INTRODUCTION
The author’s introduction to the “fifty-cal” was the opportunity to fire a few rounds for familiarization during infantry training in 1967.
That was after we had been shown the basics of its operation: how to load, cock, fire, and clear it. Such was the extent of our exposure to the legendary “MaDuce,” officially known as “Machine Gun, Caliber .50, Heavy Barrel, M2.”
The instructor explained that the M2 had been in use since 1933. Some of the trainees, including myself, gazed curiously at the guns placed before us, thinking that they didn’t look that old.
Observing a US mechanized rifle company “trim the tree line” with a dozen “fifties” made me appreciate that the receiving end of such fire was a place no-one would want to be.