Some praxis feedback. "We of the current generation of warfighters are very, very spoiled."

Reacting to my post, "Repacking 5.56 NATO reloads in military packaging -- bandoleers and stripper clips," an anonymous commenter said:

I can keep 180 rounds in six 30 round magazines, held in a double stack six pocket magazine holder strapped to molle vest or pack. I understand stripper clips, but I'll take a fully loaded mag in a pinch.

Indeed. Many folks, myself included, have a "Ready Box" for each rifle. In the case of AR series rifles, that's usually a three pocket, six-mag bandoleer like this one packed in a PA-108 SAW can:

For AKs, I use a Chinese five-pocket magazine bandoleer like this, also packed in a SAW can:

But you cannot, nor should you, pre-pack all your reserve ammunition in magazines. The question is, what do you do when that initial 180-rounds is exhausted (as it could certainly be in one firefight)? And even if you were able to load many magazines in like fashion ahead of time, what happens when you are asked to resupply ammo to a neighbor who has a Ruger Mini-14? Using the military duplicate packaging in the post allows you to pack large amounts of ammunition that is still ready to load in those magazines -- of whatever type -- when they empty out and in a much faster fashion than bulk boxes.

Responding to my post on sandbags and Improvised Resupply By "Speedball," a veteran of four deployments in the Middle East and Southwest Asia wrote:

Not to extrapolate from my own inexperience (to paraphrase you), but I doubt the modern GI would have much experience with this method. Unless you had the opportunity to serve on a remote outpost in Afghanistan would you have need to rapidly resupply. I certainly never did, and my deployment experiences span the entire course of the GWOT.

In that respect, we of the current generation of warfighters are very, very spoiled. A few things have been written on just how spoiled we have been since Vietnam were each engagement was decided by superior small arms, CAS, and virtually inexhaustible indirect fire support. We have had some nasty conditions, but victories were pretty much in the bag from the start. Not to say that the Islamofascists were as a whole worthless. They had a few good ideas along the way. But even at their worst, they still were nothing compared to one Anzio, one Bunker Hill, or even one day of Chosen.

Now what does that mean for the current generation of warfare, be it with muzzies, the Chinese or the local Mutant Biker Gang? No one has retained this knowledge and so it would be wise to remember when victories are not so decisive from the start.