Your Pro Citizen Newsletter 37 - Standardize for success, Weekly Discount Code

Standardization can be a Combat Multiplier

By Jack Morris

 “Amateurs talk about tactics, but experts study logistics”.
- General Omar Bradley

This quote (usually attributed to Bradley during WWII but no one really knows) reminds us to focus on more than range drills and how Jimmy keeps crowding the interval in the fire team wedge. This quote isn’t a pass for our study and practice of small unit tactics, it is a reminder that tactics and logistics cannot be uncoupled.

Preparing to be a functioning member or establishing the rules and standards for your team must be a mindful process. Developing the ad-hoc logistical systems to supply and feed ourselves, families, and neighborhoods are the greatest challenge to this whole idea. Many in the community do not have an appreciation for just how hard this would be. That is a lot to take on for a Tuesday morning, but we can start small and think about some of our personal decisions that can make or break these local post-crisis logistical systems. The decisions you make long before you become a member of a team will matter, consider the holistic effects of your choices on the group. There is a reason successful logistical systems require standardization, to do otherwise would make an already complex system fall apart.

You will always be a burden on the logistical system no matter how developed it becomes. The key is for us to minimize the logistical burden as much as possible. Making smart hardware choices is the start point for doing so. Everybody loves talking about firearms, so let’s look at the subject through the resupply lens. While we can’t paralyze ourselves into inaction, we must be deliberate about the decisions we make when we equip and arm ourselves (choosing survival and prepper type firearms (.22 LR for example) is not within the scope of this discussion). The availability of ammo, firearms components and repair parts may be in short supply or non-existent during a large-scale event. We have all seen the ammo and firearm shortages under somewhat normal conditions, these scarcities will be significantly worse as production and supply chains are disrupted. Selecting a common caliber for primary and secondary firearms will be critical as will choosing something that will probably be available in large quantities. If most of your local team/group trains and shoots 5.56 and 9mm then it would be wise to follow suit. Agreeing upon this now will go a long way toward mitigating resupply and cross-leveling challenges that can arise after a crisis. While standardization is required, deleting variations of weapons and calibers that may cause an associated loss of capability should be carefully assessed. For example, a 7.62x51 MSW (Medium Support Weapon) is an outstanding combat multiplier in your team. You and your group may decide it is reasonable to add these even at the expense of logistically supporting a second rifle cartridge. At a minimum your family should be standardized and centered on one rifle caliber and one pistol caliber (caliber is not an encapsulating term, we just use an imprecise shorthand term to denote specific cartridge selection). And there is no increased capability in having different calibers for secondary weapons (pistols) in a team. Standardizing 9mm as the secondary weapons for your family and group is the only logical choice. If you have the “bUt it Won twO wORld waRs!” dude in your midst you may want to reconsider.

Weapon Type Commonality. To be an effective force community groups must focus on having as much commonality as possible across like weapons. Having a “one off” gun in your family or group that would otherwise be caliber compatible with others in the team is not optimal (eg your stubborn uncle with a Mini 14). For same caliber long guns of different manufacture or model the magazines should be interchangeable. For example, mixing FALs and AR-10s as enhanced battle rifles is a sub-optimal solution: same ammo, different mags is a non-starter. A similar issue would be a mag fed 5.56 firearm that will not accept the entirety of STANAG / NATO or commercial magazine brands. Specific weapon choice aside, just bringing these mixed magazine types together (the Mini 14 / AR example) for your team would not be a good course of action. If your gun doesn’t like PMAGs it is not practical to use as a member of a fire team. Your buddy may have to slide you a PMAG in the middle of an engagement, having a gun that is incompatible is a non-starter.

Ego has consequences. You aren’t special, don’t act like it. If you show up to a training event and a team or group member asks “that is a baller gun dude, what is that?” you have probably made a bad choice. We as a community are great at expending our resources on guns. We will buy random, obscure, and impractical firearms with regularity. Acquiring a niche or novelty firearm is best left to the collectors. We do not have the luxury of optimizing and chasing capabilities to obtain a purpose-built gun for every situation, always remember good enough is good enough.

  A high quality AR/M4 pattern 5.56 rifle or carbine is the primary firearm for every Professional Citizen. - Jack Morris

Doing METT-TC analysis and wargaming with your family or team will uncover a discrete set of probabilities you may face. Outside of the requirement to have a specific covert or concealable long gun solution, optimizing a gun and optic for a single use case can be a trap we fall in to when we overthink the problem set. Having a 10.5 inch 300 blk carbine for room clearing, a 20 inch 6.5 Creedmoor chambered rifle with a 2-10x optic for long range shooting, and a 16 inch general purpose carbine for standard use is counterproductive. Not only will pursuing niche solutions consume your personal resources, the odds of being able to choose “the” specific one when you need it are low. Choose quality, choose the best all-around solution for your requirements in your Area of Operation (AO), and most importantly learn and become an expert with the gun you have. Selecting the right firearm and accessories is a small portion of being capable and lethal; attempting to buy capability is a false solution. The combat effective individual is not the one with a basement full of ammo and a collection of boutique firearms. The man who knows his rifle inside and out, has trained with it, has a current zero and recorded holdovers is who we want in our community and in our teams. The hardcore “AK guy” who checks his ego and outfits himself with an AR platform and magazines is who we need.

CM-8, The Modern Minuteman is coming soon!

The next manual is complete and will be available next week! We are excited to see another entry from Jay, this one is outstanding. Follow us and The Modern Minuteman’s socials (and his youtube) for details and actual release date and time.

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