Timmy Overby Ms. Hollingsworth Senior Project 21 Sept.

2012 The XM25 Punisher In his article "XM25 'Punisher' Finds Home in Infantry Squads"(2012), Matthew Cox asserts that infantry squads can now equip themselves with the new XM25 grenade launcher for safer, more effective missions. Matthew Cox supports this claim about the XM25 by mentioning its effectiveness during a 14-month battlefield assessment and the XM25's unique abilities on the battlefield. The author most likely wrote this article in order to gain public support for issuing of the XM25. Matthew Cox makes the public reader want to help the military fund this project in order to keep the infantry soldier safe. For countless years, infantry squads in Afghanistan have run into a reoccurring problem. Mathew Cox reveals that the terrain is covered by low, dirt walls that Afghans use to grow grapes and he further explains that [t]hese walls were often two-to-four feet thick(XM25 Punisher). These walls create a problem for U.S. soldiers because hostiles can use them as cover. Usually infantry squads equip themselves with the basic M4, M249 and M240 machine guns, but these weapons cannot penetrate the walls. The magazine fed XM25 became the solution for these walls. Separate from a normal grenade launchers, the XM25 can choose to detonate a 25mm round at a certain distance instead of on impact, so instead of firing multiple rounds in hope to destroy the barricade, an infantry squad can set the distance to detonate above the hostile group.

Overby 2 With the XM25 introduced to the battlefield, soldiers can execute a mission more precisely. This makes the job safer and can decrease casualty rates and risk. The introductions of the new weapons excite me for my future in the military and bring a brighter outlook for future soldiers like myself.