Having been on a Vietnam kick for several months, I found myself wishing to know more about the near-mythological introduction and failure of the M16 rifle in the war. Orkand and Duryea do a great job of de-mystifying much of both, going so far as to absolve the troops of what were ghastly failures of leadership, as well as thoroughly rehabilitating the M16’s performance record in Vietnam (at least in the war’s latter years). What the book does well and convincingly is unpack the myriad levels of failure that led to the gun’s hasty introduction to war. But what it does poorly is keep track of how many times it tells us these failures – often in the same words. Not knowing if this is the case, I must assume that Misfire is a collection of essays rather than a book. For all that, though, I listened to every chapter, and came away with a healthy appreciation of the Armalite rifle platform, the men who used it in Vietnam, and a burning reminder not to believe anything the government and military say.