John Mosses Browning should have a national holiday on his birthday to honor all of the American soliders lives that his firearm designed saved.

Infantry officer: 'Fifty cal' still going strong on battlefield

Seventy-five years can provide a lot of perspective. Looking back at 1933, things don't seem so bad today. That was the year that the Nazis took power in Germany, unemployment hit 25 percent, and the New Deal was just being put in place. At least King Kong provided some distraction. It was also the year that the U.S. government started issuing one of the most effective weapon systems currently used in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan: the Browning M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun. And like that gorilla that keeps going strong in the movies, the "fifty cal" keeps going strong on the battlefield - the King Kong of machine guns.

American ingenuity has countless manifestations and certainly firearms are among those things that we design well. The 20th century saw the 1903 Springfield rifle and, next, the M1 Garand, arguably the finest infantry rifle of World War II. In 1911 the venerable Colt 45 pistol made its debut and was the longest running 20th century U.S. Army weapon system until it was retired from the arsenal in the mid 1980s. Countless U.S. veterans remember qualifying with this pistol. The .50 Cal has now surpassed the Colt 45's tenure.

In point of fact, the.50 Cal machine gun actually pre-dates the 1930s in some of its earlier versions. At the end of World War I, the U.S. Army set about to design a large caliber machine gun capable of penetrating early tanks as well as serving as an anti-aircraft gun. The estimable John Browning designed the early version using

the .50 caliber round designed by Winchester in reaction to some early German anti-tank weapons. It was also widely used as an anti-aircraft gun. The current version was widely used in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. This gun has been mounted on boats, tanks, airplanes, jeeps, HMMWVs, tripods and even used as a sniper rifle.
Today, the M2 is the primary weapon system mounted in the turrets of HMMWVs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Look in the turret of one of the new, heavy armored MRAPs and you will probably find one. Many a World War II vet would be proud (and maybe show a devilish grin) to see essentially the same machine gun he used in the forties still being used today. Its power and reliability remain legendary. The gun does have some quirks and requires adjustments to head space and timing in order to perform at its best. Recently there have been some problems here in Iraq with soldiers not staying on top of this. The term "head space and timing" has long been part of Army slang. I remember as a recruit in basic training being yelled at by a drill sergeant when marching out of step that I needed to "fix your head space and timing!" I didn't know what he was talking about until we got to the class on machine guns.

Perhaps this machine gun's great virtue remains the penetrating power of the .50 cal bullet. One of the biggest threats over here to US troops and especially to Iraqi and Afghan civilians, are car or truck bombs. Most of the mass casualty terrorist attacks are perpetrated by suicide bombers in vehicles. The M2 makes quick work of vehicles and will destroy an engine block and punch all the way through a car at 1,000 meters. If a suicide bomber decides to speed into your checkpoint with a dump truck full of explosives, you want an M2 rather than smaller caliber rifles or machine guns. So maybe the bad guys reinforced their vehicle with metal plates or bulletproof glass. No problem.

King Kong will put 'em down.

The M2 shows no evidence of heading into retirement any time soon and will undoubtedly soldier on past the 100-year mark.

Like a good soldier, with some care and feeding, the "fifty cal" just keeps driving on - simple, reliable, tough, and lethal.

We should be proud of this example of American ingenuity and its seven decades of defeating our nation's enemies.

Captain David Weaver is an infantry officer currently stationed in Mosul, Iraq. He holds a degree in U.S. history and works at Gettysburg National Military Park as a Licensed Battlefield Guide. He lives in Gettysburg with his wife Jennifer. He can be reached at dweavflyart@yahoo.com