Large (4 1/2") USMC - 0341 - Mortarman Embroidered Patch - Steel Rain - USMC Mortars - Wax Backing with merrowed Edge

Mortarmen are responsible for the tactical employment of the M224, 60mm Light Mortar and M252, 81mm Medium Mortar. Mortarmen provide indirect fire in support of the rifle and LAR squads/platoons/companies and the infantry and LAR battalions. They are located in the weapons platoon of the Rifle Companies, 81mm Mortar Platoons of the Weapons Companies and LAR Companies. Noncommissioned Officers are assigned as Mortar Gunners, Forward Observers, Fire Direction Plotters, and squad and section leaders.

Mortars

A mortar is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight. They launch explosive shells (technically called bombs)[2] in high-arcing ballistic trajectories. Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition.

Modern mortars and their ammunition are generally much smaller and lighter than artillery, such as guns and howitzers, which allows light and medium (typically, 60 mm and 81 mm/82 mm) mortars to be considered light weapons; i.e. capable of transport by personnel without vehicle assistance. They are short-range weapons, and often more effective than artillery for many purposes within their shorter range. In particular, due to its high, parabolic trajectory with a near vertical descent, the mortar can land bombs on nearby targets, including those behind obstacles or in fortifications, such as light vehicles behind hills or structures, or infantry in trenches or spider holes. This also makes it possible to launch attacks from positions lower than the target of the attack. (For example, long-range artillery could not shell a target 1 km away and 30 metres (100 ft) higher, a target easily accessible to a mortar.)

In trench warfare, mortars can fire directly into the enemy trenches, which is very hard or impossible to accomplish with artillery due it its much flatter trajectory.

Mortars are also highly effective when used from concealed positions, such as the natural escarpments on hillsides or from woods, especially if forward observers (FOs) are being employed in strategic positions to direct fire, an arrangement where the mortar is in relatively close proximity both to its FO and its target, allowing for fire to be quickly and accurately delivered to lethal effect. Mortars suffer from instability when used on snow or soft ground, because the recoil pushes them into the ground or snow unevenly. A Raschen bag addresses this problem.

Fin-stabilised mortar bombs do not have to withstand the rotational forces placed upon them by rifling or greater pressures, and can therefore carry a higher payload in a thinner skin than rifled artillery ammunition. Due to the difference in available volume, a smooth-bore mortar of a given diameter will have a greater explosive yield than a similarly sized artillery shell of a gun or howitzer. For example, a 120 mm mortar bomb has approximately the same explosive capability as a 155 mm artillery shell. Also, fin-stabilised munitions fired from a smooth-bore, which do not rely on the spin imparted by a rifled bore for greater accuracy, do not have the drawback of veering in the direction of the spin.