Machine Gun Platoon

This article is fucking 'Murican. Expect copious amounts of Freedom with an infrequent side of Awesome.

The American Machine Gun platoon is a unit availble in flames of war. They are armed with the Browning M1919 .30 calibre machine gun. It was a ubiquitous and reliable firearm that saw service in dozens of countries throughtout the rest of the century. It still sees service in NATO countries, though rechambered for newer rounds.

IRL

World War I was an intense time of military innovation, and this was no less understood than the United States. Of particular effectiveness on the defense was the Machine gun, which earned a feared reputation. John Browning, a gun designer who had already developed the M2 1918 to give the United States both an anti-personnel/anti-armored car vehicle, had been tweaking with a design he had since 1917. This weapon used older water cooling to prevent overheating, but was modified for air cooling.

What spawned from this project went on to be one of the most successful medium machine guns of the 20th century. The design was solid, rugged, reliable, and could carry over 200 .30-06 rounds of pure American freedom. The design saw use on everything from fighters and bombers to tanks and warships for primarily anti-personnel/anti-aircraft duty. One of the most recognized vehicles equipped with the M1919 is the Jeep and the Sherman, the latter of which had two of the things in addition to an M2 1918.

While the M1919 was far outclassed compared to the MG34/42, it was a far better crew mounted weapon than the Japanese equivalents, making it a particularly ruthless opponent for Japanese soldiers, who often favored madly charging at their enemies when they ran out of ammo. Later variants were so light that they could awkwardly, but feasibly hip fired by a single man, though contrary to the movies, this was not as common as you'd expect. That being said, troops looking for a proper portable machinegun sometimes took matters into their own hands and made modified versions; the most famous example was the so-called “Stinger” variant, an AN/M2 salvaged from aircraft with an M1 Garand buttstock, a BAR bipod and carry handle, and an insanely high rate of fire. Six of these were built for the battle of Iwo Jima, with one user posthumously given the Medal of Honor for his frankly insane but effective use of this frankengun in combat.

Marines and Army mechanics experimented with adding a stock to the M1919, along with a handle for the front of the gun to create a "lmg", though ultimately they decided that stealing the MG34 designs was a better investment of their time. The gun served until Vietnam in US service, where the perfection on MG34 derived designs were found to be excellent replacements for the M1919. The navy used 7.62 converted M1919's on the river boats in 'nam, which was the last major use of the gun by the Americans.