“(If war is an incubator for industry and weapons development, it is also a phenomenon that attracts profiteers and quacks.” — C.J. Chivers Peace Copy Share Image
“The rules of war established by pen soldiers do not form the basis of actual operations in the field,” he wrote.” — C.J. Chivers War Copy Share Image
“It is said that when men have made up their mind to die they act and speak like gods.” — C.J. Chivers Gods Copy Share Image
“He gave them nicknames, including a series of people he assigned the name Stupid.” — C.J. Chivers Nicknames Copy Share Image
“The Russians excel in calculated crudity. In these burp guns, the plumbers have all but eliminated the gunsmiths.” — C.J. Chivers Copy Share Image
“If a rifle could not be trusted, its other characteristics were moot. Being a bayonet holder was not enough.” — C.J. Chivers Copy Share Image
“Captain Madonna’s assessment of Colt’s assault rifle, circa 1967. “It was a pretty good bayonet holder,” he said. “I knew those weapons… — C.J. Chivers Colt Copy Share Image
“Often Soviet soldiers located insurgents only by drawing their fire—the 1956 version of a perilous form of combat patrol, known among soldiers… — C.J. Chivers War Copy Share Image
“In sum, the United States had armed its foes, indirectly but surely. The war echoed edicts of Mao: “Guerrillas must not depend… — C.J. Chivers War Copy Share Image
“Instead of a thoughtful progression from prototype to general-issue arm, the M-16’s journey was marked by salesmanship, sham science, cover-ups, chicanery, incompetence,… — C.J. Chivers American military Copy Share Image
“Within a very few years the Kalashnikov’s attributes—its mechanical characteristics combined with its unprecedented availability—transformed Stalin’s rifle, conceived as a tool of… — C.J. Chivers Kalashnikov Copy Share Image
“The government had spent more than a decade bringing forward the M-14, only to discover in simulations and in Vietnam that soldiers… — C.J. Chivers Politics Copy Share Image
“The sentence was death. His appeal was rejected. At 7:18 A.M on April 9, 1959, József Tibor Fejes was hanged. He was… — C.J. Chivers Death Copy Share Image
“The AK-47 was christened with blood not as a tool for liberation or to defend the Soviet Union from invaders. It made… — C.J. Chivers Freedom Copy Share Image
“the Russian assault rifle would see its first combat use—both by conventional forces and by insurgents. The United States military, all the… — C.J. Chivers Arms race Copy Share Image
“What was the point of a rifle bullet that could strike a man two kilometers away now that soldiers wore camouflage and… — C.J. Chivers Copy Share Image
“The M-16 sure is a marvelous gun, and in a god-awful war it provides some keen fun. The bullet it fires appears… — C.J. Chivers Colt Copy Share Image
“McNamara’s Pentagon was right on one point. The M-14 was not the best all-purpose rifle for what war had become, especially in… — C.J. Chivers Needed Firepower Copy Share Image
“enough weapons had been shown to enough military officers, and distributed to enough armies and navies, that given time even the most… — C.J. Chivers Copy Share Image
“By 1944, three years later, the ordeal and the turnabout had both been spectacular. The Soviet Union had lost as many as… — C.J. Chivers Israel Copy Share Image
“The field of firearms ballistics, like many applied sciences, is populated by scrupulous practitioners and passionate quacks. At times it can be… — C.J. Chivers Ballistics Copy Share Image
“Though the army knew the M-16 had technical problems that needed technical solutions, combat units were blamed for their rifle’s worrisome traits.… — C.J. Chivers War Copy Share Image
“For a nation that struggled to manufacture decent elevators and shoes, in a system in which wool shirts were not necessarily wool,… — C.J. Chivers Soviet Copy Share Image
“Based on this work, La Garde concluded that the newer, faster-moving and smaller-caliber bullets caused less tissue destruction, and were therefore more… — C.J. Chivers Leadership Copy Share Image
“At these instants of scattering, each combatant’s surroundings could suddenly change. One moment the soldier was part of a group. The next,… — C.J. Chivers War Copy Share Image
“McNamara’s whiz kids were smart. But they had almost no experience in either war or weaponry, and were not necessarily an able… — C.J. Chivers Education Copy Share Image
“The weapon, which Kalashnikov emphasizes as a defensive tool and a shared monument to the population’s creative energy, was rather a marker… — C.J. Chivers Creative energy Copy Share Image
