with him.
One friend was a field engineer in Nam He had 2 1/2-ton cargo truck M14 24 loaded mags crate or two of ammo, crate of grenades crate of LAWs plus a supply of demolition gear for clearing LZ and Arty positions fast.
when I was a rifleman in the marine corps we each carried at least 7 mags on patrol in Iraq, and then on top of that had a marine with a day pack filled with spares in case we got stuck for a while. you can never have enough ammo if you think you may get hit.
You mean that you had a dedicated ammo humper? What, one in a squad, or fire team? How many spares? Where did all the extra mag's come from? RVN '66-'67 1st Mar Div 0311.
Great points. The military has ammo resupply. In SHTF, you only have what you carry. If you've had to leave your house and have no ammo supply nearby, you're screwed. As a civilian out in the woods, ammo and water are king.
Emergency ammo re-supply for us was, 10K rounds, that was a lot of weight, if you didn't really need it.
14 was most common in Somalia and Iran. Full 7 issued, 210 rounds. Another 7 in your day/mission pack, and as much water as you can carry.
Some of us carried a few spare mags near the bottom of our packs too.
Ammo and water are two of the heaviest things you HAVE to carry, but they are, by far, the two most important consumable items you don't want to run out of.
No lie about the water. You could drink a quart in 15 minutes and still be dehydrated in Iraq. And that's without moving around.
I was an 0321 man 7 of my 12 years. Whether it was indirect or direct action, I always had at least 12 magazines on me. The situation may dictate, but the situation never dictated how much ammo I carried. Whether I was running long range or breaching. One instance we actually had to run a modified QRF to, believer or not, assist CAG and Afghan Kommandos because they were being suppressed by small arms fire and they were out of ammo. These are great guys with a phenomenal skill set, but even with all that skill and knowledge, they were sitting ducks once they ran dry. Stay training, gents, and stay strong so you can carry more than the cool guy four mags. Great video by the way.
@@mixmix1487 semper fi
LAUGHING OUT LOUD! 12 magazines total in a 4 man team.
I think my current minuteman LBV + Ruck is like Ten of my 28 round magazines and Two of my 18 round magazines just for little old me.
God Bless you brother for being unashamed to put this quality truth content out.
This notion of “once it’s time to bury our boots in the butts of a tyrannical force, every single one of us just needs to sneak around and avoid fights” is straight up NUTS.
What if my whole goal is to find enemy forces and hurt them whether or not I think I’ll survive ?? 3 or 4 30 round magazines per ultralight high speed “operator” is ridiculous in my mind. Where is your resupply coming from? The only answer better be “off my enemies’ bodies and in my enemy’s camp” I guess. And if you’re actually that awesome/anointed then hats off to you.
I wondered if my 18 30 rounders on me, 40 in the rifle and 8 more 30s in my pack was enough but you carry more than it looks like anyone else here does.
As a fellow U.S. Army Combat Veteran, you make a lot of great & valid points. At a minimum, Seven 30 round magazines need to be carried, because that is a combat load. 👍🏾🇺🇸
Coors LIght Tactics lol, I'm down for these lessons any day.
Facts
Make it real interesting and make it 80 proof fifths!!!
Using beer as a prop speak to me on a spiritual level.....well I guess beer in general does 🤷♂
Good vid and point bro. I carried 16-20 mags and 4 bandoleers in 1980 and 6 canteens, it sucked, but when rounds was flying you forgot about it. We didn't have vests, just our LBE
We reported back to company or Div 😊
@@cappyjack3070 I'm scratching my head
no body armor worn on that era right?
@@SyntaxError0287 flack jackets
Thanks for the eye opener!
I was in
Vietnam 71-72…i carried
10 bandolers …. 1000 rds 5.56……water & ammo are life…..beer & pussey is later….. the plane i flew over over on was full 219 seats…. The same type plane coming back was half full….you figure it out….
In simplistic terms. Its Halo CE versus Halo 2.
In Halo CE your AR has. 60 round mag, that you can carry 10 spare. That's 600 rounds. Majority of the time that will get you through half or almost all the way through mission without having to resupply or change weapons
In Halo 2 you have a BR with 36 round mag and you can only carry 4 spare.... 120 is what they give you in game. Even though that number doesn't add up to 4 full mags
There is not a single Halo 2 mission that you are not down to you last or second to last mag by the end of each fire fight
Halo 2 compared to 1 in general pushed out effective engagement distances with the covenant carbine, battle rifle, beam rifle, etc., but seeing as how that just led to a low-risk play style where most enemies were not even a little effective against the player, they just limited the ammo capacity of all those guns.
I wish they upped the effectiveness of enemies at distance, or made them close to engage the player better.
You guys do realize that you are using video games as reference points! How much does 600 rounds weigh? On top of all your other standard gear! Light is faster and quieter than hauling everything plus the kitchen sink! Minutemen probably won't have any backup or resupply coming to them so in most areas things like water, food, shelter all will have some level of priority! Also, the minutemen have the advantage of home turf, they can and should have multiple caches already in place before they can effectively patrol an area as well as pre-made OPs, LPs and ambush sites!
@@bombomos
Guys it's a game, not reality. You won't be able to carry all of your necessary gear plus 600 rounds of ammo. Do a real load out and then try to move effectively. Not happenning. Do some real world training and you will become educated real fast.
This has to be the most real life informative comment section and video ever. Been reading for a while now. Realized that my understanding has been correct. Carry tons of ammo. Thank you to all the vets, active duty, police and every other person protecting our freedoms. GOD bless us all.
I've been arguing with people for years brother keep spreading the word hopefully they'll listen to you we do not have a resupply we do not have a medical tent to go back to with surgeons people need to understand this is not about looking cool and having fun if you're not willing to actually die for your cause stay at home people need to be running through the woods right now with a plate carrier and plenty of mags with stripper clips in your bag ready to feed your mags I pray that God bless this Republic and keep it even though I feel that we no longer deserve it
Amen amen and amen brother
I'm bringing a red wagon full of magazines with me. This is some excellent information man. The Coors Light visual aids are great, definitely keep them going.
I second all that.
😂😂😂 you sir, rock!
Radio Flyer resupply is actually pretty fucking rad. I like it.
@joshuajones6513 that's exactly the ol' red wagon I was thinking about as I wrote that.
@@KirkHermary I know. We old folks are still out here.
"Carry all the ammo and water you can on your person." ~ CSM Don Purdy
I think he was my brothers CSM in 3rd Ranger BN in the late 80s. He submitted a training plan where all of the Rangers were shot in the leg with a 22 - then ruck march, so they knew what it was like.
@@OldMusicFan83wtf are you talking about
Suppression is hell of a lot more than "just shooting". It's limiting enemy movement, and providing potential casualties on target. If you can pin the enemy, you can advance or retreat. To do so, you need ammo. My community teaches and practices infantry skills through Arma 3. Super useful tool
Don't forget to let everyone know that most of the fighting will be at night when you can't see squat . Alot of people think it will be like a Wild West gun fight . Thanks for the video and how to make tactical movements . Definitely want buddies that have trained together .
@@drd1924 realistically after about 3 days I'd say 7 to be safe most people's night vision isn't going to work anymore due to a lack of thinking about power sources. People tend to worry about having 30 magazines and goggles and forget about not so sexy things like water purification and batteries.
I've been on both ends of the spectrum - I was the dude carrying a minimum of 12 mags on body and 10+ in a team bag every time I went for a walk, then cut back to 7 mags (6 in the rig and 1 in the blaster) when our DA ops got a little more up-tempo and shorter duration...then we got stuck on a hillside, pinned by a DShKM, and everyone went dry in the 3+ hours that followed - I'm still here because an Apache saved our a$$es.
I went back to carrying a minimum of 420 rounds on body.
The moral of the story is told for me around the 9:04 of this video.
I wish you were drinking Banquet instead of Light...
FACTS bro, on point and great examples.
Minimum combat load I had in the Army was 8 (7 on rig and 1 in the gun) with at least 3 or more in my patrol bag (on top of all my 40mm ammo and an extra nutsack for the SAW gunner, and then more in our Humvees), in Contracting we also run a minimum of 8 (same deal) and a metric shitton more in our vehicles and get home bags (very reliant on that per the nature of the work).
Just on my personal Chest Rig, it can hold 8 to 10 AR Mags (if I'm not carrying a radio and other bits and bobs, then +1 in the gun be that a drum, 40 rounder or coupled mags, whatever) and have a minimum of 3 to 5 or more mags in my day patrol bag.
Same deal for LBE's, should be no less than 8 on the rig and 1 in the gun along with whatever else you have with you to carry some more. That's a base minimum standard everyone should have/ attain.
8 mags on rig + 1 in the gun and exactly enough ammo in the pack to reload all primary mags once, some of said ammo usually in spare mags for emergency use or a quick refit.
@@theGhostofRoberttheBruce Yeah pretty much in any configuration thereof, if you wanna carry 8-10 more loaded mags in your day/ patrol pack too, do it, whatever works and fills the need of a proper combat load plus.
At that point just quit the damn war. Sheesh. How are your knees and back?
@@User78813 Ahhh no these are practical TTP's for adequate operational load capacity.
There is a difference to a combat/ patrol load and a sustainment load (with a large Rucksack). Operational practices are to stage your sustainment load once at your established PB/ OP/ COP/ whatever and then regulate equipment for priority only for patrol load, so you're shedding weight and staying as light as possible while having what you need with you.
A combat/ patrol load is nothing compared to a full sustainment load moving on foot, your knees and back should not be hurting at all with a patrol load.
We used to carry 22 mags, 2 frags, one LAW, one claymore and a pound of C4, plus a case of C-rations. That was our body armor too. We would fire the LAW in the first or second firefight so we wouldn't have to carry it any further.
Custer died because he went into combat with only 40 rounds per trooper. Carrying enough ammo is always the biggest question for the PBI.
Wow!
Really great video!!! As a 11B for 8 years your video is 100% on point. I always carried 13 mags minimum!!!
As an ex LRS guy, the amount of ammo you carry will be mission dependant. It's up to you and your team to decide how much ammo you are going to need. Minuteman defense forces will require a lot of observation with a few well planned strikes on supply chains to crush the moral of your enemy. I believe minutemen should be light and fast for probing missions like reconnaissance or supply chain disruption. Good leadership and well planned missions is going to be extremely crucial!
Friendly fortified defensive positions will require the most ammo. Breaking contact is 1000m or a major terrain feature and it will require a lot of ammo especially if you dont have a good exit plan. Have multiple exit plans! If your infil route is a long one, you should identify multiple rally points along the way for a break contact situation (perhaps a rally point between every valley or ridge line). Contact is most likely on infil and exfil, so that's when you should have extra ammo on your body. Within your OP or hide sight, you can lighten the load. I recommend bounding techniques for all your movements so that if contact is made, you dont have all your eggs in one basket. It will reduce the signagure of your movement, but Also, it keeps your guys fresh as theres more breaks from humping heavy gear.
"If you aint cheating, you aint trying"
Make every fight unfair in your favor.
I had to look up what LRS means. Your feedback makes more sense than the video!🎉 Ex military rescue seaman...if I go into the jungle for whatever reason I will bring a 44 Magnum revolver, a machete & a tomahawk.
3-4 in a chest rig sounds about right for a SWAT team executing a search warrant or dealing with a couple of barricaded bank robbers. Everyone else... it's a little light. "Amateurs study tactics, pro study logistics" has been quoted to death, but when your log is what you're carrying turns into "carry more ammo".
As much as possible... thats your answer. Ammo will supply you with all other needs and wants
I am a nurse in an Evac unit. I command that unit. I am not a combattant and not expected to end up in a TIC... I carry six to eight magazines for my long weapon and three for my side-arm.
So when people who want to look all ally carry less than the softest guy on the battlefield, they're being incredibly stupid and likely to end up in my care!
This is the first video I’ve seen on your channel and I very much appreciate your input and advice. Up until now I was going for a “maneuverability over firepower” thought process, but this makes a ton of sense. Keep it up and thank you for the content!
Thank you for keeping things real & the Coors light tactics work for me. I was a maintainer on Navy jets so I started from scratch in the personal kinetics field . The Marines I have had an opportunity to ask about this subject agree with you whole heartedly. If you think you have enough your wrong.
I'm an old retired Zoomie and even in the AF I thought the standard load out was a joke. State side it was only 4 magazines. When I was at Kunsan AB ROK it was only 7 and during exercises we'd often run out of ammo. When I went out as Red team, I carried as many as I could cram into pouches, pockets and even packs, but then we were just 6 guys against an entire base.
In the late 90s we (Canadian infantry) were shown a new load bearing vest that we were about to be issued. All pouches were sewn in position and it was not modify-able. We criticized it for only having 4 mag pouches. The rep from HQ sputtered about that being all we needed. Afterall, your EIS (eqpt issue scale) was only 5 mags. We jumped on him verbally and pointed out that this was for peacetime... war was different. We cited examples (as you do at the end of the video). I read an account of Australian soldiers in Vietnam who had back packs with additional mags that, when added to their belt kit, would total 20... and these were steel FAL mags with 7.62 rds in them!
By the time I overcame some medical issues and did my first deployment to Afghanistan, we'd been there for 8 yrs. Luckily we'd learned some valuable lessons. Despite just being there in a staff weenie capacity, I was still issued 10 mags and 300 rds of ammo... standard for every soldier on the deployment - regardless of their job. Of course the LBV I had still only had 4 mag pouches... can't have everything...
Still the same most Australians will still carry as much ammo as possible regardless of what some of our directives are.
And that vest with only 4 mag pouches is still the issued tac vest today (they tell you to use the side pouches, but it's not really ideal). Now you see a lot of guys just pay out of pocket for their own vest/plate carrier/chest harness to make up for shortcomings in our kit.
@@kutter_ttl6786 My second time to Afg I had bought (from CP Gear) 2, 2xmag envelope-style mag holders that wedge behind the basic pouch on one side and the water bottle on the other. This, with the one on the rifle, would provide 9 mags fairly handy. This kept the basic pouch relatively free for other needed items.
Mag storage for the Browning was another issue...
In 1988 my MI company commander had me sit down with the LSRD commander for a conference. For the record, I was no super trooper, just read a lot of comic books. One recommendation was doubling the rifleman's basic load because breaking contact ONCE would take at least four magazines and quite likely more--and then the LSRD would have to fight its way to the pickup point. I had historical references including Vietnam special operations war stories that made it into open sources. A minimum of nine magazines was good as long as the LSRD managed to minimize contact, but I recommended 12 to 14 loaded magazines and if they could stand the weight, another bandolier or two . The "20 magazines" in Vietnam were 20-round magazines loaded with 18 cartridges each, 360 rounds or a dozen STANAG rifle magazines. Ones LSRD was detected in the rear of the Red Army, everything was going to be hunting for them. At the time, LSRU didn't have the M249, they were swapping out their M16A1 for M16A2 rifles.
There was another problem--by doctrine, LRSU and LSRD six-man teams were supposed to be information people, not primarily fighters. That would all change in war because if the LSRU was already there, using those people for sabotage or for removing key personnel or even disrupting command post operations in violation of doctrine. Demolition gear isn't rifle ammo but the means to set off enemy munitions meant a couple of pounds of C4 plus caps, fuse and fuse igniters--these needed to have enough delay to permit the saboteur to get out of blast radius, and these long-delay improvised hand grenades could be used to slow pursuit if they went off thirty to ninety seconds after activation instead of three to five seconds for the M67 frag. Nothing like an unanticipated boom-boom to slow down the enemy. Tanks were going to be a problem, but the enemy would have light armor recon vehicles used for rear security duties. The M433 DP 40mm grenade could take care of the latter ON PAPER and the M203 was standard issue, but with mission critical gear (at least two radios and a supply of batteries) the 40mm grenade and the M72 LAW were going to be painful excess weight--until suddenly the patrol needed a dozen of them.
Stick together or break up into two- or three-man teams? Sticking together made for greater firepower, could overwhelm the usual Soviet or East German squad (if they were on foot, too), If it was a platoon that was still mounted up in their armored carriers, outrunning a BTR-60 wasn't going to be easy. Popping one or two light armor vehicles might be necessary. Fortunately, troops under armor are deaf and blind. If not, and without proper anti--tank weapons, small arms fire would at least keep them buttoned up--perhaps they'd run into a stone wall or a tree or flip over in a ditch that the driver couldn't see. Suppressive fire gobbles up ammo supplies.
Thanks. It turned out that my advice was not necessary. This video says that I gave good advice.
Great video. As a former USAF guy this was never something we really spoke about, we were more about base defense, where all the ammo is. My thought processes are shifting, thanks for the heads-up.
Excellent vid. I'm ex-Navy, no ground experience, so stuff like this from guys like you .... is gold ....Thanks!!
My thought process has always been exactly as you said, I don’t have belt feds, Carl g’s, overwatch, a drone over head or air support… I need to be able to lay down as much firepower as possible.
I'm a precision rifle shooter and I agree.... I want as much as I can push pull and drag .....ammo ammo ammo and more
In regaurds to this I need some advice as to "Am I doing the right things?" from people who are more in the know than me. So my wife and I have the same rigs for us to wear if SHTF for emergency GTFO situations. We both have AR-15's that are set up for ourselves so slightly different. But on our rigs we can each carry 6 AR mags, a glock 17, and 4 extra pistol mags on the front. On the back we each carry an additional 8 AR mags. Each rig has bladders for up to 3 liters of water which can be quick filled. Each has an IFAK while her rig contains more extensive medical supplies and mine contains the heavier stuff like electronics. Each of us can feesably if not easily/quickly reach 4 of the 8 AR mags off our back for ourselves if we need it. The mags on the back are mostly there for eachother to reload and resupply off of. I have been told the mags on the back are useless and the idea of carrying a pistol on a chest rig is also useless. I just find the idea to be able to reach into my closet grab the rig throw it on, grab my rifle and run and be out of the house in under 60 sec appealing even though its likely we would have more time. What is the interwebs opinion?
If you cannot reach your mags you might as well not carry them. I had 8 mags on my kit: 4 in front 2 on each side. The front ones can be difficult to get when you pinned down on your face that’s why I like the side option. And I like them on both sides for the same reason ease of use if one side is harder to get than the other.
I started off carrying my M9 with me but soon decided I’d rather have that weight be extra ammo for my M4. However most of my engagements were from 200-800 meters so the pistol was useless. If I was closer or CQB more often I would keep the pistol. Just my thoughts.
I also had 8 more mags in my daypack and a bandoleer
It has been 31 years since Mogadishu. They had helicopter back up, and got shit beat out of them when they ran out of water and ammo. They were Rangers and Delta.
Civilian here. I have a few rigs for different purposes. A chest rig with four mags and medical staged with my HD rifle, a couple of larger chest rigs for general purpose use, plate carrier+battle belt, PLCE webbing for a get home rig, an ‘83 pattern South African battle jacket that holds ten mags and a gallon of water and medical without even trying, and a few other options. Pretty sure I’m not going to not make it for want of gear or ammo….. Now to get that cardio up…..
I’ve watched every John Wick movie 12 times. I should be able to take on a well trained, platoon sized element with a G19 and one and a half mags!
But, John Wick had cheat codes, for ammo, health and such ; )
@@rebel_infinity7326
Yeah, not to mention huge amounts of plot armour too..being the main Rockstar & all.
And, all the movie bad guys are inept, and largely irrelevant, except when their scripted not to be..
Not so much, in real life.
A pencil. For gods sake, don't forget your combat pencil!
Yazzz ammo, ammo, ammo.. Thanks for your no BS assessment of this. I laugh when guys say they carry a full load out lol.... in the SHTF scenario you need to be carrying at least 10 mags loaded along with rounds on stripper clips in your assault pack to reload them! Enough said and excellent info bro! You are clearly speaking from experience as I and I'm picking up what you are putting down bro!
Great video. Finally a logical honest person giving real world advise from real world experience.
I know someone who has three 7.62 x 39 rifles and only has seventeen magazines for all of them. (Some are thirty round, others are twenty-eight and twenty round magazines.) That equals about 145 rounds with five magazines for one and around 170 rounds for the other two men. They hope that is enough to hold out. Magazines can take a while to reload.
I am a veteran of a thousand pyschic wars.. for real.. great channel thanks grunt
I’ve been running an ELBV kit. 6 mags on the chest, 6 mags on the waist. It also carries 2 quarts of water on the belt and I run a 2 or 5 liter camelback in a backpack. I have been doing some hikes with that weight and it’s very manageable if you train. You could run a slick plate carrier under the kit as well.
As a patrol officer, I carried 13 30-round AR mags. One in my M4 carbine, three on the front of my active shooter plate carrier, three more in a velcro shingle to loan out at gun calls, and six more in my patrol bag on the front passenger seat in case any of us needed more ammo from my patrol car.
@supertrooper7403 Thank you. I love that movie. I should watch it right meow.
Bro gonna get his patrol car broken into while he's getting donuts one day
You are RIGHT! I have previous military experience, and I agree with you that AMMO is the most important thing.
Ammo, yes. Period. A question or thought about plate carriers in the woods / hills. Drop the plates and still use the carriers with maybe just soft armor inserts. (I am aware they won't stop rife rounds)
Thoughts below.
I can definitely tell you’ve lived it and learned from it while still learning. New sub here. Stay sharp
As a civilian you will have zero support… I just say have multiple load outs for different things… have a bandolier and honestly you need as much ammo as you can carry…. I think the biggest thing is when is it too much…. Most people with sense get have a lot of it…but when is it too much?
when you are back on your side of the wire getting chow and some zees
This right here. You shouldn't need twelve mags for home defense. I have a four mag chest rig staged with my HD rifle... But serious SHTF usage? 100%. As much ammo as possible is the way.
You need as much ammo as you can realistically physically carry for assaults/raids, ambushes, etc, especially if you're operating as a partisan/guerrilla in a small unit in an asymmetrical fight.
@@theGhostofRoberttheBruce agreed, only thing is a lot of things will play into how much you can bring.. are you using vehicles or not , how far do you have to go.. how many are in the squad you’re working with.. things like that.. in my mind though the most important things are Ammo then water, some medical, but I guess that’s why I’m a unit some guys carry different amounts of something then others, in your personal preparing you have to do it all and that’s why it can get complicated
@RedDawnReadiness it truly is a slow process of stocking and training, stocking and training. Both can pay dividends even without SHTF too which makes the whole prep process easier to stomach as a way to spend stupid amounts of cash.
A thing I would like to add is I see a lot of guys train as if once they take contact they immediately bound to the contact or break contact. The truth is the first thing you should do is immediately seek cover you are not going to last long by thinking you can just immediately start pushing towards contact with out seeking some type of cover. Super important and I feel like way to many ppl train to react and they push or break contact but none of them are actually reacting to contact and rushing to cover immediately.
Thank you for sharing knowledge im no Rambo I'm a a 55yr old retired rough neck and I'm not able to charge the enemies.. but I am smart enough to know to try to be as prepared as I can with my limited income and know knowledge is very important to a guy like myself. I appreciate you teaching me vital things that will help me stay in the fight longer than I would without knowing
I will always carry a full 8 mags. I even carry extra mags in a bag for my EDC pistol.
In 2005 in Baghdad while my unit was helping put up barriers for polling sites so the Iraqis could vote, my Bradalac driver hit some concrete and got us stuck right in the middle of a round about off a major msr(I don't remember the msr)
It was 3AM and all the pog's we had been escorting just moshed home, and the other Squads and Bradalacs went back to get the tow dudes.
I don't remember how long it took for them to get back, but when they got back to us we had blown through just about all our ammo.
I had maybe 10 rounds left, we had only 7 rounds left for the SAW.... Everybody was down to less than half a mag
And that's JUST from firing warning shots at everybody to not come fuckin near us
I always make sure to be able to carry a minimum of 10 mags on my chest rig or plate carrier and belt. I keep a 40 rounder in the gun and 6-10 more in my patrol pack
It’s just different
I know swat guys who get out of their trucks with a 20 round mag in their rifle and a 30 round mag in their pocket, play their pistol
I don’t think attempting to duplicate an infantry platoon is the best way to go but if that’s your plan you’re going to need a sh!t of ammo to make up not having indirect fire support, spicy rocks, crew served’s etc etc
When hunting with my .308 bolt action I take the box of ammo I opened and 20 to 60 more rounds (pistol rounds included) depending on how long I plan on hiking and where I'm at. North Idaho which has plenty of black bears. Grizzly Bears. Mountain Lions and Wolves. I'd hate to fall, break a leg and only have what's in my rifle and pistol. My back pack for hunting has at least one extra knife also. Plus food, water, socks and the usual. I'd rather carry a heavy pack with to much than not enough.
OUTSTANDING, TOTALLY AGREE you are right.
Have been in many situations where I was the only one that came prepared. My wife understands now,but early on she would give me the eye when we would go out. Prepared is self sufficiency squared. Think about this; how many times have you went somewhere and only planned on being out for 15 minutes and it turned into hours. Thats when you enjoy knowing your preps and go bag are with you. No better piece of mind!
All the mags and ammo.
I had the otv iba with the side plate carrier,i carried four extra mags in each side plate for a total of twenty one mags.
390, 12 mags in my rig and 1 in the rifle. Plus whatever I toss in my pack.
In civilian law enforcement for over 30 years. Granted, not the same as our wartime military members, but we started carrying large amounts of mags and boxes of ammo… extra mags for our sub guns on the tactical and different types for penetration, etc. ammo is gold, ammo is life.
I just happened across your video, so I don't know who your followers are, but as a JAG - read that Special Staff - I had a 12 mag loadout. Some people laughed about the silly JAG, but as a prior service Marine, more ammo means less bleeding. I loved your explanation. Thanks. Course I'm too old for this stuff anymore. I'd probably get a hernia trying to carry my old loadout. LOL.
When I was first in Iraq I went from 7 mags standard and by the end of my first tour I was carrying at least 12 or 13. 7 on me and 5 or 6 more in my assault pack. In Afghanistan I always had 13 fully loaded Mags and a spare ammo can of loose 5.56 in our Mrap. My whole team did that each.
Plenty of mags, water, salt and some sugar.
The SOF guys probably stole that idea from the guerrillas and insurgents. During the Vietnam war, the Vietcong went with three mags plus one in their riffle. They were light on their feet and they were not there to sustain a firefight but to hit the enemy from an ambush and disappear back in the jungle. That is why they carried only a limited amount of magazines. In this country if a war breakout, insurgents and guerrillas would be better using that tactic. Shoot at the enemy and disappear.
Yes, but to listen to whst he said about breaking contact/withdrawing? I guess not.
Infantry Marine Iraq and Afghanistan vet here, my gear load was close to 200 pounds....and because I'm the big guy I get the SAW. 23 pounds for my machine gun, then 6.9 pounds per 200 round drum which I was carrying 10 total. Almost 70 pounds of ammo, so 1 drum attached to my weapon 2 in my chest pouches 7 drums packed into my assault pack. Then my Molle vest, helmet, plates probably another 30 pounds. Food water medical supplies and breaching tools....no wonder my lower back is fked up.
SOG Tilt Meyer.."I would carry at least thirty-four 20-round magazines for the CAR-15 - we only placed 18 rounds in each magazine, which gave me 612 rounds for that weapon, and at least 12 rounds for the M-79. The CAR-15 magazines were placed in ammo pouches or cloth canteen pouches, with the bottoms facing up to prevent debris from getting into the magazine and all of the rounds pointing away from the body. We taped black electrical tape to the bottom of each magazine to make it easier to grab them out of the pouch during firefights. I also carried 10 to 12 fragmentation grenades, a few of the older M-26, the newer M-33 “baseball” grenades and one or two V-22 mini-grenades".....So how much more weight did all them nades add? No nades? How many more mags can you carry without them then.
Haha the coors light tactics videos are great. Keep it up 👍
No Bud Light?
I think we need to get you a Coors Light sponsorship 🤣🤣
In seriousness, for extra ammo, is it all in Magazines, or split between half in a can, and half in mags?
It is better to have them in mags, if you can get extras. Canned or loose ammo is better than nothing. If you have a pause, in a few minutes you can reload some mags.
@IntoTheVoid1981 That makes sense! Thank you! Maybe a small can for an extra 240 rds 😁
@@briangrant2005 In AFG I used to have 10 mags on me for my M4, and around 300 loose ammo in a bag in my backpack..
I had my AK in the Humvee, with 10 mags and two 75 rds drums, a collapsible bipod and an AMD muzzle brake. We used this AK as a LMG.
I had a M203 on my M4, I carried smoke and illum, but I had 9 DP with me in a bandolier, and 5-8 in my backpack.
Plus my sidearm, a 9 mm with two mags.
And a M9 LanCay bayonet.
I am not american, so we were issued another types of firearms too. We had M4, AK, PKM, M249B, NSVT, DShK, M2HB, Mk19, RPG, M24, SVD, Glock 17, and a certain type of anti-material rifle I wouldn't name, because it instantly gives away from where I am coming. 😅
@@IntoTheVoid1981 sounds like you like to party 🥳🥳🥳
I'm low on ammo is the last thing you want to hear in a firefight.
@sauliluolajan-mikkola620 That will never happen
And you don’t ever want to hear “Fix Bayonets”.
Carried 21 30rd mags for the M4. 13 HE 40mm rds, four smoke and two illums for the M79 and five pistol mags with one being in the pistol. On top of that carried 4 frags, two smokes and one WP. On top of that carried a unit radio and a sat com and a gps. Also water and power bars...no room for any kind of food. On the leg opposite the pistol carried a med blowout pouch. Some other small things I can't recall right now....fun days.
an old soldier i knew in UK replied to me when asked this very question --His answer was very succinct-MORE!!!!
My minimum ammo load out was 7 mags of 29 (203rds.) Scout plt.