Anybody here ever lug one around?

Great belt fed weapon -------the one in the photo shoots blanks.

Carried one in early 1987, there really is no comfortable way to carry it.

I knew some guys who were firing that gun in Vietnam in 1969. They thought very highly of it.

They weren't too awful to work on, but they did require a lot of work to keep running right (I worked in my company arms room for awhile). I wasn't really a fan, but they aren't as bad as I remembered, either. They'd work the rivets loose in the receiver without a lot of effort, though. We used ours pretty hard (lots of training time in the 82nd Abn).

Yes, all 23 lbs. of it, thankfully only for about six months. I still remember all the little details and to this day could still operate it. Tracer burnout - 900 meters, maximum effective range - 1100 meters, yada, yada, yada.......
A lot of fun to fire when it worked. I would rather carry one than be an AG. They really got loaded down. I also thought it was easier to carry than a SAW.
But, you carry the pig for six months to a year, and when you get a hold of an M-16 it feels like a Red Ryder, lol.

I noticed the Gas tube seems a bit oversize and it is set up with blanks in the photo. I know an older guy that served in Viet Nam, little guy said he lugged one around his entire tour. I had handled a couple of them and was impressed with their weight and square edges. He said all that mattered to him was putting out rounds and the M60 would put them out. We hunted elk a couple of times and he carried a 30-30. I remember him putting out three rounds so fast you could barely hear a space between shots. And down was a nice cow elk, all rounds in the chest. He is still kicking but not hard enough to elk hunt anymore.

You had to have a good supply of barrels for one, if you were shooting it much.

Didn't take long for that barrel to get red hot.

Yes

They would get head space issues after a lot of heavy firing also. The pins that held the trigger assembly to the receiver were easy to lose

We did, although as others have said it was a bit heavy to pack around. But when the time came to use it, it was worth it's weight in gold.

Semper Fi

I remember Smitty speaking fondly of his pig. The M60 was the only subject he would talk about on his time in Vietnam.

When I was in the Army in the early 1970’s I was in an Infantry Brigade. We had lots of M60’s and would fire them until the barrels glowed. They came with an “Accessory Bag” that contained spare barrels and asbestos gloves to wear when changing hot barrels. One of my assistant gunners forgot to put on his asbestos glove and grabbed a glowing barrel barehanded. I can still remember his screams and the smell of his burning flesh on the barrel. We medevaced him to the hospital and he ultimately was discharged on disability.

And the barrel mitten was easy to lose, but a t shirt would work

Getting some trigger time on the M60. El Salvador, 1984.

Cool pictures.

MSG duty?

Yep. I was down there from Oct '83 to Jan '85.

Yep, in the Jungle

Did you ever see Colonel North?

The -60 was the primary weapon for Aeroscout gunners in the OH 6 and we wore more than a few of them out. Carried a spare barrel, used it now and then. Standard ammo load was 1,500 rounds. Standing orders for the gunner were to save the last couple hundred rounds in case we had to walk home. Average fella would be surprised by how much an experienced gunner could accomplish with a very few rounds.

That's a great picture.

It sounds like it brought out a LOT of history here to put as the caption

.

Twin stripped down butterfly handle 60's on the back of the Guntruck box. Thinking about it now , I should have mounted both those 60's without any modification .

I was thinking about this quite abit lately. I fondly remember a dear friend who passed away now, he was from Arizona, moved up here after 3 tours in Vietnam, he loved that machine gun.

Yep. Bad ass weapon.

Had a good friend that was a door gunner on a helicopter in Viet Nam. He spoke highly of it.

No m60. Lottsa m240.

I wonder why they never made a 5.56mm version of it. Smaller, lighter, carry more rounds. Just like an M16 vs. an M14. If you're worried about terminal effects from the 5.56, then why bother with 5.56 in rifles in the first place?

Two questions:
1) what is an AG?
2) I thought the M-60 was the SAW back in the day, no?

Terminal effects? Bigger is better for beating through things. 7.62 offers some things that the 5.56 can't do.

1. Assistant gunner

2. more of a medium machine gun, at least in my opinion.

Haven't packed one around and have no real world experience like a lot of you, but did get to shoot one about 3 weeks ago. I liked it a lot!

My "brother" was a 60 gunner in the Marines in RVN from mid-late 1968 through the first part of 69. Carried it about six months and then was promoted to squad leader and traded it for a M-16.

He explained how he'd carry it balanced on his right shoulder with a six round stringer in it. When they got hit he'd throw it down and then attach the rest of the belt, that was a lot easier and faster than opening the feed cover and not as likely to give away his position (assuming they didn't already know where he was). We had a snapshot of him like that someone took while they were going through a village, M-60 on his shoulder and a pack of Winstons in his helmet band.

Except for it being heavy he was apparently quite fond of it and proud of his skill with it. In fact the Marines were going to make him a truck driver but he specifically requested to be a machine gunner and go to Vietnam, so he got his wish.



I only qualified with one in 1972 and and fired one a few times thereafter. I'm a lefty and they made me shoot it right handed due to the feed cover latch being on the right so I wasn't particularly accurate with it. Shooting it is fun, it just gently rocks back and forth in recoil. Muzzle blast from behind it isn't bad at all, however being the assistant gunner sucks since you're off to the side and the muzzle blast is truly obnoxious.

Tracer burnout and grazing fire was 600 meters?

Rapid rate of fire - 200 rounds a minute changing the barrel every minute.

Sustained rate of fire - 100 rounds a minute changing the barrel every ten minutes.

17.5 inches high in the Me tripod. T&E for defensive positions and use with range cards.

Oh to be young again, and in the America I grew up in.

Armalite tried with the Stoner but most of the military were not interested ... except the Navy SEALs. They loved it, or so my good friend who was on SEAL Team One in Vietnam told me.

L.W.

The AG stood for Assistant Gunner. He got loaded down with the tripod, spare barrel and several hundred rounds on top of the already burdensome weight a grunt carried.

The M-60 was a GPMG(General Purpose Machine Gun) in 7.62 that came into service in the very early 60’s to replace the 1919A6 and A4 Brownings in service at that time. There were also some BARS still in service as my uncle carried a BAR in Ranger school in 1961.
There was a automatic version of the M-14 that was supposed to function as a squad automatic weapon in that timeframe but it wasn’t very successful as it was hard to control.
The M249 SAW came into service in the early to mid 80’s and was chambered in 5.56. The 82nd Airborne was one of the first units to get the M249.
Until the M249 was introduced, the M-60 filled the gap wherever it was needed for close to twenty-five years. So yes, I guess you could say it was the SAW back in the day.

I shot one at summer camp, I thought I fired three rounds, on the ground were three cases.

The 50cal BMG sounded like a corn sheller by comparison.

Second tour flying Hueys for short spell and doing Nighthawk missions, one of the crew chiefs had fabricated a quad -60 and used an array of landing lights which he could focus. 7 lights, one handle, 4 guns and one trigger. Clever fella he was. He whacked more dinks with that rig than the primary gunner with a Xenon searchlight and a minigun. Dayum, that thing did yammer when he set it off.

My first MOS was a 91A, combat medic. I went on flight status after a couple of years and then got a second MOS as a 67N. Crew chief on a Huey. Got to qualify several times as a door gunner. A lot of fun. They do burn through barrels rather fast.

Story was similar in our army. We had Brens, which were converted to 7.62 at about the time we went over to that calibre in the L1A1. There was also the L2A1, which was like an L1A1 but with a heavy barrel, bipod and full-auto capability, but the M60 became the front line gun and stayed in service until about the 1990s. Brens were a good LMG. L2A1 not so much - a bit hard to hold down, and no quick-change barrel (and nothing to hold them with if the crappy bipod was down. I've shot both.

I have carried the M60 a good number of miles, and there are worse things to carry - the 84 mm Carl Gustaf MAW being one of them. I shot them a fair bit too, including in SF mode off a tripod, and indirect fire using a C2 sight unit and posts. They were getting a bit long in the tooth in the 1980s, when I was in, and every now and again one would "run away", for which the IA was to break the belt. Good fun though!

BTDT as a joe AG at carson then 12 months as a gunner in FRG
always in charge of the rear gun as a Psg for many many yrs
Lead gun with WSL and PL in movement formations.



Anyways side bar long story.
18 of us WSL,s in 1st Brigade all went to a start up M60 Mg leaders course in 93.
101st had all the wpn systems schools in place before desert storm.
Put on Hiatus due to billy boy DOD ammo cut backs for 2 yrs in 92 and 93 due to ammo forecast being severly cut back.

Anyways the guy they had " teaching" had a nervous break down after lunch the 2nd day of a 14 day course.
Guy was faking the funk outta FM 23- 67 big time.
Got 18 e5 P,s and e6,s checkfiring him constantly
Most of us Wearing EIBS , CIBS, with long term line squad and Wpn Sqd ldr experience.

He literally checked himself into Blanchfeild mental health.
Got himself a job at the replacement center.



Anyways the 1sg of Bncoc shows up and starts teaching the course when we all came back from lunch unknown to us that SFC looney tunes checked the fugg out until the 1sg told us.
Holy fugg......

The 1sg and other Bncoc instructors took turns each day.
The course turned into a hands on gunnery course 6 days on the ranges with 5 days in the field doing a full blown dug in live fire defense.
All with student input.
We basically threw away the previous POI.
We couldnt get live fire maneuver ranges scheduled that fast.



Anyways.
Day 3 of the Defense.
Digging in 60 positions to standard with OHC and proper grenade sumps on the sloped floor
1sg rolls up
Tells me and florez
I was in A co 2/327th and Flo was in C co.

Get your schit on you 2 gotta go see the commandant/CSM at the Academy.
Me and Flo are like WTF???
1sg not saying a word....

Anyways...

Standing in front of CSM Nichols.
Former 1st Bde CSM during Desert Storm.
Knew of me and Flo.
In a good way....

Says you 2 have been cleared out of your companies
Go clear out your lockers at your unit after you graduate of your assigned TA 50 and personal gear
You will be the M60 course instructors.
You have 3 weeks to write up a POI for a 2 week course of Combat arms and combat service support units.
I know you 2 and you will get it done.
You will have one for 2 week and vice versa for 2 weeks
You will schedule it so you grad on a friday with a 9 day break betweeen classes.
During that work week draw your ammo, chow, and cooridanate your ranges, training areas, chow, transpo for the FTX.
Once your done logistic planning the rest of that week and those 2 weekends are yours. You do not have to report to any academy formations, you only are accountable to the the BNCOC 1sg.


CSM Nichols hands us each a set of orders signed by the Division Cmdr at the time MG Jack Keene.
Granting us H Identifiers and assigning us to the Academy UMR.
WTF????
Shakes our hands says "Alway 1st"
Get the f u c k outta my office

We go back to the feild .
Tell all our buds what went down.

They are chuckling of course.
Sucks to be you stuff.

Me and flo got noticed by the cadre it turned out wanting to do the right schitt and have high standards in the course.
All us " students " ran the course and had schitt tons of input.
But informal leaders always stick out in schit like that.

Anyways me and FLO got the long term logistics out for 18 months cooridinated thru our support assets, all ranges and training areas done thru range control.
We were both range OIC/NCOIC cert from our companies anyways.
Got the POI,s set for CA and CSS units.

Schit worked out.
Ran smooth.
VIP vistors all the fughing time.
We wanta go see the M60,s course.


SAW course
M203 course
M60 motar course
M16A2 course
Tow gunnery course

All them instructors ticked at me and FLO.

Cause these guys had to go actively seek their jobs.
Go thru interview board
Go to a 3 week instructor course for the H Identifiers.

Me and Flo
Untouchable.

About 10 months later I came down on orders for 2nd tour in korea
Flo came down on orders for Panama
We trained up our replacement instructors over a period of 2 months

We picked a Infantry E6 guy from 3/ 187th from 1 class
And a Black hawk crew cheif E 6 from another.

Those 2 guys had ta report to the academy outta the Blue after they had graduated well before from the course.
We knew both of em .
Talked and interacted with our students all the time.
Both of em experienced and fully capable

They had no idea.
Me and flo greet em.

Layed it all out to em.
Everything is in stone
Nothing you gotta tweak for CA and CSS units.
All cooridanation done for the next 7 months.

Schit all worked out.



The Hotel Identifier also made me in the chute for train the trainer course,s when I got assigned to the 3/187th.
Was one of the 1st ones in brigade to attend the M4 carbine feilding with colt and the M240B fielding with FN.
Started 2 week course in both.
Everything from tech data , classroom instruction, live fire ranges.
The whole 9 yrds
Then all of certified trainers.
Trained our companies on the new systems.
Same thing with the Javelin missle system when I was in the 502nd
Tuesday morning sept 11 2001 2nd day of a train the trainer 2 week course.
All units on post locked.
Javelin course students .
Your place of duty is here till you graduate .
Your units have been notified.
You are exempt from the alert.
For obvious reasons
Feilding a new wpn system for 3 infantry brigades we will use on the co ck sukka,s in due time.

Anyways. ..


The M60 was a good wpn.
Its downfall was due to clintons cut backs.
Once the Saco Maremont mil spec parts started dying up in the logistic chain.
DOD statred bidding out repair parts to Mom and Pop so to speak shops.
Mil spec varied widely.
Schit wasnt working out.
No parts available or of dubious quailty.

I used to carry in my ruck when I was in 327th a schitt load of m60 parts just to try to keep my 2 60,s as a WSL up and running.
And when possible the other 4 guns in the other 2 platoons.
I had connections at 801st maintenance armor shop and with the contact teams on ranges.
Just being a social butterfly and getting aquianted with people in the logitics channels.
Being a scrounger to keep schit running so soldiers can train to fight.
Deadlined guns are 35% of a Infantry platoons firepower.
Some people DGAF about their equipment, sad to say and use the 2404 and 2408 parts ordered on paper alibi too often.

I had quite a bit of stuff.
When I got assigned to the academy I passed that stuff on to the guy who replaced me a WSL in my platoon and the 2 other WSL,s in the other platoons.
They were thankful cause they knew I got assigned to the academy and were hoping to get those parts.
I dont blame em.
At the time clintons cutbacks really affected unit readiness with wpn systems.


The M60 had its day.

I will say the M240B is a much better MG though.
Way more accurate
Way more stable bipod and tripod
Way more reliable in schitty conditions.
Better design.

That is my opinon based on experience.
Why do I say that?
Many reasons , but the main one is
The M60,s gas piston system was a problem.
Excessive tight tolerance and rapid fouling with the gas tubecand piston add in the front and back of the gas cylinder plugs and the bottom bolt plug being wired and becoming loose at the worst of times or breaking, losing gas from those plugs would turn a 60 into a single shot MG fast.
Once a 60 started chugging it was telling ya it needed attention.

If they had made the M60 a op rod gas cupped system similiar to a AK like the 240 is.
It would have been a better wpn IMO.

I have alot of memories with Mg,s from all over the planet.
I like MG,s

Happiness is a warm MG...
👍👍👍👍👍

You can litterally see the cold bullet shadow in a hot really hot barrel with nods on when firing.

I carried one for two years, '78-80, B2/75. It was a beautiful weapon!

As I recall, the M60 shared a great deal of its design with the German MG42 which had the nick name of "Hitler's buzzsaw" due to its rapid rate of fire. The MG 42 had a rollar lock operating mechanism instead of gas operated. IMHO, the US should have directly copied the MG 42 and chambered it for 7,62 withiout other modification. All reports and accounts from WW II were that the MG 42 was as supreme weapon. It was made with simpicity and cost effectiveness in mind - mostly stamping instead of machining - a half of million were produced and used in combat. All the bugs were worked out, and it weighed a couple of pounds less than the M60. Why mess with perfection?

I could get about 1500 rds outta a maintained 60 firing sustained 100 a min for 10 mins with a barrel change before one would start chugging.

Yup but not for long.

Maybe, but it sure as fugg ain't doing gun drills every hundred yards on a gravel road.

Hearing "gun up" and slamming down that stupid tripod until your knees and elbows were raw is NOT happiness.

But, I guess those were cold MGs......

I don't recall seeing him. At that time I don't think his name was even well known. There were folks coming through the embassy though.

You bet, it'll put a grin on your face!

Those fugging leaf springs that held em in .
Loose tension and the 3/4 moon slots get worn.
Main culprits........

Ahhhhh..... thats a SAW man.

Dang boy...you let your dumbass hillbilly disguise slip on that post.

No schit man.
No schit..


83 to 08.

Left one america in 83 and shawshank redemption into another in 08.

The Civilian world is a goat F u c k....

I cant imagine only knowing one veiw of the nation and never seeing it from the outside and looking back into it.
And wondering WTF happened.
How could it have gotten this frigging bad...

Kinda makes ya think .
What the fugg did I even accomplish?????

I accomplished keeping soldiers I seen as brothers alive the best I could at times and passed on knowledge that was passed onto to me and developed young wolves to be leaders just like what was done for me.


Sure as fugg wasnt for what this country is now.
JFC.....


JMO.....

Edit

I'm smarter than the average national park bear looking for chubby treats.
And I had excellent leaders that I grew up as a joe under.
Learned right and wrong.
Hard right before the easy wrong is the way to roll.

LOL!!!

Why didn’t the US just adopt the MG 34/42?

Any of ya remember being an AR with a A1, clip on bipod , and a azzload of extra mags.
Fugging running rattling gypsy wagon...
Mags strewn all over ya. Cargo pockets full of em.

Gawddamm..
🥴🥴🥴😆😆😆😆


E1 at carson late 83 early 84.
All the newb dismounts got that schitt.
Bout 5 months for me.
Then 203 gunner then 60 AG

JFC.... Fuuging being an AR sucked..


Sally from gun smoke had less schitt....
🥴🥴🥴😂😂😂😂

Kinda can guess what chugging is.
What causes it, and what's fixing to go wrong?

When I was 14 in 1965 a gov inspector where my dad worked [my father designed guns and vehicles for the military] borrowed from work, a belt fed machine gun that said "Colt" on the side.

With the adults and other teen agers, I shot up an old model A ford and a toilet under the power lines. Every 5th round was a tracer.

50 years later I realized that was an M60.

Because it was German Nazi.

Have wanted one ever since watching Rambo shoot one from the hip in First Blood

Lol!!.
What were you guys doing to get messed with like that doing crew drills .
Who fugged up in the sqd???
BTDT .

Ever do the 4 up and over with a 60 or ride a harley with one.

Lol!! Good times.


Several times in my past.
I would pcs somewhere and inherit a wpn sqd.
That the previous WSL basically didnt do schit with.
I E basic crew drills.

Basic offensive and defensive employment.

Lead gun assault side
Trail gun Loa side.

Rates of fire
Guns talikng to each other.
Fughing range card......



Just basic schit that the crews werent taught.
Cant blame the joes .
They are only as good as their sqd ldr.

Tactics, employment, level 20 and 30 maintenance schitt you can do outside of deadlining your gun.
How to keep your schit running.


Several times in units I got tasked to train other platoons WSL,s
Wasnt because they was not smart.
But maybe like a young line squad leader moving up to wpns sqd
Constantly was OIC on Battalion and Bde 60, 249 , 240 Javelin gunnery ranges.
Actually had talks with company commanders, 1sg,s, bn cmdrs, bn csm,s.
I can run all the Mg and AT ranges and show others how to run em over time shadowing em, just task others to run m4 , m203, m9 , grenade ranges ect ect ect.

At one point in 327th.
I was a E6 WSL and my PSG SFC Droesch were literally the only 2 range Qualified Nco,s in the Battalion for a period of 6 months.
Due to Billy Boys cutbacks on everything.
Had plenty of NCO,s in Battalion waiting to get certified.
But Billy cut the funding for the civilian contract instructors.
You wanna talk about getting fughing tasked out
Fughing running the Battalions ranges.
Had ta be done.

I didnt approach it like a dick.

Approached it like schitt needs to be learned and done correctly not half azzed.

I had some schitt hot wpn sqds.
You can tell when your soldiers wanta suck up knowledge and be good at their jobs.
Never forget some of those soldiers .
make em my line safeties on ranges.
No one in chain of commands ever fugged with me or questioned what I was doing on ranges.

.

Passing on of knowledge and experience been going since valley forge.

Korea, 1963. Spent a day in the classroom and a day of familiarization firing.

Bruce

Yes I have had the pleasure of hauling one around. The Hog is one heavy ass gun after a 17 mile road march!

Gas system isuue mostly.
Carbon, bullet jacket shavings , heat, loose gas plugs
Slow down rate of fire.
Wpn fixing to puke on ya unless you can pull the piston.
Clean it up
Punch out gas tube with the brush.
And get that piston moving freely to hear it click back and forth in the tube tilting it back and forth with the bolt assembly locked back.

Worst thing to do is oil a 60 gas system heavy.
Very very light finger print of oil at the most.
They gave us graphite during desert storm.
Mostly for the bolt and feed tray and feed pawl system
Worthless.....

Light clp up top .
Dryish in the gas...

Lol!!!!

Homie bought himself a new of tanker boots in germany
The ones with the wrap around leather strap.
BC authorizerd em for wear.
We was mech D co 1/ 16th


Anyways homie did a 12 miler with his newly assigned pig.
Would not give it up when people tried to spell him.


My feet were hamburger...

Thank god it was on a friday.


Young , dumb , trying to prove I was tough.
Dont show wealness.
New e4 just came in unit from carson .
Asked to be a 60 gunner after having been a AG at Carson.
Did my time on the 60.
Got lateral promoted to Corporal and made a fire team ldr.
Got a new A2.
Kept moving up .
Rest is history.


Dont wear new tanker boots on a 12 miler is the morale of the story....
🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴😂😂😂

Humped the M60 for two years, enough to appreciate it's strengths and weaknesses. Easy enough to carry, gas system a little fussy, not suitable for sustained fire role, feed cover redesign on the Mk3 fixed a flaw. Final shoot of them before destruction managed to get the barrel red then white hot, I'd swear you could see the bullet go down the barrel.

Got to put a few belts downrange with an MG3 - now there is a nice gun, particularly at 1100rpm.

Preferred the FN MAG (aka MAG58, M240, L7A1) once it got the handguard under the gas system. Complete prick of a thing for dismounted use before then, but so reliable and definitely superior to the M60.

Never took to the FN MINIMI (aka M249) and only qualified on it just before I left. Appeared to be somewhat over engineered, and overweight, but capable and dependable in service.

Would like to handle and use a Maximi, see how it stacks up against the older versions.

Called that firepower superiority in the 60's..

Thanks for your service!

g

Used one for a while in my misspent youth. Wasn’t too bad to carry, and if maintained well and correctly, it always worked. If not, well... still, it was a reassuring sound when it was running well. Only MG I ever used that needed parts safety wired on.

Old70

That thing is so fugging ugly it's beautiful.

Thanks for serving guys. This one was worth the read.
Great pics and info.

And as R50 politely pointed out billy clinton was and is a twatwaffle.

There may have been alcohol involved.

Allegedly.

The best part was, while I was "qualified" on the 60, at the time I was a pogue, getting ready to deploy on a cruise with 1/8 as a pay clerk.

As a pogue, being prior infantry with a CAR was, at times, awesome.
Other times, not so much.......

Well now we all know how ren 50 got his scrounging and scalping skills and why a guy needs them. Great thread. Mb

"And I had excellent leaders that I grew up as a joe under.
Learned right and wrong.
Hard right before the easy wrong is the way to roll."

The best way to grow up.


"I accomplished keeping soldiers I seen as brothers alive the best I could at times and passed on knowledge that was passed onto to me and developed young wolves to be leaders just like what was done for me."

If I knew nothing of you but that, well that is enough to respect the f*ck out of you.

Thank you

LOL!!!
Monday????

I remember 94 and 95 in Bragg. We humped to the training areas and yelled "Bang!" as there was no fuel nor ammo.


BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) closed down Ord and the 7th went away. I was PCSed to Bragg but the Army would not move my wife. So I became a geographic bachelor for two years. The only time saw her in that time frame was when I flew home to bury my mother. Clinton had shut down so many careers that the writing was on the wall. I got out in 95 thinking I could get back in after brief interlude in the Reserves. Got home to find the wife had left and the Army had shut the door.

Oh well. Life is good.

That is the answer. Our weapons had to of US or Allied design.

While out drinking with the STA guys, we decided to turn the 1/8 pogues into super-opfor during some fugg-fugg pre-deoloyment games with miles gear.

STA guys gave is the route and we used that info to smoke the "real" grunts. Some idiot was all "Haagy set it up to start the ambush with the belt fed" and the 1st Sgt was all "since you pogues like the machine guns so much, follow me."

Much hilarity (and pain) ensued.

92 to 00 under Billy Boy was a all around goat f u c k with him as Commander in Chief.
Literally standing in Bn and Bde formations during his Lewinsky and impeachment exploits.
Being read DOD/Secretary of Defense directives/riot act schitt to cease and desist ridiculing the dipschit in office, and punishable under UCMJ if heard and proved.

We still did it of course.
NGAF about what his tools Perry and Cohen had to say.
Was a check the Block thing the chain of commands had to do.

2 weeks at Summer camp. Spent a couple of days shooting up ammo at different times. I also got to shoot one out of a Huey. That was a fun time. Only in training and never at another person.
kwg

^^^ This ^^^

I fell one target short of qualifying Expert with the M-60 with just a half-belt of ammo. When I picked up my belt off the flat bed trailer the links broke apart mid-ways but was rushed on by cadre with "Move on trainee". Kept shots to minimum rounds possible per target. Last popup target was the farthest, belt was gone, checked and I had just one round left in the chamber. I aimed as I would a rifle but apparently took too long as I shot the timed popup was just starting going down so it wasn't counted as a confirmed hit. Still left me with the max score for Sharpshooter and just 1 shy of minimum score for Expert.

Mid-late '60s we were all issued a M-14 AND a M-16 rifle in Infantry AIT at Tigerland and both had full auto selector switches. M-14 only issued in Basic Training at Ft. Knox and were all sem-auto capable only.

was my weapon of choice, I did PT with it.

Oh yes, I carried one for about 6 months.

I was 11B infantry so learned early on to never wear new boots on any sort of road march. As a Pvt1 I learned to love moleskin 😁
Our worst nightmare was in Wildflecken Germany when we had to hop a 2½ton (deuce & ½) to get where they wanted us quickly. So damn cold and the metal floor of the 2½ ton sucked the warmth out of your feet. Then when it stopped and you had to jump down off it, hitting the ground with completely frozen feet was like jumping on 10,000 needles. Oh I can still remember that pain 32 years later.
The worst marches ever were in Hohenfels Germany. The damn mud would stick to your boots like glue. Every 3rd or 4th step you would kick your foot out to try and dislodge 20lds of mud only to gain it back again in a couple steps. I have never walked in mud like that anywhere else in the world...... Ah the sweet memories of life as an infantry soldier. Like every Vet here on the Fire I could talk for days about my time in the Army.

I have
M240 to...... will definitely make a good work out

You could not impress this more back when. Some of you may recall being taught to lube the [bleep] out of things. Way bad idea! We broke down our gas system every cleaning , to the dismay of the armorer and PLT SGT wishing to get home to mama! We did a ton of experimenting with lubes back then. Very light oiling keeps the guns functioning and I always carried spare bolt parts with me, extractors and ejectors w/new springs, etc. We modified some old army kit bags and had them sewn up with thick parachute webbing as slings. Hung them off my left side w/300 rounds s-rolled in it. Kept the ammo clean and out of the way. I kept another 500 in my ruck ,scenario dependency varied amount. It was brutal on the shoulders!

I was stationed about 35 k SW of Stuttgart in Boeblingen .
Panzer Kaserne.
1/16 th
1st ID 3rd Bde Fwd
Main Part of Bde was in Gerpoingen (sp) about 60k west
May 86 - May 88.

Hohenfels sucked the root also just like Graf.
Reforgers were always kinda fun for 30 to 40 days.
My Psg made us all pivot steer in a winter wheat feild at the end of a dead end trail on a reforger.
5 113,s grind and turn.
Herman the German got paid big time for that one.
Watched a M88 try to squeeze thru a 600 yr old rd arch in Tubigen for some dumb reason.
Some Maintenance unit types.
Toppled over like a set of kids building blocks...
Great.....
Survives schit loads of wars.
And some dumb recovery crew of grease monkeys topples it over.
Not good......
Herman the German was not pleased with that one.

Bde task during reforger was too secure the 3 Bridges over the Rhine from Kharlesrule down to across from Strasbourg.
28, 500, and 10 sections of autobhan and connector rds going to the bridges also.
We really didnt have ta play all the reindeer maneuver games the whole time.


Good times anyways.

atvalaska, you ran PT carrying an M60? Good grief, Im assuming you stand 6'4" if not more?