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When I was in Santa Ana, ES the quartel had an arms room full of ancient FMS weapons including M1s, 1917s, and 1919A6s. We rehab'd six (? this happened in 1986 so my memory is failing) of the 1919s because we couldn't get enough M60s for patrolling and we still had several fixed security sites that needed crew served weapons. With several hundred thousand rounds of 30-06 in tins there was considerable sense in recycling the old "warhorses". We kept the 1917 WC to play with at the Cuartel. Sweet toy; a true joy to shoot, even without the water reservoir. We had to improvise the packing around the barrel to keep water in the jacket but a series of 50 round bursts just left it "gently steaming", reminiscent of WWI stories of heating the water for afternoon tea. With the T&E (and a lot of sandbags on the tripod) cutting silhouette targets in half was child's play. To this day I still have fond memories of "the Brownings of Santa Ana".
I humped the pig for several years too. I much prefer the MAG 58/M240. MOO but mean rounds between stoppages more than made up for its lack of a forearm. Personally, I think the USMC will eventually regret getting away from the SAW. Magazines just can't beat belts.
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A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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