Since I mentioned it yesterday...

[gridlore]

Here's the M-60 machinegun. 23lbs doesn't sound like much, but then you have to carry the thing over 15 miles of razorback ridges and brush. Oh, that firing from the strap thing? Pure Rambo. Half your rounds are going over the horizon if you do that. You get down, put the weapon on it's bipod, and lay down a curtain of fire - in 7 to 10 round bursts, of course - that skim in about a meter off the ground. Two M-60s (which is what an Infantry squad had back in my day) can create an impressive kill zone.

Machinegunners are traditionally known as "pigmen" in the Army.

Comments

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

I *loved* my 60. The poundage was worth it.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

You carry a little more heft than I do (or did, at the time.) Humping the pig could be torture, but it did build me up for my time as a sniper. Switching from the 23lbs of a '60 to the 12lbs of a M-21 meant I wne tin used to having to control much more mass.

[caerbannogbunny.livejournal.com]

The thing that got me, going from M60 to SAW, was how much better the balance on the M60 was. You could muscle a SAW anywhere you wanted it, but it was easier to move a M60 when you had to shoot standing up.

Another thing that got me was this old Last-of-the-Vietnam-era Platoon Sergeant who responded to a complaint by one of his Cav Scouts about the M60 being innacurate and useless by shouldering one offhand and squeezing off single rounds at a 300m and 500m pop-up target and knocking them down.

The young Cav Scout shut up after that.

I honestly was shocked as hell when those targets went down. I didn't think it was that accurate either.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

I was already out of the Army by the time the SAW was issued to anyone besides Cav scouts, so I never had a chance to fire one. Besides, I was a tank mechanic (45K) so we were just playing soldier anyway. *grin*

[john-appel.livejournal.com]

I was a 19D (Cavalry Scout) but humped an M60 for my last 6 months or so as a dismounted team leader. My RTO carried a 203, so between the two of us we could pack quite a punch if we couldn't sneak out of or past whatever trouble we got into. :)

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

Can I steal that icon? It fits me perfectly.