Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
We might need to be a bit careful here. A lot of what it taught about MGs comes from WW1 - as does a heck of a lot else.
Some of what's taught even comes from the Legions of Rome...

I've repeatedly denounced our refusal to dump many bad habits acquired in WW II -- and to a lesser extent WW I, Korea and Viet Nam -- all have lent some clutter. However, everything from any one of those is not bad; need to be careful what's retained and what's thrown out.
I see the main application of weapons like FN MAG/M240/GPMG et al, to be direct fire out to 1,800-2000m (observed fall of shot)...we can all come up with examples, but I don't see current ops providing any good data.
I do agree -- with the emphasis on 'current' and the added caveat 'extremely rarely in Iraq, unusually but sporadically in Afghanistan' (Hills, reverse slope users, n9o dense urbanizations, set piece firefights). Plus, tomorrow's another day and things can change; wars can differ drastically and ROE for major conflict don't resemble those for COIN Ops at all...

It could be eliminated as rarely used today in any force that has it's GPMGs at Platoon level -- if they're at company or higher, it doesn't need to be trained in one sense but in another, it makes for a better, more competent gunner, doesn't take long and isn't at all difficult to train. It's an asset, often a necessity in conventional war, not much required in COIN. The ability should not be lost.