Anybody else ever feel this way?

[TheBigRedOne]

Everything that he just said it spot-on. The longer you can hold off from opening up, the better you are going to be, especially if you've got some really devastating short range weapons, like the CAN rounds on an M-79 or AK-47/74. Hit a squad with those when they don't know you're there and they are going to take some serious punishment.

As Bill said, use the longer range weapons to slow down the advance. Mortars, arty, sniper rifles. Let them come to you.

Placing your weapons on "Hold Fire" is the first thing to do before getting started, this way your troops won't open up on the first things they see. Wait, then wait a little longer.

A lot has to do with your weapon effectiveness as well as your troop morale. C or D moraled troops will not fire as effectively as A or B, when playing with Quality Loss Modifier, which I feel is a must if you want a bit more realism.