Most Valuable Weapons at the Squad/Squad+ Level

[Etype]

Oh geez. Now I've heard it all. It's like the Marines and their indirect fire with the M2 and a gunner's quadrant.

 

[pardus]

Oh geez. Now I've heard it all. It's like the Marines and their indirect fire with the M2 and a gunner's quadrant.

See, and you SF guys think you're well trained ;) lol

 

[RetPara]

Up to and during WWII machine guns were concentrated in separate platoons, companies, and even battalions in both the Army and Marines. Both the Marine and Army had machine gunners as separate infantry sub specialty till sometime in the 80's. Since then with L/M MG's at the platoon/squad level I don't think the time, ammunition, and other resources have been available to really train professional machine gunners. It's been somewhat of a lost art for decades now.

The following a few links that might be interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1917_Browning_machine_gun
http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/infantry/28480-motor-battalion-machine-gun-units.html
http://www.longwood.k12.ny.us/history/upton/smith13.htm
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/divmguns.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/23-65/ch62.htm#s2p7
http://books.google.com/books/about/Machine_Gun_Manual.html?id=AcEHRAAACAAJ - 1916

 

[Etype]

It's been somewhat of a lost art for decades now.

I try to devote a lot of time to developing a machine gun team when we are deployed. A lot of people seem to be reluctant to carry a tripod because they don't truly understand the value of it. Once they get out in the desert, start firing beyond 800m, and really start to understand how to work the T&E they wouldn't leave home without it.

 

[RetPara]

I was hoping that there might be a resurgence of the artistry in A'stan. To me it would be great terrain to map out beaten zones and other of the old school TTP's that haven't seen the light of days in decades.

 

[x SF med]

A good machinegunner sees the world in fire maps... oh hell, dead zone, no fire cover.... great beaten zone and since there is a lot of rock good ricochet potential for secondary damage... 10m behind that hill is where a beaten zone starts if I emplace 300m back and set to ..... y'know, like driving down the Interstate and writing attack/defense plans for the multiple targets you see..... :-"

 

[max velocity]

Pardus: is that Battery Sergeant Major "Shut Up" Williams from "it aint half hot mum? Or do you just look like him?

 

[Mac_NZ]

Map predicted fire is a known beast, not akin to the Unicorn.

 

[digrar]

Intervisibility is the only 7 syllable word that DFSW types know. Or know of, I never heard any of them talk in anything other than grunts and growls.

 

[RetPara]

A good machinegunner sees the world in fire maps... oh hell, dead zone, no fire cover.... great beaten zone and since there is a lot of rock good ricochet potential for secondary damage... 10m behind that hill is where a beaten zone starts if I emplace 300m back and set to ..... y'know, like driving down the Interstate and writing attack/defense plans for the multiple targets you see..... :-"

Glad I'm not the only one who does that....

 

[pardus]

Ive been hearing about the titanium M240. I have to say that just from what Ive heard it sounds pretty bloody cool. Anyone know this beast intimately?

 

[Diamondback 2/2]

Hard pick to make, obviously it dependent to several aspects: type of terrain, type of enemy, engagement distances, type equipment the enemy has (body armor, weapons), the mission tasks, type of movement to contact (mounted, dismounted, air assault), what support assets are available (indirect, CAS, etc) and the mission equipment assessment of all of the above.

Generally speaking, I like having a 7.62 mm weapon of some kind in the squad. Now if I had the ability to pick and choose, I would like an EBR (SDM), a 240B team, and 2 fire teams with standard load out. A 60mm will be a great added tool, especially for Astan. However, again it would be mission dependent.