I heard some guy in the gun store yesterday say that the new Smith & Wesson M&P "Magpul special" AR-15 was really "high speed, low drag." Others around him nodded in seeming agreement. What does that phrase mean?

As an aside, the M&P "magpul special" was pretty cool, it had the MOE stock, grip, handguards and rear sight, all dressed up in flat dark earth; came with a pair of FDE Pmags as well. Pretty cool setup, but a bit steep at $1395.

$1395 and they use the poor man's CTR. S&W is on crack with their AR prices.

HSLD is just a buzzword for a light, stripped down, business only model. The antithesis of the over accessorized crap most gun store commando types go for.

It is a buzz phrase that all the wanna-be "operators" use these days.

Of course in todays military everyone is in an "Elite" unit and are "Combat medics" or "Combat" mechanics, truck drivers, tactical fuel specialists etc, etc. You should see all the "bad ass" logos and nicknames they have for themselves. "Ultimate Warrior" logistics and the Fighting 50whatever military police "Gunfighter" battalion.

The fact that a large portion of them are undisciplined, overweight and incompetent in basic tasks or gun handling skills never crosses their minds. They are after all in an ELITE outfit.

Nobody is average in todays military.

The funny/sad part is that in todays military it is all about feeling elite and looking cool rather than actually performing at a higher standard. I see hundreds of "elite" warriors every day with drop leg rigs on slung so low they cannot even get a firing grip on their holstered pistol or even attempt to draw it without bending over. We call them "drop knee holsters"

From the Internet to the battlefield. Scary thought.

Terry

Mackay = Iraqgunz???

Back in the late 1980's that was infantry slang for "very cool" or looking very high performance. Its interesting to me because there was lots of military slang that was in use for a long time like "squared away" or some that was Vietman era like "di di Mao" but I figured "HSLD" wouldn't last much longer than me and I left active service in early 1990.

High speed, low drag has always meant slick and aerodynamic to me, as in fighter plane. As a former helicopter pilot, I've always considered myself to be "low speed, high drag", especially in the old UH-1. We'll get you there, but it might take awhile.

From Mackay's description, it sounds like most of our support troops are in the same low speed, high drag category, at least as far as physical shape and conditioning are concerned.

TWR, I am assuming Iraqgunz is a poster here. We are not the same person. Did he say something similar? I suppose I should not be quite so critical but todays Army is in a sad state of affairs. The funny part is I think I am starting to sound like my dad!

Nearly the same thing was posted on M4C by a poster that goes by Iraqgunz, he does about the same thing you do. Just wondering.

I believe High Speed, Low Drag was a fighter plane term, that has been applied to many levels of military service. When applied to ground pounders, I think the reference is to the elite services.

I've worked with guys were were supposed to be HSLD, as in from legitimate elite units. I've found some who were very competent and I've found those who were completely incompetent making me wonder how in the world they were a part of that unit. What I took away from that was, don't be impressed with the resume or credentials; be impressed with the individual.

In the lexicon of the Army circa the late 80's to mid 90's "high speed, low drag" meant doing something well, efficiently and quickly. An exemplary soldier or operation was "high speed, low drag".

I though it had something to do with one of my old high school girlfriends.........

"High Speed-Low Drag" is military slang or jargon for something which is stripped-down or lightweight. A grunt that is High Speed-Low Drag would be somebody who is carrying a minimum of equipment and is not overburdened in order to maximize movement and speed of movement. When applied to a rifle, as the others have said, it means a basic model without the burden of a bunch of accessories hanging on it and eventually making it unwieldy.

And was used tongue in cheek more often than not when I was AD from 90-99.

We used it to describe a person who worked hard, didn't mess about with the bullchit and basically did whatever it took to get the job done, with a high level of accomplishment, minimal level of BS and ceremony.

None of us were issued weapons - we were issued people to protect our azzes so we could accomplish the mission. The only time we really had the weapons and training was to go down range and do what we had to do.

Damned bet you our unit was "elite" - very few can do what we did and we didn't feel the need to have any "group" name at all. I am damned proud of what I did and know that out of about 352,000 people in the Navy there were about 2000 of us (IIRC) - Basically you were a sailor attached to a command that prosecuted a mission and that was it.

REMF's usually are that way McKay.