The 20th Century generally bears out the ideas that machine guns and artillery do the bulk of the dirty work. There are, of course, exceptions. We did no work to speak of in Baghdad with MG. All rifle work, all close range. Things I didn't care to put in Adagio for Strings because my wife and family also read that stuff. If I fired six rounds in a single day, I don't remember when that day was. The Triangle, on the other hand, was pure MG territory. Very few confirmed kills in the whole battalion on the truck patrols in the Triangle, though. Lots of 7.62 sent downrange, but when the enemy disappears into the irrigation canals in a cloud of dirt, it's hard to say whether he's KIA, WIA, changing positions, or calling it quits. No one in the whole battalion got out to check, and you can be certain that when the Apaches arrived to provide supporting fire they claimed credit for everything. No arty, either. Shades of Vietnam.
That was a while ago.
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“We’re not innovating. We’re selectively imitating.” June Bernstein, Acting President of the University of Arizona in Tucson, November 15, 1998.
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