Squad Competition
A Company "Gators"
October 28, 1998
| The Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), M249 Light Machine
Gun became the standard automatic rifle of the infantry squad. The SAW was an air-cooled, belt-fed, gas-operated automatic weapon that fired from the open-bolt position. It had a regulator for selecting either normal (750 rounds per minute) or maximum (1,000 rpm) rate of fire. The M249 SAW was used to engage dismounted infantry, crew-served weapons, antitank guided missile (ATOM) teams, and thin-skinned vehicles. |
| The Claymore Anti-Personnel Mine was made of
molded fiberglass, with the back portion of the case containing 1-1/2 pounds of C4 explosive and the front portion of the case containing steel spheres, which were projected over a 60-degree fan-shaped pattern (approximately 6 fee high and 50 meters wide at a range of 50 meters) when the mine was detonated via a tripwire and an improvised clothespin firing device. |
| The M240 was a 7.62mm gas operated machine
gun that was produced as the replacement for the M60 machine gun used in Vietnam. |
