Fit to be Fried

The term “Claymore” was first used to describe a Scottish Broadsword commonly used to wreak bloody havoc in warfare from 1500 to 1700, a two-hand-wielded behemoth that could cleave a man in two under the force of it’s own gravity, let alone when being swung at you. The focus of this article is not, however, about this monster of a sword, or it’s sissy little brother of the same name, which was used after 1715 in Scotland, and had a basket hilt to “protect the hand while in use” (what a bunch of babies). No, this article is about the M18A1 Claymore Anti-Personnel Mine, a worthy successor to the name, for reasons I’ll now explain.

For one thing, the Claymore mine was invented by an actual Scotsman, by the name of Norman A. MacLeod. Okay, technically, the initial idea behind the Claymore was actually developed by the Germans during World War Two, utilizing the “Misznay-Schardin effect”¹.

The Canadians fielded a similar weapon known as “the Phoenix” to counter the German mines, but it was not until the Korean War that MacLeod began to develop his own utilization, and not until the Vietnam War was the M18A1 finally put into widespread use by the U.S. military.

The M18A1 is particulalrly effective against personnel (hence the name “Anti-Personnel Mine”), as it uses C-4 to fire about 700 steel ball-bearings in a 60° arc at nearly 4,000 ft (or 1,200 meters, for our friends across the pond), rendering anything fleshy directly in front of it into a fine pink mist, and leaving anything anywhere near it’s path in a condition much worse than it had previously enjoyed. It’s casing is made of a hard green plastic with the words “Front Towards Enemy”(duh.) embossed on it’s front. Below is some more info on the Claymore, for those who are interested.

from WikiPedia:

The Claymore mine is typically deployed in one of three modes: Controlled, Uncontrolled, or Time-delayed.

1. Controlled Mode (also known as Command Detonation)
   The mine is detonated by the operator as the forward edge of the enemy approaches a point within the killing zone (20 to 30 meters (65 to 100 ft)) where maximum casualties can be inflicted. Controlled detonation may be accomplished by use of either an electrical or nonelectrical firing system. When mines are employed in the controlled role, they are treated the same as individual weapons and are reported for inclusion in the unit fire plan. They are not reported as mines; however, the emplacing unit must ensure that the mines are removed, detonated, or turned over to a relieving unit. The M57 Firing Device (colloquially referred to as the “clacker”) is included with the M18A1 Claymore Mine so that it can be used in the controlled mode. When Claymore Mines are daisy chained together, one M57 firing device can initiate several claymore mines.

2. Uncontrolled Mode (also known as Victim Initiated Detonation)
   Uncontrolled firing is accomplished when the mine is installed in such a manner as to cause an unsuspecting enemy to detonate the mine. Mines employed in this manner must be reported and recorded as land mines. There are many mechanisms that can be used to initiate the M18A1 in uncontrolled mode, including the M142 Multipurpose Firing Device, M5 Pressure Release Device (mousetrap), tripwires, strikers, infrared sensors, acoustic & vibration sensors.
3. Time-delayed Mode
   Time-delayed firing involves the fitting of a short timed fuse and a fuse igniter to allow the mine to be used as a pursuit deterrent. This, anecdotally, may be combined with a CS grenade or bag containing the irritant contained in a CS grenade. The mine is emplaced, quickly oriented on the direction pursuers are most likely to take, and the fuse is ignited before the position is abandoned.

from Armystudyguide.com:

Once done installing the M18A1, how far behind the mine should the wire be secured?
1 meter

Describe the M18A1
A curved, rectangular-shaped weapon, with an olive drab molded case of fiberglass filled polystyrene (plastic). In the front portion of the case is a fragmentation face containing steel spheres embedded in a plastic matrix. The back portion of the case behind the matrix contains a layer of explosives.

What is the M18A1 primarily used for?
It was designed for use against mass infantry attacks

What is the first step in installing the M18A1?
Inspect the components

How much does the M18A1 weigh?
1.5 lbs

What color is a “training” M18A1?
Blue

How long is the wire that the M4 blasting cap is connected to?
100 ft

Name the components that are in the bandoleer of the M18A1
The M7 bandoleer has two pockets. One pocket contain the mine and the other contains:

* M40 test set
* M57 firing device
* M4 Electric Blasting cap Assembly
* Instructions

Where will you find the instructions for the employment of the M18A1?
Under the flap of the bandoleer

What color is a “live” M18A1?
Green

What is the effective frontal range of the M18A1?
When detonated, the M18A1 mine will deliver spherical steel fragments over a 60° fan-shaped pattern that is 2 meters high and 50 meters wide at a range of 50 meters

Who keeps the M57 firing device while the M18A1 is being installed?
The individual installing the mine

What Field Manual covers the M18A1?
FM 23-23

What are the two sites used on the M18A1 to aim it?
Knife-edge and slit-type peep sights

When aiming the M18A1 using the slit-type peepsight, how far above the ground do you aim?
2 and 1/2 meters above the ground

When aiming the M18A1 using the knife edge sight, how far above the ground do you aim?
You aim at ground level

What type of explosive is used in the M18A1?

1.5 lbs composition C4 (plastic explosive)

One M40 test set is included with how may M18A1 claymores?
1 in each case of 6

What is the killing zone of the M18A1?
About 20 to 30 meters

How far is the danger area to the rear of the M18A1?
16 meters (The mine firing position should be in a foxhole or covered position at least 16 meters to the rear or the side of the emplaced mine.)

semperfried76 is the last hope for humanity.
Too bad he hates you all.

Sadly, the M18A1 Claymore, along with most other landmines, is a weapon whose usefulness in war has been gutted by anti-mine treaties which severely limit it’s use to certain guidelines. Most notably of these is the use of the Claymore in uncontrolled or “tripwire” mode, which requires the most stringent guidelines, including clearly marking the area which has been mined to avoid civilian casualties².

Senator Ted Kennedy was diagnosed this week with an inoperable brain tumor, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I know, nobody wants to say it, in this age of political correctness. How dare we make this kind of judgment call on the man when the Grim Reaper is knocking on his door. To these folks, I cite Hunter S. Thompson’s obituary for former president Richard Nixon as published in his book, Better than Sex; Confessions of a Political Junkie as precedent, and must ask you to kindly shut the fuck up.

Edward Kennedy has been a dagger in the back of the American body politic since even before he ever took office. While in his sophomore year in Harvard¹, he was failing Spanish² and was expelled for paying a friend to take his final exam. After being kicked out of school, Kennedy joined the army, but neglected to read his enlistment papers. His parents were horrified at the notion that their son had signed up for four years instead of two, prompting his father, Joe, to pull strings to get his enlistment reduced and have him stationed in Europe³. Kennedy was allowed to return to Harvard after his enlistment ended, and graduated in 1953. He became a Senator 9 years later when he turned 30, filling Jack Kennedy’s old seat⁴

No matter what anyone tries to say to the contrary, Kennedy got away with the murder of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969. He was, at the time, driving drunk, had an expired license, and a history of reckless driving; in short, he had no business getting behind the wheel of a car, and as a sitting Senator, he damn well knew it. He was acquitted thanks to a team of lawyers paid for through the family fortune, and spent the rest of his life riding on the political legacy of his two smarter, better-looking brothers.

That’s to say nothing of the man’s actual politics. Besides doing everything possible to undermine this country in his tenure as a United States Senator, and actually admitted in 1995 that he was a socialist.

Economist Milton Friedman was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of a national constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. Kennedy argued that a requirement for a balanced budget would restrict the federal government’s power and its ability to spend – thus, he said, Washington’s role in more fairly and equitably distributing wealth, goods and services.

“Senator, socialism hasn’t worked in 6,000 years of recorded history,” explained Friedman. “Why won’t you give up on it?”

Kennedy rose to his feet, according to Nuttle, who attended the hearing, and replied: “It hasn’t worked in 6,000 years of recorded history because it didn’t have me to run it.”⁵

As a Senator, Kennedy has supported Affirmative Action, Amnesty for illegal aliens, partial birth abortion, date-rape⁶, and the former Soviet Union (while it was still the Soviet Union). Kennedy is an America-hater of the worst kind, and blames his country for all the world’s ills, despite having had an active part in the running of said country for over half a century. He is also a collaborator , a sexual deviant and a coward, a man whose life is generally not even worth the cost of a bullet similar to the two that killed his brothers Jack and Bobby.

I, for one, sincerely hope the man never gets better, that the cancer takes it’s time eating his empty brain, that it eats it’s way down to his testicles and that he rots in Hell for all eternity.