New Army "Caliber Configuration Study"

[Tony Williams]

In normal circumstances when the platoon goes out, would not the machine gunners of the weapons squad be carrying their .338 MMG's?

I am open to correction by anyone who knows differently, but AFAIK the British Army in Afghanistan did not normally send out patrols in platoon strength. The basic patrolling unit seems have been the standard section of eight men, sometimes supplemented by extras (snipers, or ATGW operators).

I've just looked through lots of photos on the web of the BA on patrol and the most I've seen in any pic is about a dozen, with the numbers visible generally being 6-8. Of course, every picture won't include everyone there, but you'd think that some of them would.