Re: SG-1 in SG2

At 2:37 PM -0700 7/15/04, John Atkinson wrote:
>
>I'm going off US doctrinal definitions of Automatic
>Rifle vs. Light Machine Gun.  Spent my share of time
>as a SAW gunner and love the weapon.  In your typical

I have a friend that's a little industrial lass that said the same 
thing about the Saw. She's a wheeled vehicle Mech and spent some time 
in Iraq. When I saw her on leave she was very fond of the M249....

>The bipod is integral to the weapon and always
>deployed before firing--the weapon is really too heavy

A very key thing for an LMG. However I've seen photo's of other LMG's 
fired from walls and such instead of the Bipod. Frankly its assumed 
that the user steadies the weapon somehow. Be it on a wall, sand bags 
or on the bipod. Making the team pay time to deploy on the bipod is 
just mean. Tripod yes but not that much, but as John says below, 
tripods aren't used for SG type missions unless you're postulating a 
defense of a position... say defense of some Asgard protectees while 
Daniel and Sam fiddle with some Asgard "communications thingy" to 
call Thor so he can "beam all these damn Jaffa" off to where ever 
Thor beams them too(1).

>In other words, the typical (and doctrinally correct
>except in deliberate defense) use of the M-249 SAW
>would, by your assumptions, be only marginally more
>effective than an M-16A4.  This has not been my
>personal experience in action.  Remember, the M-249
>was designed and fielded as an Automatic Rifle first
>and foremost, and as a machine gun secondarily.

Just to add to this...
An LMG is the main component in establishing the base of fire for the 
rifle section/squad and allows a strong quantity of fire that is 
useful for supporting the element that is moving forward to close 
with and destroy the red force dudes at the objective. In defensive 
operations it allows the squad/section to suppress the opponent while 
the main element moves back to the next fall back point and then the 
saw gunner moves back with his small section.

The use of 2 LMGs per squad allows two elements to move each with as 
much firepower as the other. One of the problems with the old Enfield 
Bren combo was that the Bren and two riflemen would establish the 
base of fire and the other 7 would move forwards. The 7 riflemen 
tended to have problems putting out the volume of fire of the single 
Bren that supported their move for it's move phase. I suspect that 
the US didn't have as much problems with their BAR/M1 Garand Combo 
what with the greater firepower of the latter and lesser firepower of 
the former (20 rnd mag/fixed barrel).

The x2 SAW arrangement in a US squad makes a hell of a lot of sense 
when you sit down and think about it. And when you look at British 
Commando operations, they tended to have as much Automatic weapons as 
possible for a big Huzzah when they performed their snatch and grabs 
on the Channel Islands. Using Brens with 100 Round Drum Mags (in 
pairs again) or better yet, Vickers K Guns allowed a strong amount of 
firepower that didn't have have a very long duration. Hence the Big 
but short Huzzah in combat.

>That would make it as effective as an M-240 MAG and it
>definitely is not.  I know that for reasons of
>parlimentary financial parsiminiousness our Australian
>brethren have been forced to adopt it in that role
>(pseudo-GPMG) but it is not designed to fill that role
>nor does it do so with effectiveness.

Yep. GPMG's should put put more fire, more accurately at a longer 
range. 30 Caliber MMGs/GPMGs are effective in their anti area roles 
out to 1000 meters or more by virtue of the caliber ballistics and 
tripod arrangements.

PS, don't the Aussies still have FN-Mags in inventory? Or are the 
armor troops the only ones that really have those?

(1) Anyone ever wonder if there's an Asgard Prison planet that the 
Asgard dump all the Captured Gould/Jaffa on? Afterall Thor's Hammer 
didn't kill them, just dumped them in a place that would require slow 
death or allow the host out with the symbiote dead.
-- 
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
-		  Data Center Operations Group		      -
-		http://web.turner.com/data_center/	       -
----------------------------------------------------------------
- Ryan Montieth Gill		       One CNN Center SE0813 E -
- Internet Technologies   --   Data Center Operations Manager  -
- Hours 11am - 7pm Mon - Fri	    (8Sdc, 10Sdc IT@3Ndc)      -
- Cellular: 404-545-6205	     e-mail: Ryan.Gill@cnn.com -
- Office: 404-588-6191					       -
----------------------------------------------------------------
-	      Emergency Power-off != Door release!	       -
----------------------------------------------------------------