Soldier's Handbook, Continued

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier
--Colin Powell,
p. 1-20 Soldier's Handbook
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On page 6-49 the pamphlet calls the M240B a machine gun, but on page 6-19 the M249 is called an automatic rifle, which is not correct.

If one is a machine gun,then both are MG's. Ditto the rifle appelation. A rifle generally doesn't fire from the open bolt nor is it belt-fed.

The BAR was called a rifle but was magazine-fed, though it did fire through the open bolt. The Bren gun skirted this issue by being called a gun. Both were squad automatic weapons, as is the M249B. The M249 is hardly a rifle.

That such a distinction exists in a Department of the Army pamphlet is confusing to an old soldier, and would clearly confuse a new soldier.

Page 6-37 - Riot Control, Hand Grenades CS are shown but no where is the soldier told that this item is outlawed under current Chemical Weapons protocols. Why is the U.S. Army still using this item?

Page 1-17, under (3a) Courtesies says:

[1] When talking to an officer, stand at attention unless given the order, "At ease." When you are dismissed, or when the officer departs, come to attention and salute.

If a soldier is at attention, how can he talk or respond in any way? When at attention, the soldier is not communicating.

Page 1-21 brings The Declaration of Independence, The Star-Spangled Banner and The Constitution, which are followed in short order (page 1-23) by "Soldier and Family Benefits" and "Tricare" with no segue, as though what preceded logically related to medical benefits.

This struck Ranger as a strange linkage.