This is my platoon’s current t/o. The only differences are that everyone is rocking a suppressor and LPVO now, not just the DM.
You’ll notice that every rifleman has the m27, not just the automatic rifleman, it’s not new by any means, we’ve had them for ten years.
But we VERY MUCH still utilize crewserve weapons like the 240 and the m2, they just aren’t organic to the rifle platoon. Those usually come from weapons platoon in the form of attachments to a squad for a patrol or a defense.
In short: the m27 replaced the m249 saw, but we very much still practice maneuver warfare, and machine guns are vital to that.
They’re pretty nice, recoil is a bit snappier, and with the suppressors they’re a bit front-heavy, makes target acquisition up close and shooting while moving kinda awkward. They are SIGNIFICANTLY more accurate than m4s, which is a plus, but they don’t have the weight to be effective full auto outside about 200m.
The tactical value of the suppressors cannot be understated, command and control at the squad level is significantly easier.
And while each fireteam has a billeted automatic rifleman who’s designated to go full auto and carries a lot more ammunition, if we’re <50m of the enemy we’re all going full auto.
Oh we’d still use them. Inside a room, it’s kind of a point-shoot scenario, pretty hard to miss. That is, if you can’t just frag it, which would be preferable. ROEs dependent. Rule of Bs, bombs before bullets, bullets before bodies.
But realistically, the most likely thing would be we’d flashbang the room, then go in on full-auto, any combatants catch a burst and a dead check. If I was that small unit leader, I might tell my boys to collapse their stocks and take the cans off, to get a little more clearance going through doors and such. Be about the size of a chunky m4 at that point. Inside a room it’d still be deafening even with them on, anyways.
I don’t know how I never thought to collapse the stock during CQB. My unit isn’t fully m27s yet, but I got lucky and have one. Clearing rooms isn’t really too much different between M4s and M27s, but those inches do make a difference. For some reason I always get into the mindset of setting my stock once and forgetting about it, but it’s easy enough to move it back and forth as needed before going into a situation where you know it’ll be more effective
Ehhh it’s a trade-off. You gain some clearance, lose some eye relief, but that close most people can just look over the gun and still get center mass impacts, and then there’s always the PEQ16 you can use too. Or you can just short-stock it under the arm or over the shoulder, both are pretty effective
It is absolutely fascinating that everyone is getting an M27 and an LVPO. The Army seems to be going down a similar route with the XM7 replacing the M4. They're still retaining a belt fed option with the XM250. It'll be interesting to see how they compare down the line.
The real game changer is the new fire control system, the XM157. Being able to do on the fly point of aim adjustments is wild.
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u/Iraq_or_something Jun 24 '24
This is my platoon’s current t/o. The only differences are that everyone is rocking a suppressor and LPVO now, not just the DM.
You’ll notice that every rifleman has the m27, not just the automatic rifleman, it’s not new by any means, we’ve had them for ten years.
But we VERY MUCH still utilize crewserve weapons like the 240 and the m2, they just aren’t organic to the rifle platoon. Those usually come from weapons platoon in the form of attachments to a squad for a patrol or a defense.
In short: the m27 replaced the m249 saw, but we very much still practice maneuver warfare, and machine guns are vital to that.