Not far from the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
There will be life-size statues called "The Three Brave Soldiers".
The statue was carved in bronze by sculptor Frederick Hart.
He created a statue of a soldier wearing US Army uniform.
And the US Marines stand with their weapons and face the wall.
Vietnam War Memorial The soldier standing on the left has a torso.
Carrying a sling and holding an M-60 multi-purpose machine gun.
In addition to the M-16A1 rifle, the M-60 rifle is also involved.
And it reminds people the most of the Vietnam War.
This gun was in the hands of a soldier who fought in the Vietnam War.
To the statue that gives a sense of respect and remembrance of the "Three Brave Soldiers"
And a movie that has destruction, action and excitement in a fictional city.
Hope, Washington, with Sylvester Stallone as the character.
Like John Rambo in the movie "First Blood"
The M-60 rifle has served the American military faithfully for a long time.
In various battlefields since 1957
The M-60 rifle that was first produced
It may be far from perfect.
Because the early models of the M-60 gun had problems
In terms of design, there are many things that make soldiers use this weapon.
You have to try every possible way and come up with solutions using things around you.
To make this gun work, it was made from a coat hanger.
To the empty can of C-ration (canned food for battle)
In addition, the M-60 gun is also very heavy.
Weighing in at a whopping 10.433 kilograms.
And the bullet belt of this gun is not light at all.
All of these things are why the M-60 rifle is nicknamed "Pig".
But one thing is for sure, even though this gun has design problems,
But the soldier who uses this gun can also provide a barrage of bullets to kill the enemy.
Whether he was fighting in the humid jungles of Southeast Asia
Or maybe it's the arid desert of Afghanistan.
The M-60 gun is an air-cooled gun.
Belt-fed, gas-operated, multi-purpose machine gun.
It fires 7.62mm ammunition at a rate of 550 rounds per minute.
This is a rate of fire where the user needs to change the gun barrel every minute.
In addition, the M-60 gun also comes with a pair of bipods that can be folded up.
And it can also be set up with 3 foldable sandbag legs.
The M-60 has been and still is in some parts of the US military.
Use this "pig" gun in service.
It is deployed as a support weapon for small arms squads,
Vehicle-mounted weapons, and aircraft-mounted weapons
Stuck on the doors of helicopters like the UH-1 Huey and CH-47 Chinook.
Development of the M-60 rifle began after the end of World War II.
The generals of the US Army have a sense of admiration that is tinged with resentment.
Next to the German machine gun, the MG-42.
It is a machine gun that is so effective that it has been nicknamed
"Hitler's murder saw"
The Wehrmacht soldiers who used the MG-42 machine gun had an impressive rate of fire.
and uses a bullet belt to feed bullets into the chamber.
These two features are the features that the designers of the M-60 gun wanted.
I think this is an interesting feature.
Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 rifle
Or as it is called FG 42 for short, it is a German paratrooper's gun.
It has interesting features such as being a gas-operated gun.
This is a system that America later developed.
The MG42 (top) and FG42 (bottom) were the inspiration for the M-60.
U.S. Army Ordnance experts have brought the best
From German firearms, it was developed into a prototype machine gun.
There are many sections that claim that it is not an ideal machine gun.
Other foreign gun models, such as the FN MAG gun
But at least the M-60 rifle is a rifle that can be produced domestically.
Which leaves the US Congress with its military-industrial complex.
Staying in one's own territory is very happy.
The FN MAG rifle, which was once a competitor to the M-60.
In 1957, the Ministry of Defense received the M-60 machine gun into service.
And it was called the American machine gun, 7.62 mm bullet, M60.
And it has been part of the US military's armory ever since.
But the M-60 machine gun requires soldiers to be involved in its use.
At least three of them have major weaknesses.
First of all, no one designed the M-60 machine gun.
I thought about putting a sling handle on the gun barrel.
This is a problem that makes changing barrels difficult.
In handling the hot steel barrel
The machine gunner's assistant is required to wear heat-resistant gloves.
It looks like an oven mitt amid the struggle to change barrels.
In addition, sometimes the ammunition belt gets stuck in the chamber.
But later, a clever American GI came up with a solution to the problem.
Get smart by simply attaching a can of C-Ration.
(Canned food for eating on the battlefield)
Located on the left side of the chamber where the bullet is fed.
This allows the ammunition belt to flow into the chamber.
Smoothly with the curved surface of the can
Using something around you (empty cans) to solve the M-60 gun problem.
In the 1980s, the US Army received the M-60E3 into service.
This is a new model that has been improved and has eliminated the problems of the old model.
M-60E3 gun
Even though the Ministry of Defense has begun ordering the decommissioning of the M-60,
Discharged, but still has many American soldiers
Who still trust and still choose to use this machine gun?
SEALs are also deployed in the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.
This machine gun is still mounted on various ships and in reserve in the army.
This machine gun is still in service in the armory today.
Illustration: SEALs team members' use of M-60.
And today there are 45 other nations, both NATO members and allies.
East Asia still uses the M-60 as a general-purpose machine gun.
Written by Paul Haurd on September 2, 2020.
Translated by Thepphong Chaiyarat on September 17, 2020.
Compiled by Ranakrit Sriphumma on September 20, 2020.