08-21-2011, 08:20 PM
Our sister Battalion in OIF had come under heavy fire in an urban area during the initial push up to Baghdad. I talked with one of the guys from that unit later in 2004, and he said he was just doing what he had been trained to do when he was in Ranger Regiment before coming to the 82nd...i.e. bounding with fires toward the enemy. They started taking fire from a Dshk heavy machinegun, and were pinned down on a city street. He called up his buddy on his ICOM. Previously, the dude had been complaining about being assigned the Barrett M107 .50 BMG. He was providing support for this particular line unit, and responded via his ICOM radio that he was already on it. A pause, a few coughs from the Barrett...and Dshk no longer an issue.
The Dshk gunners had been emplaced in a well-fortified gun position with plenty of cover to defeat small arms fire, including a block wall. This guy said that when they advanced onto the gun position, it looked like someone had just finished a water-melon smashing contest. The .50 had totally devastated the Iraqis behind the wall. From then on, the guy with the Barrett could often be seen cradling it...talking to it at times, never letting it out of his immediate control. That's 29 pounds of bad news if you're on the receiving end of that deal...
The Dshk gunners had been emplaced in a well-fortified gun position with plenty of cover to defeat small arms fire, including a block wall. This guy said that when they advanced onto the gun position, it looked like someone had just finished a water-melon smashing contest. The .50 had totally devastated the Iraqis behind the wall. From then on, the guy with the Barrett could often be seen cradling it...talking to it at times, never letting it out of his immediate control. That's 29 pounds of bad news if you're on the receiving end of that deal...