[phil74501]

Back in the 80's there was alot of debate in the US about 7.62 vs. 5.56. Most of the old timers preferred the bigger round and the M14 over the M16. The debate in the US about the smaller caliber versus bigger caliber has gone on for decades.

You have to remember that at the time the M16 was adopted the Viet Nam war was starting to heat up. Our brave ARVN allies were much smaller in stature than American soldiers. The Vietnamese soldiers couldn't handle a fully automatic M14. The only other weapons we had to give them were the old M1 Garands and M1/M2 carbines. Both of which were great weapons in their day. But by the early 60's were obsolete. Especially when matched against an AK47.

At about that same time the US Air Force was looking for a new rifle to arm the airmen that guard US air bases. They needed something bigger than a sub machine gun, but smaller than an M14. General Curtis Lemay, the very influential Air Force chief of staff at the time, opted for the M16. IIRC, the story was he was at a party, someone presented him with one, he fired off a few clips, and fell in love with it. The US Army decided that the M16 would be the best option to arm the ARVN troops with. There was also political pressure placed upon the US military to adopt the M16. Thought was that it would be cheaper if everyone used the same weapon, same ammo, same spare parts.