When in Doubt, Go to Cold … Steel?
In 1981 I completed OCS and headed off to the Infantry Officer Basic Course. Four months of training so high speed, so strenuous and so technical that it could have easily been completed in one month if anyone had had any sense of urgency. Fortunately, in 1981, there was no particular need for urgency.
Be that as it may, the high points of the course were the several field exercises we participated in. MILES (Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System) was the new high tech toy at the time and we used it to simulate real gunfire and real hits. It was WAY more effective than the old system of “Bang! I got you!” “No, you didn’t”"Yes, I did……..” etcetera.
The concept was simple. A laser on the rifle turned on momentarily when you fired a blank. If your laser ‘hit’ someone else, the receiver that he was wearing would detect it and sound a horn conveniently situated by his ear. The only way to turn off the horn (theoretically) was to take the key out of the rifle transmitter and put it into the harness. This turns off the horn AND your rifle. You’re effectively ‘dead’.
The transmitters tended to work a bit loose, so it was really hard to keep your rifle shooting to the point of aim. You had to develop a system of; shoot at center, shoot right, then left, then high, then low. You’d usually hit your opponent by the third or fourth shot and move on to the next one. Most new lieutenants hadn’t been shooting much and never figured this out…….
One of our exercises was a force on force; one platoon defending and two platoons attacking. I was defending in a position with a buddy who had a machine gun. The riflemen only had ninety rounds apiece and the machine guns only had a couple of hundred. if you got shot, you’d turn off your horn, take off your helmet and wait for the exercise to end.
The attackers came out of the woods and started maneuvering on us; we started shooting at them. My drill worked pretty well, because everybody heading for my position ended up with a horn and we were untouched. We kept shooting at the people further to the sides and eventually we both were out of ammunition.
My buddy took his helmet off and waited for Endex but I was a little frustrated. No ammo and the second wave, though broken, was lapping through our lines about 20 meters to my left. I couldn’t shoot them. What to do, what to do. Since I was still alive, my helmet was still on. I decided to see just how much attention anyone was paying and climbed out of my hole, walked casually over to the two closest ‘enemy’ who were lying down shooting, and poked them in the backs with my rifle muzzle.
They were irritated. “What are you doing?”
“I’m stabbing you in the back with my bayonet. You’re dead.”
“You can’t do that! You’re dead already!”
“No,” I pointed out, “There’s my key, still in my rifle. I’m just out of ammunition. You’re dead. Take your keys out and put them in your harness. Then give me your ammunition so I can go shoot some of your buddies…..
They weren’t in a position to shoot me and I WAS in a position to butt stroke them, so they gave up. The trainers called Endex just about that time, though; so I didn’t get to make use of my captured ammunition.