Claymore

[39mto39g]

Every 6 claymores in a case had a electrical tester to see it the gen was working, You would hook up the tester and work the handle on the gen, There was a little Amber light the would flicker as the generator wound down.
The claymore pouch came in handy for carring stuff, Useually the 79 guy got the pouch after the claymore was set off.
There was a movie that said you had to puch the generator handle 3 times ( I think Platoon) Not so, One pump on the handle and the generator would spin fast enough to generate enough juice to set of the blasting cap.
700 30 cal, round balls would make someones day. The claymore had a sight on it, I never used it, I figured, its a claymore, how acurate do you have to be?
Animals would set off a trip flare and you would blow the claymore that was covering that flare, either find nothing or a dead animal.

Ron

[Packo]

I thought they were the best meal heaters I ever had! They would also do a job on the enemy....if we hadn't used up all the C-4 by then. I'm proud they are named after a Scotish Sword.

Mc Paco

[39mto39g]

Mac
You would break them things apart? What was wrong with the block of C-4. I Never took one apart, I guess it wouldn't be hard, there plastic and a bayonet wood work.
Ron

There were a lot more claymores spread around than blocks-in my unit at least-and I'd guess 25% got their C-4 used up heating C's. Was always wise to check before setting one out.

We were also told to hit em 3 times.

The bags were also very popular with medics as the standard aid bag with the red cross on a field of white just did not make the proper fashion statement.

A tiny bit of C-4 in your food can cause convulsions. Like ta lost a finger treating a guy because of that very thing.

[39mto39g]

Doc
when you squeezed the handle and the generaltor went winnnnnn and the Claymore went off, you squeezed it two more times?
The "clacker" was just a little generator. I think all the LTs I was with would have had a fit if they would have seen anyone taking a claymore apart for C4, we only carried what we needed until next resupply so the ones we had were kinda improtant. I don't even know why anyone would do that at a base camp. there was always blocks of C4 laying around . But, different places, different time, different war.
I forgot about the medics useing that bag, Yea, they like them, could carry most of what you needed and was easy to get at.
Doc , maybe a thread about what a medic carried would be good?

Ron

[DMZ-LT]

We set up several "automatic ambushes" at night around our NDP using claymores , batteries and plastic spoons.We used the C-4 in claymores to heat C's. They were easier to get than blocks of C-4

[39mto39g]

I'll be damm. I had all the C-4 I ever wanted, I guess we were the reason you didn't have any, we used it all up. The only time I ever seen a claymore apart was in training and once after a firefight, (it got shot) Medic couldn't save it.

Different area, different, Time, Different war.

An advantage in being mech. rather than straight leg is that you can tote a LOT more stuff close to where you're likely to need it. One of our AP's were likely to set out 2-3 mech.(auto) ambushes a night (3-7 daisy-chained claymores ea.-depending on terrain)so it's very likely that the great majority were set off by trip wire instead of manually. We used up-and were resupplied with-a lot of claymores.

Offhand, the only one I recall setting off manually, I squeezed that rascal 6-7 times almost instantly-and THEN remembered to move that wire safety thingie outta the way. Think I quit when I finally got it to go BOOOM!

[39mto39g]

Doc
Now Im no claymore expert but it only took one pump of the handle, of course the safety had to be off,
Im not sure how long that electical cord was but one night after blowing all our claymores I got our medic to give me some white tape, I wraped the electrical cord around the claymore several times and then wraped the thing with white tape, I threw it as far as I could throw it and kept the other end of the elctrical cord. I was to skert to walk or crawl out and set it. Even in slight moon light you could see that glob of white tape. When it moved, see ya chuck.
I hated that , sleep all day and stay up all night thing we were on for a couple weeks. Moving around in the jungle at night got to be a real experience.

Ron

[PHO127]

2 or 3 claymores, if you ever had to clear an emergency lz they would do the trick. Strap one to a tree, daisy chain them blow a hole and get the hell out of there. Never had a problem with getting C4 but we never lit a fire on mission so didn't use it much. never used flashlights either. We did carry a bunch of small "assassination" grenades though, bout size of a golf ball with a dial timer on them. LT is the only other person outside of SF and SOG that I know of that ever saw or used them. Was in the demo bunker with phillip in Ft Campbell and he showed me the bloc countries version of claymores, they have shot that looks like BBs and are somewhat smaller than ours. Most prominent was that they were not marked FRONT TOWARD ENEMY.