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A number of years back our team had a debate on whether or not SAWs were needed for a series of air assaults that we were doing. One set of guys wanted the 249's (2 for a 10 man ODA), and the other felt that everyone was accurate enough with their M4s to make it a moot point, at least in the terrain we were operating in. Luckily the 249 crowd won the argument on that one.
One operation saw a hot LZ with a downed team mate. The SAW gunners both went cyclic into suspected enemy postitions and it made a huge difference. Fire superiorty, not slow aimed fire, allowed guys to start maneuvering and eliminate the threat. Having to change mags every 30 rounds or so might not have made them as effective.
I think that some marines somewhere might regret this decision in the future, but thats just my opinion. YMMV.
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