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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Sullivan who wrote (8471)	10/31/2001 8:25:59 PM
From: FaultLine	Respond to of 281500

Flamethrowers I recall that the soldier wielding the flamethrower had the shortest life expectancy of any other combat troop. --fl

To: Brian Sullivan who wrote (8471)	10/31/2001 8:27:40 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

If flamethrowers are no longer in the inventory, I would guess it has a lot more to do with safe operation and effectiveness than any hypothetical humanitarian concerns. What's the range of a flamethrower? 30 feet? There's got to be more effective weapons for the job. There was something about Hellfire missiles going in horizontally here recently.

To: Brian Sullivan who wrote (8471)	11/1/2001 7:23:19 AM
From: Bilow	Respond to of 281500

Hi Brian Sullivan; The author of the article belaboring the US Military for not having flame throwers should do a quick search of the literature. Showing up with a WW2 flame thrower against Marines armed with this stuff would be like bringing a knife to a gun fight: Flame, Riot Control Agents and Herbicide Operations U.S. Marine Corps, (1996) WEAPONS EMPLOYING FIRE The use of weapons that employ fire, such as tracer ammunition, flamethrowers, napalm, and other incendiary agents, against targets requiring their use is not a violation of international law. They should not, however, be employed to cause unnecessary suffering to individuals. ... FLAME WEAPONS The flame weapons available are the M202A1 rocket launcher, incendiary grenades, and FFEs. ... The M74 rocket (Figure 2-2) is filled with thickened pyrophoric agent (TPA). This TPA is triethylaluminum (TEA), a substance similar to white phosphorus, which burns spontaneously when exposed to air (exposure occurs on impact, therefore, no fuel is wasted by burning en route to target). It burns at temperatures between 1400-2200 degrees Fahrenheit. The M74 is used to engage area-type targets out to a range of 750 meters and point-type targets out to a range of 200 meters. The minimum safe firing distance to a target is 20 meters (M74 has a bursting radius of 20 meters; therefore, engaging targets closer than 20 meters may result in injury to friendly troops). ... doctrine.quantico.usmc.mil Note that your life expectancy is considerably improved when you get to operate the equivalent of a flame thrower from a distance 10x what they had in WW2. Also see: FM 90-10 Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain (MOUT) (1979) adtdl.army.mil Urban Combat (1999) Antiaircraft machineguns, smoke generator personnel and flame thrower operators offer essential support. www-cgsc.army.mil -- Carl