Lil Hulk 1988

Well, I don't consider the SAW a heavy support weapon, just a base of fire weapon. It actually helped the Marines in the aspect that instead a 5 man fire team, you could move to a 4 man team (when the M60 was the standard, there was a gunner and assistant gunner to hump ammo, barrels, and spot), which made 3 FT per squad. Now some of the light recon units went to 4 man teams before the SAW and just designated a rifleman as autogunner, which was useless since with a thirty round magazine it gave you 5 bursts into a killzone before reload, no better than a rifleman not following ammo discipline. I agree that the A1 was not a good comparison, but it was misused for a few years before the SAW.

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\"U.S. Marines are about the most peculiar breed of human beings I have ever known. They treat their service as if it was some kind of cult, plastering their emblem on almost everythng they own, making themselves up to look like insane fanatics...., which I have come to the conclusion they are!\"
-- An Anonymous Canadian Citizen