Saved Rounds 3.15.24
Articles, resources, and responses for your weekend coffee
Editor’s Note: Saved Rounds is a weekly post for the CxFile Staff to share articles, resources, and responses we’ve found to the wider audience.
Retrans - Responses from the Community- DMX solutions
We posted two DMX 1-Turn Down Service solutions this week! Thank you to Captain Nathaniel Lambert and Brendan McBreen for sharing their ideas with our community of practice! BZ gentlemen! DMX solutions we are sent will be posted in Notes, so that the greater CxFile community can share in the debate. We recommend downloading the Substack App for easier access and use of Notes. Steel sharpens steel, so we need you to join in the conversation.
Reminder: DMX 2 is up. Jump back into the jungle with India 3/7 as patrol base operations take a dangerous turn for India 2 in “Bumps in the Night.”
Solutions are due NLT 21 March. Send them to cxfile0302@gmail.com for a chance at publication!
The Bulletin Board
Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose
From the author of Band of Brothers comes this outstanding account of one of Great Britain's many contributions to Operation Overlord in World War II. Pegasus Bridge tells the story of D Company, 2d Battalion (Arirborne) of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry under Major John Howard. On the night before D-Day, Major Howard and his glider-borne infantry company's task was to seize a key bridge, and "hold until relieved," by British forces moving inland from the Normandy Beaches. Just over 200 pages, this is a classic study in company level combat operations and leadership, with many lessons that span from training and planning to the nature of war for both officers and NCOs.
UAS Article
Outgunned in the Drone Fight: The US Military is Failing to Adopt the Next Machine Gun from War on the Rocks
Written by a Marine infantry officer, Walker Mills, this article draws parallels between the British Army's initial underestimation of the machine gun's importance in World War I and the current U.S. military's slow adoption of small drones. Specifically for infantry unit, the authors highlight bureaucratic resistance and traditional thinking as hindrances to effective integration. They argue that without overcoming these obstacles and decentralizing drone ownership and deployment, the U.S. military risks being unprepared for modern warfare, similar to how the British Army suffered early in WWI due to its initial lack of machine guns. Worth your time.
From the Feed
“Trench Assault by International Legion in Ukraine” by Butusov Plus
This is highly informative UKR Combat Footage, which captures an assault by ‘Chosen Company’ of International Volunteers on enemy platoon (-) battle position. This is a very intense video which captures high fidelity close combat. This video serves as an excellent basis for discussion with your small unit leaders. Though there is a lot to dissect and unpack, here are our biggest takeaways:
-Basic skills dominance. Physical fitness, close range marksmanship, cycle of the infantryman, small unit tactics, TCCC, and more, are all executed with aggression. And lots of Frags.
-Drones. UKR side has at least one drone up to give eye in the sky the whole time, but do not have dominance of the air as they take at least 3 Russian FPV strikes (you can hear their distinctive noise mentioned in our last saved round). We see a lot of killcam footage of successful FPV strikes but this is a good reminder that they’re not perfect. In this case they’re not enough to break the momentum of the assault.
-Geometries of fire. It’s going to get tight up close and this will give your Battalion Gunner a heart attack.
-Human factors. “You’re alive mate, you’re alive.”
Have you found footage online that you have used as training aids or discussion material for your Marines? Please send us a tip and we’ll include it for the next Saved Round.
Let your battle buddy know you are thinking about their lethality and send them this post.
Have an article or book you want to share with the community? Have a reaction or response to one of our posts? Send your traffic and we’ll serve as your retrans site.