Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic
I gotta say, with those NCOs and Officers you had, what the hell happened to "the gun is the main firepower of the Section"?
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The problem was that most were riflemen first and foremost. They understood the theory of the machinegun, but they had never actually carried one and operated as the section gunner. They had been trained (like all infantry) in it's operation, but beyond 50 rounds a year to "familiarise" them, they barely touched it.
Even most of the gunners didn't really want to carry it due in most part to it's weight. Me on the other hand, I saw from the very first day the benefits in being the section gunner - better piquet shifts, rarely called upon for extra duties, got to ride with your head out of the APC, not to mention all that belt fed, heavy firepower, juicy goodness!
At the time I was the smallest in the platoon (maybe even company) and weighed about 65kgs (140 lbs) dripping wet. I ALWAYS put my hand up to carry it.
The zeroing issue wasn't addressed until an older ex-gunner was promoted to WO2 and put in charge of running the machinegun qualification shoot. By the end of the day (and thousands of rounds later) all the guns were zeroed and consistently hitting targets for probably the first time in at least a decade and a half. Most had also been pulled and properly serviced by a competent armourer from another unit, so they ran almost as well and brand new guns.
A shame really. They were withdrawn from service just a couple of years later and replaced with Minimi's and MAG-58's.
