GIs and Dinosaurs

US Infantry on patrol in Viet Nam.

M16 rifle on overwatch.

The commander talks to the radio man.

Hacking through the jungle.

Mortarman is ready every time they pause.

The flamethrower is very heavy, but is essential in some types of combat.
 

Contact on Patrol

Vietnam, US Army, 1967.

First Platoon is down a few men, but they still conduct patrols.

They are 4 clicks out from Firbase Pattie.

They have just taken a few rounds and first and second squads are moving forward to suppress that fire.

Machine gun provides a base of fire as the other troops move along the right flank.

One solider tosses a grenade into a suspects NVA position.

The LT radios in the contact report to company.
 

US Army Vietnam War Orion Figures

Crouching and reloading.  Shoot, move to cover, reload, shoot, advance.

Running forward, always forward.  M16 armed soldier.

Loading the blooper.  A 40mm grenade launcher.  My favorite weapon to shoot of all time.  Only fired it a couple times on the range.  Load, close the breech, aim, fire, wooooop, boom!  It flies so slowly that you can see the grenade in the air before it hits.  Two direct hits center of mass.

Grenade thrower.  What I like about this set is the figures are well sculpted, highly accurate and give a great variety of weapons for an Army platoon.

LAW rocket, the grandson of the Panzerfaust.  Fire one time, throw it away.  Disposable anti-tank rocket.  Used in Vietnam against bunkers mostly.  Easy to use and pretty accurate.  I fired one in training on a range, the training version fired a tiny rocket at a full size M48 tank withe extra armor.  It was very cool.

Kneeling and firing.  Aim high into the trees, or maybe because the enemy is far away to compensate for bullet drop over distance.

M60 machine gun, can be carried and fired by one man but having a loader is helpful since the ammo is heavy and gets used up quickly.

Here is the loader.