09-06-2017, 01:07 AM
When I went to Ranger school, the M14 was used to "simulate" a Squad Automatic Weapon as the M249 was not in the inventory yet. Our machine gun was the M60 and our rifles were M16A1. I made the mistake of admitting I knew how to clean a M14 so I carried an M14, the heavy steel mags, and a basic load of blanks for the Mountain phase. I am not scared to admit that carrying a 7.62x51 "battle rifle" through rough terrain as an Infantry soldier sucked. I was very happy to give up the M14 and go back to a M16A1. The Infantry carries these weapons 24-7 and the "soldiers load" is killing our mobility.