M249 and M16

[Ricky_Benton]

Ok what are the pros and cons of these weapons and which would you bring into battle with you? Also I noticed that most squad have at least one guy with a M249..what is his purpose..Suppressive fire? also do you get to choose what weapon you want to bring with you in battle? Also does if your MOS isn't infantry will you be less experienced in combat than 03's?

[grunt0311]

hey Ricky when i was in i carried the saw for 2 years there's 3 saw per squad i per team and its for suppressive fire a lot of fire they taught us the one that can get and maintain fire suppority wins the fire fight. you get assigned the weapon and its yours, you don't get both. as far as experience goes i would say 03s are in the field more than other support roles. usually 2 weeks out of the month in the field running patrols and setting up ambushes stuff like that. its really about practicing sop's and getting everyone working as one unit.you get to the point were every one knows what to do automatically. as far as witch ones best, id say no one likes to carry it all the time or hump the ammo, but they like it when its needed.

[Trapper]

Again, grunt comes through with good intel. The fireteam is made up usually of 4 men. A rifleman (usually the team leader), an SAW (M249) gunner, an assault man (M203) and another rifleman. I believe that is right. There are 3 fire teams per squad, each of the same setup basically. Depending on the situation, there will be a radioman in the squad, and he can either be one of the squad or platoon members or attached from a COMMS platoon. He carries a rifle and sometimes a .45 or 9mm. There are typically 3 squads per platoon. Above the 3 squads is a Platoon Leader, usually a SSgt. Above him is usually a Platoon Commander, a 2nd or 1st Lt. Fire team leaders are typically LCpls, but can be anything, depending on attrition. I was a Team leader as a Cpl, because we had enough Cpls to do that. I think our third team was run by a Lance. The SAW is good for suppressive fire. You want to get fire superiority as fast as possible. Although the M16s can do the 3 round burst, the Saw is much faster at getting rounds down range. You would get used to the weight. The other members of the team/squad can and do carry extra ammo for the saw gunners. You don't want them running out of ammo. Not only because of their fire speed, but in a pinch you can break the belts and redistibute to the other riflemen if needed. You will always redistribute the ammo so there are no weak spots in a line. As for which is better, they both fire the same size rounds, so that is not a differentiator. The M16 is better for pinpoint shots, because of the single shot option. Pretty tough to shoot a 1 round volley from a saw...

[hankhoffman]

You would not want us 7051 Crash Crew people being dropped in your unit without a ton of training. I have no doubt that in my day that I could have made a fine grunt but I loved firefighting too much. I argee that units need the saw but I would have wanted an M-16. I want to point and shoot not spray and pray.

[kmarier2001]

You would not want us 7051 Crash Crew people being dropped in your unit without a ton of training. I have no doubt that in my day that I could have made a fine grunt but I loved firefighting too much. I argee that units need the saw but I would have wanted an M-16. I want to point and shoot not spray and pray.

I've never heard that saying before, but it sure makes sense to me!

[BrotherMick]

Also does if your MOS isn't infantry will you be less experienced in combat than 03's?
Well, Billy, CJ, and Hank pretty much gave you the real low-down on your first question. To answer the last part of your question, I'd say that the training of the 03's is more combat specific than your non-03's, but experience is gained in just that. The more you go out on patrol, the more experience you get and I would say you are constantly learning along the way. Training is the key word.

[Trapper]

After MCT, a desk jockey might get a week or two a year in "field" training. They spend time in the office doing thier office work, but General Conway is all about reminding even the office Marines that they are riflemen first, and having them do water insertions, patrolling, guard duty, etc. I like that about him. It makes for a better Marine Corps in my mind. It makes sense that all MOS's have the standards set high, and are made to conform. Yes, the non-grunts will have less "training" in combat oriented stuff, because that is not thier main job, but the grunts will have more experience, and more training in the field. We are all Marines whether we fis planes or shoot mortars. We all need to know how to "become" a grunt if needed. If a group of Marines, say a few grunts, and a ranking S3 guy get separated somehow from thier main group and have to go into a hot zone, guess who is going to be in charge? You guessed it, the senior non-grunt guy. He/or she(like that Captain Helo pilot in DS1) will have to take charge in a combat area and take care of the subordinates. It can happen, and the way rank structures work, they would be in charge.