Misfire: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam

Misfire combines insider knowledge of U.S. Army weapons development with firsthand combat experience to tell the story of the M16--iconic as the American weapon of the Vietnam War and, indeed, as the U.S. military's standard service rifle until only a few years ago despite its tragic failure.


About the Author
Bob Orkand, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and went on to serve as deputy director of the Weapons Department of the U.S. Army Infantry School, where in 1971 he led a team that investigated why soldiers in Vietnam were shooting poorly with their M16s. He holds a BA in English from Columbia University and after his army service worked in the newspaper business with the Miami Herald, the Detroit Free Press, and - as president and publisher - the Centre Daily Times (State College, PA). In June 2017 he published a piece for the New York Times' Vietnam '67 series. He lives in Huntsville, Texas.

Colonel (U.S. Army, Infantry, Retired) Lyman "Chan" Duryea passed away on April 17, 2019 while this book was in its final stages of production, the result of a swift, aggressive cancer. He would have observed his eighty-first birthday the following month. Chan was a retired U.S. Army colonel and decorated infantryman who served as a test officer with the U.S. Army Infantry Board in 1964-66 when M16 prototypes were being evaluated by the Army at Fort Benning. A West Point graduate, Duryea served two tours in Vietnam, with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and as a District Senior Advisor, earning a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars, including one for valor. He held a doctorate in military history from Temple and taught at West Point, the School of the Americas, and the Army War College. He lived in Kentucky.