The US Machine Gun M60 is a shoulder fired, gas operated belt fed light machine gun from the latter half of the 20th century. It used a disintegrating link belt in 7.62 NATO. It was used in infantry, cavalry, and a variety of other roles, both as an infantry weapon, and fitted to a host of vehicles. The M60 was fitted to virtually everything that moved or flew.
Affectionately referred to as "The Pig", the gun was so named because after you carried it for a while, it started to weigh as much as a young pig. PawPaw himself has huped the pig, and I much preferred to mount it to a vehicle.
The Pig was eventually replaced by FN's M240 machine gun. and FN's M249 light machine gun.
The M60 was in part responsible for my choice of branch during my early years as a soldier. During one particularly grueling road march, we were ordered to the side of the road to let a company of tanks move through our march. Those guys were riding, and that seemed preferable to me, because I'm a lazy sort who believes that motorized movement is always preferable to walking. Two years later as we were completing pre-commissioning paperwork, I wrote Armor on my "dream sheet".
I only operated a stationary one in Basic. Loading, firing, barrel swaps, that's it. The last time I fired one was for fun, a tripod mounted M-60 at a machine gun shoot in Westfield, MA. Fired as I was trained with 5-round bursts.
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