From the Soldier side: We aim to keep our readers happy, so here's a little Fifty Cal shooting. The gunner is a bit of a special character himself. The Army has a new term that they like to use a lot- Warrior. The Army has attached that word to the beginning of almost everything they do now. "Warrior Task Training" "Task Force Warrior" "Warrior Transition Course" etc.
This dude was a Scout Sniper who's served THREE tours in Iraq with the Army National Guard. His normal weapon is a little "finer". This dude is a Friggen Real Honesettogodnoshit Warrior.
Enjoy.
7 comments:
Ok... I will be the dumbass who asks a stupid question... How on earth do you line that bad boy up? Does it have sights? Or do you just watch the impacts and adjust. And yes, once again, bring one of those to the range and you get a cup of coffee.
Oooooohhhh yeah...I like that gun. He has to hold that beast down with his legs just to shoot it. holycrap.
Yep, you keep your readers very happy. :) Verrry cool video.
I know somebody who would like to hear some scout sniper stories...
The M2 is one of the most accurate weapons in the pile of guns we have. It has an "open" iron sight on top. If you know what you're doing, you can hit a target at 1,000 yards. (yes, the M2 is still set up for YARDS, no METERS).
It was mounted on aircraft, tanks, APCs, etc. It was designed in 1918 as an anti tank weapon.
You can "Reach out and touch someone" with this weapon.
1. Tripod mounted guns are controlled by a traversing and elevation mechanism (T&E).
2. A good gunner can use the T&E just like sights on a rifle.
3. Unlock the T&E and you have free gun, which pretty much wastes ammunition -unless banging away is enough -which it often is.
4. The M2's tripod needs to be sandbagged down -or otherwise weighted like your man is doing.
5. In my experience, one firing of this weapon without hearing protection=permanent hearing profile.
6. Didn't have fifties in VN; they were too heavy to carry. Saw them mostly vehicle mounted -particularly on six-bys.
7. Did use an M-60 in a couple fights, firing orange tracers at green tracers coming out of tree lines.
8. Thing was, you needed to pick up and move after firing a few bursts.
9. Could carry an M-60 -even on a tripod. An M-2 would have been staying where it was (but not me).
10. Looked like you were mostly operating with vehicles in Iraq.
11. Be real nice to have a couple M-2's for overwatch -and a couple of sniper teams.
12. BTW, grew up in AF family, too.
13. Old man was Army in WWII. Didn't talk about his wartime experiences.
14. Only time I ever saw him green around the gills was when he hauled me downtown for my pre-induction physical.
15. He knew what I was in for. I thought I did too, but was wrong.
16. The wheel has turned. Am an old man with a young family. The boy is crazy about the military, to the point of irritating his uber-PC teachers.
17. The kids out there now (and yourself) are working for a living. Not sure I have much faith in the competence of the upper level civilian or military leadership.
18. Have tried to emphasize the downsides of military service. Unfortunately, it looks like the kid listens about as well as I did.
19. Fear the wheel will soon spin again.
20. To fond rememberences of our fathers.
V/R J West
J West, great comments. I used the "pig" M-60..have a few stories about "her".
I didn't think explaining the T&E would be worth the effort. I didn't go into "range cards" and all that battle space grunt stuff. I think every healthy adult should go through basic training and be put on the "emergency" reserve list. They'd get to shoot all this cool stuff for free and have a warm fuzzy feeling about helping the country.
Keep your comments coming. Thanks
CI Roller
CI-Dude, just wondering, why do all the military types use the metric measuring system instead of the correct and proper US type measures of feet and yards? Is it because we operate with other countries that use the metric system? Us old Navy types didn't even know how to spell meters or kilometers.
Metric is better...most of Europe uses our system of money....thank God.
How many feet are in a mile, how many yards, how many inches???
When you measure a board, metric is much easier. I actually use metric when I fix things around the house.....it's easier to measure!
OK, lets go Infantary... If you are covering a section of a battle field, and you are responsible for 2 grid squares... each grid square is 1 K, 1 K = 1,000 meters...easy to devide into smaller parts.
I could go on, but I'm sure I've lost everyone by now.
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