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Date Posted: Mon, May 09 2005, 18:27:21
Author: Larry Lusk
Author Host/IP: 66.214.57.211
Subject: Re: Camouflage
In reply to: Larry Lusk 's message, "Re: Camouflage" on Mon, May 09 2005, 9:21:07

I forgot one important thing that makes a camouflaged uniform kind of useless. While we almost always carried one or two hundred rounds of M60 ammo in our packs we also carried a one hundred round belt bandolier style, usually over our flak jackets. We carried them for the gunners of course and did so willingly. That’s the gun that kept the bad guys off us when it hit the fan. When we got into a fire fight the belts of ammo were tossed down the line to the gunner. When we set up for the night everyone dropped his belt off at the M60 position before we did anything else. The ammo in our packs was insurance for a time when we couldn’t get an ammo resupply. When the shooting started the packs got dropped, there was a quick release on one strap, and got left where the fell. If we couldn’t get back to our packs then we were already in too deep to get out of by ourselves. Humping a seventy plus pound pack is one thing, fighting while wearing it is insane.

Now there was no way you could really hide a belt of brass hung over one shoulder. The only time we didn’t carry that belt was if we were out on a patrol or recon without the gunner. That didn’t happen too often. So in a sense we might as well have been wearing those reflective vests we used in basic training to keep cars and trucks from running into us. How do they carry extra ammo for the SAW gunner in Iraq and Afghanistan now? For those of you who don’t know the SAW is a micky-moused version of the M60. Either they’ve found a way to cover the ammo up or all their camo uniforms and face paint doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If the rest of the platoon/squad isn’t carrying extra ammo for the gun then I can see a potential problem. You can’t always go back to the HumVee and get another belt of ammo. And folks, in a fight that gun can use up a lot of ammo and it’s the one weapon you don’t want to run out of ammo for.

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