American Rifle - Alexander Rose [280]
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67. “Colt’s, Inc., Is Awarded $4,305,750 Army Order; GE Receives Contracts,” Wall Street Journal, November 3, 1964, p. 5. The breakdown for the order is noted in Stevens and Ezell, Black Rifle, p. 157.
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68. “Brooklyn Navy Yard Will Close,” New York Times, November 20, 1964, p. 1. See also “Navy Yards at Brooklyn, Portsmouth, N.H., to Close, 2 on West Coast to Merge in Big Pentagon Cutbacks,” Wall Street Journal, November 20, 1964, p. 3. The Journal mentioned Springfield just once, in a comprehensive, small-type catalog of all the closures.
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69. On the number of employees who did not go to Rock Island, see Ezell, Lightweight Rifle, p. 385.
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70. Quoted in Stevens and Ezell, Black Rifle, p. 99.
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71. On Westmoreland’s career and background, see “Combat-Ready General,” New York Times, April 27, 1964, p. 6.
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72. See, for instance, H. G. Moore and J. L. Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young: Ia Drang: The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1992), passim.
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73. For a profile of Hal Moore, see “Pursuer of Vietcong,” New York Times, January 31, 1968, p. 9; and for details on Lieutenant Marm’s exploits, “Charges Vet Foe to Show Way to Mates,” Chicago Tribune, November 25, 1965, p. B6; “Didn’t Like Fighting, Gets Valor Award,” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1966, p. 17; “Lieutenant, Iadrang Hero, Wins the Medal of Honor,” New York Times, December 20, 1966, p. 6.There’s a small discrepancy in the number of casualties ascribed to Marm. Moore and Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once, p. 124, states that there was an NVA officer and eleven soldiers.
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74. W. C. Westmoreland, A Soldier Reports (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1976), p. 158. See also Moore and Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once, pp. 197–98.
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75. Stevens and Ezell, Black Rifle, pp. 196–97.
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76. McNaugher, M16 Controversies, p. 124.
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77. See photo caption adjacent to “Foe Opens Truce-zone Arms Trail,” Washington Post, March 19, 1966, p. A15.
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78. “Colt Wins 45 Million M-6 [sic] Rifle Contract,” Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1966. Details of the contract are printed in Stevens and Ezell, Black Rifle, p. 205. Working out how many weapons were ordered, paid for, and received is a complex business. The clearest summary of all previous orders can be found in the table printed in E. H. Harrison, “M14 and M16 Rifles,” American Rifleman 114, no. 4 (April 1966), p. 57. At the time of writing total orders amounted to 328,299 M16s and XM16E1s. Until its decommissioning, says Harrison, 1,380,346 M14s were made. (Exact estimates differ slightly.)
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79. A perceptive summary of the situation is W. Beecher, “Army Seeks a Rifle to Replace the M-14, Found Erratic in Vietnam Fighting,” New York Times, June 26, 1966, p. 38.
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80. See June 1966 contract details printed in Stevens and Ezell, Black Rifle, p.205.There is a great deal of ambiguity regarding exact numbers, partly owing to secrecy and the continual changes to the Colt contract. I have used the 947,000 figure quoted in the article, “Unit of Colt Industries Gets $25,871,701 Award for Army’s M16 Rifle,” Wall Street Journal, September 5, 1967, p.11.Whereas Stevens and Ezell, p.205, state that Colt’s total income from the amended contract was $91,682,159.88, I have used the Journal’s figure of $106,198,738.
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81. “Pentagon Reports Shortage of Rifles for Last Two Months,” New York Times, November 24, 1966, p. 6.
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82. “Rep. Ichord Says M-16 Dispute Threatens Morale in Vietnam,” New York Times, June 1, 1967, p. 3.
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83. The mechanics of IMR, ball powder, and the cyclic rate is discussed in McNaugher, M16 Controversies, pp. 146–47.
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84. Fallows, “M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story,” p. 63.
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85. For this view, see ibid. and, though I disagree with some of