Recently reading Blackhorse Riders which talks about mad minutes in night defensive positions -- several times a night, at random points, all the machine guns in an armored cav troop would open up on the jungle for a minute or so. No targets involved, the idea was to break up any forming attack and generally discourage VC/NVA approach to the unit. (Rules of engagement have certainly changed . . .). Anyway, that's not even suppressive fire and was routine back then -- and is also part of those 250K to 1 round/casualty ratios from Vietnam.
|