Why soldiers in Vietnam put a condom on the muzzle of their M16

Anyone who has leafed through a photo book on the Vietnam War may have noticed it: in some pictures, on the tip of the barrel of American soldiers' M16 rifles, there is something odd. A small pale cap, pulled over the muzzle. It is a condom.

As a collector with a passion for historical photography, I have often wondered whether this was a legend, a joke or a real practice. The answer is that it was a real practice, born of a serious problem, at one of the most difficult moments in the history of the American rifle.

The problem: an obstructed barrel is dangerous

The starting point is simple and applies to any firearm: the barrel must be clear. If mud, earth, sand or another foreign body gets into the barrel, the bullet meets an obstacle when the rifle is fired. In the worst case the barrel can bulge or be damaged, with the risk of injuring the shooter.

Now picture the conditions in Vietnam:

• monsoon rains for months;
• rice paddies, swamps and rivers to wade through with water up to the waist or chest;
• mud everywhere, dense jungle, ground that crumbles underfoot;
• soldiers throwing themselves to the ground dozens of times a day, often rifle in hand.

In such an environment it only takes a moment for the muzzle to end up in the mud. And the soldier might not notice until the moment he has to fire.

What about water?

A clarification is needed here. You often read that the condom was mainly meant to keep water out. That is partly true, but the picture is more nuanced. According to an analysis published by The National Interest, the main danger was not water, which generally tends to drain out, but mud, earth and sand, which can stay in the barrel and block it.

Water was not a negligible problem, though: the famous comic-book manual issued to soldiers in 1968, which I discuss below, devoted a section precisely to draining water from the rifle before firing.

Why a condom?

The recommended way to protect the muzzle was to cover it with tape. But in the middle of the jungle, tape wasn't always to hand. Condoms, on the other hand, were: soldiers were issued them regularly as part of the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

And as an improvised muzzle cover, a condom had all the necessary qualities:

Military historians James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi, in their book on the Vietnam War, write that American troops slid condoms onto their M16s throughout the conflict, and that this can be seen in many photographs taken in the field.

Could you fire through the condom?

According to veterans' accounts, yes: if necessary the bullet would simply tear through the latex, with no need to remove the cap. It is a detail that is often repeated. It should be said, however, that in the sources I consulted I found no documented experimental evidence of the effects on accuracy or on the functioning of the weapon. I report it, therefore, as testimony rather than verified fact.

The context: the M16 and its bad reputation

The condom habit makes more sense once you know that, in the early years of the war, the M16 was a rifle many soldiers did not trust.

A new rifle, introduced in a hurry

The rifle, derived from the AR-15 designed by Eugene Stoner, entered service with American infantry units in Vietnam from 1965. It was light and modern, with plastic parts, so much so that soldiers nicknamed it the "Mattel 16", after the well-known toy brand. But reports of jamming soon arrived, precisely at the moments when the rifle was needed most.

The causes of the jams

Later investigations identified several problems that compounded one another:

In 1967 the issue became public: a US congressman read out in the House a Marine's letter blaming many of the casualties in the fighting on Hill 881 on M16 jams. The same year a House subcommittee chaired by Representative Richard Ichord exposed serious mismanagement of the programme.

In June 1968 an Army review panel concluded that the lack of cleaning materials and proper training had contributed heavily to the high malfunction rates recorded in late 1966 and early 1967.

The fixes

The Army took action:

• the new M16A1 version introduced a chromed chamber and other improvements, including a device for manually pushing the bolt closed;
• cleaning kits were issued, stored in the rifle's buttstock;
• and in 1968 soldiers received one of the most unusual military manuals in history.

Will Eisner's comic-book manual

To persuade soldiers to clean their rifles, the Army turned to Will Eisner, one of the great American comics artists and the creator of The Spirit. The result was a booklet entitled The M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance, published in 1968: a technical manual written and drawn like a comic, in direct language full of humour, designed to actually be read by twenty-year-olds.

The instructions covered disassembly, cleaning, magazine care, clearing stoppages and, indeed, how to drain water from the rifle before firing. As a collector, I find it one of the most interesting documents of the war: an example of how communication can sometimes matter as much as technology.

With the M16A1, regular cleaning and training, the rifle's reliability improved considerably. Its descendants remain in service today.

A habit older than Vietnam

The condom on the muzzle did not begin in Vietnam. Some American soldiers were already using it in the Second World War. Alan Archambault, a former curator at the US Army Center of Military History, confirmed that condoms were used to cover muzzles, but pointed out that the practice was not as widespread as Hollywood portrays it.

It is a useful observation: Hollywood's images have often generalised a real but limited habit, turning it into a cliché.

Other wartime uses of the condom

For a soldier, the condom was a small multi-purpose item:

• a waterproof container for matches, documents, cigarettes and small items to be kept dry;
• protection for igniters: during the Second World War, US Navy demolition divers used them to waterproof the firing devices for their charges;
• an emergency water container: a US Air Force survival manual suggested using one, slipped into a sock for protection, as an improvised canteen able to hold more than a litre of water.

And of course the purpose for which it was issued in the first place: preventing sexually transmitted diseases, which in the wars of the twentieth century cost millions of days of service.

The investigator's questions

In short

The condom on the muzzle of the M16 is one of those details that look like anecdotal curiosities but actually say a great deal about a war. It speaks of a hostile environment of mud and water, of a rifle introduced too hastily and surrounded by organisational blunders, and above all of soldiers' ability to make do with whatever they had in their pockets.

It is also a small example of how to read historical photographs: a seemingly insignificant detail, examined carefully and compared with the sources, opens a window on an entire chapter of history. For those who want to explore another, far more painful aspect of American soldiers' experience in Vietnam, see the article on post-traumatic stress disorder and Vietnam veterans.

Main sources: J. F. Dunnigan and A. A. Nofi, Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War (1999), cited by The National Interest*; statements by A. Archambault, US Army Center of Military History, reported by* The National Interest*; C. R. Bartocci,* Small Arms Review*, on the history and problems of the M16; American Rifleman, on W. Eisner's manual* The M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance (1968) and the report of the M16 Review Panel (1968); Hektoen International, on the history of condoms in the armed forces.