Murphy's Laws on Combat
Operations
- Friendly Fire-isn't
- Recoilless rifles-aren't
- Suppressive fires-won't
- You are not Superman; Marines and fighter pilots
take note.
- A sucking chest wound is Nature's way of telling
you to slow down.
- If its stupid but it works, it isnt stupid
- Try to look unimportant; the enemy might be low
on ammo and not want to waste a bullet on you.
- If at first you dont succeed, call in an
airstrike.
- If you are foward of your posistion, your
artillery will fall short.
- Never share a foxhole with anyone brave then
yourself.
- Never go to bed with anyone crazier than
yourself.
- Never forget that your weapon was mad by the
lowest bidder.
- If your attack is going really well, it's an
ambush.
- The enemy diversion you're ignoring is there main
attack.
- The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions
when they're ready
- When you're not
- No OPLAN ever survives initial contact.
- There is no such thing as a perfect plan.
- Five second fuzes always burn three seconds.
- There is no such thing as an atheist in a
foxhole.
- A retreating enemy is probably just falling back
and regrouping.
- The important things are simple, the simple
things are hard.
- The easy way is always mined.
- Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other
people to shoot at.
- Don't look conspicous' it draws fire. For this
reason, it is not at all uncommon for aircraft
carriers to be known as bomb magnets.
- Never draw fire; it irritates everyone around
you.
- If you are short of everything but the enemy, you
are in the combat zone.
- When you have secured the area, make sure the
enemy knows it too.
- Incoming fire has the right of way.
- No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
- No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.
- If the enemy is in range, so are you.
- The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy
fire is incoming friendly fire.
- Things which must be shipped together as a set,
aren't.
- Things that must work together, cant be carried
to the field taht way.
- Radios will fall apart as soon as you need fire
support.
- Radar tends to fail at night and in bad weather,
and especially during both.
- Anything you do can get you killed, including
nothing.
- Make it too tough for the enmy to get in, and you
wont be able to get out.
- Tracers work both ways.
- If you take more than your fair share of
objectives, you will get more than your fair share of
objectives to take.
- When both sides are convinced they're about to
lose, they're both right.
- Professional soldiers are predictable; the world
is full of crazy amateurs.
- Military Intelligence is a contradiction.
- Fortify your front;you'll get your rear shot up.
- Weater aint neutral.
- If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed
towards you.
- Air defense motto:shoot 'em down; sort 'em out on
the ground,
- Flies high, it dies; low and slow, it'll go.
- The cavalry doesn't always come to the rescue.
- Napalm is an area support weapon.
- Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
- B-52's are the ultimate close support weapon.
- Sniper's Motto:reach out and touch somebody.
- Killing for peace is like screwing for virginity.
- The one item you need is always in short supply.
- Interchangeable parts aren't.
- It's not the one with your name on it; it's the
one addressed "to whom it may concern" you've got to
think about.
- When in doubt, empty your magazine.
- The side with the simplest uniform wins.
- Combat will occur on the ground between two
adjoining maps.
- If the Platoon Sergeant can see you, so can the
enemy.
- Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you
can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.
- The most dangerous thing in the world is a Second
Lieutenant with a map and a compass
- Exceptions prove the rule, and destroy the battle
plans.
- Everything always works in your HQ, everything
always fails in the Colnel's HQ
- The enemy never watches until you make a mistake.
- One enemy soldier is never enough, but two is
entirely too many.
- A clean (and dry) set of BDU's is a magnet for
mud and rain.
- The worse the weather, the more you are required
to be out in it.
- Whenever you have pleanty of ammo, you never
miss. Whenever you are low on ammo, you can't hit the
broad side of a barn.
- The more a weapon costs, the farther you will
have to send it away to be repaired
- The complexity of a weapon is inversely
proportional to the IQ of the weapon's operator.
- Field experience is something you don't get until
just after you need it.
- No matter which way you have to march, it is
always uphill.
- If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry
can prove anything.
- For every action, there is an equal and opposite
criticism. (In boot camp)
- Airstrikes always overshoot the target, artillery
always falls short.
- When reviewing the radio freaquencies that you
just wrote down, the most important ones are always
illegible.
- Those who hesitate under fire usually do not end
up KIA or MIA
- The tough part about being an officer is that the
troops don't know what they want, but they know for
certain what they don't want.
- To steel information from a person is called
plagerism. To steal information from the enemy is
called gathering itelligence.
- The weapon that usually jams when you need it the
most is the M60
- The perfect officer for the job will transfer in
the day after that billet is filled by someone else.
- When you have sufficient supplies & ammo, the
enemy takes 2 weeks to attack. When you are low on
supplies & ammo the enemy decides to attack
that night.
- The newest and least experienced soldier will
usually win the Medal of Honor
- A Purple Heart just proves that you were smart
enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it,
and lucky enough to survive.
- Murphy was a grunt
- Beer Math-> 2 Beers times 37 men equals 49 cases.
- Body count Math->3 guerrillias plus 1 probable
plus 2 pigs equals 37 enemies killed in action
- The bursting radius of a hand grenade is always
one foot greater than your jumping range.
- All-weather close air support doesn't work in bad
weather.
- The combat worth of a unit is inversely
proportional to the smartness of its outfit and
appearence.
- The crucial round is a dud.
- Every command which can be misunderstood, will
be.
- There is no such p;ace as a convenient foxhole.
- Dont't ever be the first, don't ever be the last,
and don't ever volunteer to do anything.
- If your posistions are firmly set and you are
prepared to yake the enemy assault on, he will bypass
you.
- If your ambush is properly set, the enemy won't
walk into it.
- If you flank march is going well,the enemy
expects you to outflank him.
- Density of fire increases proportionally to the
curiousness of the target.
- Odd objects attract fire-never lurk behind one.
- The more stupid the leader is, the more important
missions he is ordered to carry out.
- The self-importance of a superior is inverselly
proportional to his position in the heirarchy (as is
his deviousness and mischievousness).
- There is always a way, and it usually doesn't
work.
- Success occurs when no one is looking, failure
occurs when the General is watching.
- The enemy never monitors your radio freaquency
until you brodcast on an unsecured channel.
- Whenever you drop your equipment in a fire-fight,
your ammo and grenades always fall the farthest away,
and your canteen always lands at your feet.
- As soon as it served hot chow in the field, it
rains.
- Never tell the Platoon sergeant you have nothing
to do.
- The seriousness of a wound (in a fire-fight) is
inversely proportional to the distance to any form of
cover.
- Walking point=sniper bait
- Your bivouac for the night is the spot is the
spot where you got tired of marching that day.
- If only one solution can be found for a field
problem, then it is usually a stupid solution.
- All or any of the above combined.
- Guided Missiles aren't,
- The enemy always flys into your sights when your
Vulcan is out of ammo.
- Your plane was made by the cheapest bidder, with
the cheapest material, with the cheapest labor.
- The enemy always has a lock on.
- Fuel only lasts as long as it takes to meet the
enemy.
- An air craft carrier is exactly one foot less
then the amount of space you need to land at 400 mph.
- The amount of time you need to escape a missile
is inversely proportional to the skill of the pilot.
- The pilots ability to get a clear shot is
inversely proportional to the gunner's ability to hit
the broad side of a barn.
- Broad side's of barns always hold the AA guns.
- So do trains.
- Unfriendlies are anything that moves on the
ground. Shoot everything.
- Though the air is your friend, your fuel is not.
Expect your fuel to run out when you need it most.
- The enemy fighters always have more fuel.
- All weather fighters cease to work in bad
weather.
- Stealth fighters cease to work with enemy radar.
- That tank you just dive bombed? It had a buddy.
- For every enemy fighter you take out, there is
always a wall of AA fire to take its place.
- AA fire comes from both directions.
- Long Range fighters, aren't.
- Anything with the words Advanced, New,
Fully-Operational, or Top-of-the-Line, isn't.
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