Staff Writer
While learning how to load bullets into an M2 .50-caliber machine gun, Cadets from Co. B 1/46th Inf. also got a refresher in human anatomy.
Staff Sgt. Tiffany Brimmer, a drill sergeant for Bravo Co., told Cadets Tuesday during heavy weapons training that the Army uses personification when describing a bullet. The bullet has a male and a female end, she explained.
Brimmer told Cadets to load their weapons with the female end, meaning the flat end as opposed to the pointed end, into the chamber first.
When one Cadet started to put the male end in first, the drill sergeant corrected him.
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| Cadet Alexander Toro of Marion Military Institute manipulates a .50-caliber machine gun in practice for the simulation room. Photo by Kelsey Sullivan |
Having just been given their initial weapons for training, M16 assault rifles, a few days ago, Co. B 1/46th Inf. Cadets were introduced to some heavier machinery at Leader’s Training Course, including the M2 .50 caliber, M240 B and Saw M249 machine guns.
Cadet Jeanette Pent, from the
“You can engage your enemy from 1,830 meters away,” said the
Cadet Jeremy Boatwright, from Georgia Southern University, preferred the M240B machine gun, because its smaller size allows for greater mobility.
“You’re less of a target when you use it,” said the Woodbury,
Brimmer said one problem that can occur while shooting a machine gun is a “run-away gun,” where the weapon won’t quit firing.
“If that happens, point it in a safe direction,” Brimmer said. “Point it at the enemy.”
The Cadets will be able to shoot live rounds out of their M16 rifles eventually, but had to settle for virtual reality while practicing with the M2. When they were done learning how to load the gun, Cadets shot computer-generated Soldiers coming at them on a screen.
Cadet Bryce McCorkle, from Jacksonville State University in Alabama, said he didn’t hit as many virtual troops as he would have liked because he didn’t crouch low enough to see clearly through his site.
“I was a little off,” McCorkle said.