I have read in the emails and heard baseless rumors regarding an allegation about my carrying an accurized M14 with scope while Doing The Walk with H1's Killer Team Delta.  As long as we are all aiming to clear up the record and contribute to the Skipper and The Boss factual information to document our combat history, here are the accurate facts ... all 14 of them. 

ONE.   Hotel One's Alpha Squad, let alone Team Delta were emphatically NOT authorized an accurized M14 by Hotel Company or 2nd Battalion 1st Marines' all knowing armorers. However, non-issue cooking implements were not prohibited in the field by anyone. The Skipper and The Boss may be called upon to verify this. 

TWO.   You all may recall we were the first generation of combat Marines to be issued the new Armalite to replace our beloved M14, soon after followed by the first generation M16. The former had the fork nose and the latter the basket flash suppresser. I vaguely remember being told that the former was originally made by Mattel the latter by Colt and their licensees. 

THREE.   In any event, it is well known I carried a blooper starting two days after arriving in-country, along with being the caretaker of a .45 pistol I believe was originally issued to Smedley Butler in Basic School.  Meaning, I always felt well armed and happy with the weapons issued. 

FOUR.   I always obeyed each and every lawful order in effect at that time. 

FIVE.   No doubt, way back then, some of the more ignorant and nitpicky among us mistakenly mused that the first bolt in the Armalite was a low bidder piece of junk and the subsequent M16 had to fix what was originally denied.  How absurd!, How blind!, How unperceptive!, especially in view of the documented heartfelt concern our brilliant leaders in Washington felt towards us as reflected in the superb quality of each and every piece of equipment issued combat troops. 

SIX.   Meaning, I cannot imagine why back then any self-respecting Marine combat grunt would possibly want to carry something like the obsolete, heavy and politically incorrect M14 instead of the shiny new Bilko tested and approved first generation of M16.  Even allowing for the fact we had few problems with the M16 bolt due to the anal compulsive level of maintenance any self-respecting combat grunt gives any weapon, yet Colt's in Hartford admitted later in 1972 this bolt was indeed one of their low points and improved it. 

SEVEN.   Never mind the M14 was reliable, easy to maintain, impervious to weather, could knock out anything born of man or beast with one satisfying butt stroke "thunk", or that a combat Marine with a M14 and razor honed bayonet was truly any enemy's worst nightmare.  All this resulting in a weapon which even when brought to target by a Marine in the stress of the bush could be counted on to clip a chosen hair off a pimple on a gnat's butt at 800 meters, just below the enhanced utility of the bolt-action Remington 700-40 7.62mm, (at the time called the M40 sniper rifle) in turn below the (then) rare .50 caliber M2 single-shot sniper rifle.  Unimaginable. 

EIGHT.   Yes, it is true I had a rig on the frame of my ALICE pack which, when covered with a rolled up poncho, may have looked to the hurried, untrained or casual eye somewhat like a poor version of a home-made scabbard for an accurized M14 with scope. 

NINE.   My recollection may be soft on this matter, yet I faintly, (very faintly), recall from time-to-time I may have carried non-prohibited cooking implements such as BBQ tongs, sauce basting brush etc. on field patrols and their shape and length obscured within a rolled up poncho may have resembled said M14. 

TEN.   I understand there are photographs of me carrying M14 magazine pouches apparently further endorsing this canard, yet anyone should remember these pouches were handy to carry candy, extra socks, and onions, condiments and BBQ sauce. And cocktail napkins, of course. 

ELEVEN.   Those still skeptic among you should not feel bad about your aged and misguided recollections, for I can imagine how in very bright sun or fading light of evening, or from a sideways or head on viewpoint, (…and all this by very busy people...), simple barbecue cooking implements may look to the casual or untrained eye to be an accurized M14 with a Redfield Accurange 3x - 9x scope, hand-tuned bolt, floating barrel and silky sear, (all obviously the work of artistes who would have made Rolex proud), housed in a gorgeous cherry wood stock with a rubber butt. Perhaps a piece meant to be issued an officer among our brave allies, as this hypothetical weapon may have also looked as if it had a specially blued bolt and barrel assemblies, leather Bianchi strap and equally blued bipod.  Point being that regrettably, Dear Brothers, seeing is at times deceiving, by now memory may be less than 14 karat accurate, and eyeballs play tricks and misguide now and then. 

TWELVE.   Further, in the (very) unlikely event such a fine accurized weapon had been misplaced by our brave allies, and in the even more unlikely event it were to somehow wind up in Marine hands, and on top of that within a small squad nobody ever heard of, (as laughable as this premise obviously is even all these years later) all of us should appreciate that such an unlikely series of events would have kept some allied rear echelon pogue from hurting himself had said weapon landed on his pinky toe, or (heaven help us) hurting someone's delicate ears or pigeon shoulders by the eeky-poo noise and recoil issued by such a manly combat weapon. 

THIRTEEN.   Lastly, you folks should also find interesting that our Corps of Marines may have thought the M16 could have used some tweaking back then (even perfect as it was shiny new right out of the box), for over the years our Corps took the lead and has expended all sorts of time and effort in finally making it the real combat rifle some of us knew in our heart of hearts the well-meaning folks at Armalite meant it to be (had they known how). The current version with the attached 40mm blooper is what I would have loved to have carried back then in the limited space I had, rather than non-issue cooking implements (I was, alas, a lousy cook yet proud to carry tools for the Artistes De Cuisine we were lucky to have among us). 

FOURTEEN.   I trust this report has put a baseless rumor to rest.  Should a rumor like this go uncorrected, others will follow. I've even heard outrageous gossip about a few unnamed Lance Corporals driving hither and yon (the English names for various places in and about our TAOR) in their precious few off hours in an allegedly purloined jeep painted with a brush with green paint usually assigned for doors and footlockers, with a sloppy number stencil job and blue still showing on the inside of the hood. Even though everyone knows it took senior rank to rate a jeep and this melange of colors and sloppy paint jobs would never be authorized within our beloved Corps of Marines. When will these canards end? 

Respectfully submitted in the venerable tradition of USMC supply entrepreneurship. 

Semper Fidelis,  

Jay Vincens