Having an assistant gunner can either be a blessing, or a curse you wouldn't wish on your worse enemy.
During my time with the M60, I invariably ended up with the later - somebody of little more use than an ammo carrier. Another gunner in my plattoon got extremely lucky and was paired up with a natural No2. Even with only the basic training they worked as a finely tuned machine from the very first moment, instinctively reacting to, even before the other.
With a good No 2, drills barely take more than a few heartbeats. With a crappy one often times the gunner has to scream for them to get close enough so they can grab the spare barrel/ammo/etc and
then get on with the job themselves....
