source - includes a video of the weapons.

  • happybadger [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8sweIeWQAYnd7C?format=jpg&name=medium

    That's an M2 .50 cal machine gun. I'm glad we gave them something much better than their 1980s-era PKMs. Now when terrorists attack they won't be limited to consumer-grade fail weapons, but the finest the US military could have directly supplied them. God forbid they throw a hand grenade in the room as they leave or something.

    • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
      ·
      3 years ago

      Most .50s I've shot were fucking ancient and were prone to jamming every other round because they were fucking ancient.

      • happybadger [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        They never trained me on anything fun as a medic. I would have renounced anti-imperialism if they gave me one minute with an MK19.

        I've seen some uninspiring humvee videos where M2s on the first burst jam but when they don't it makes a hole and is definitely rated beyond any kind of body armour troops wear. Sometimes those plates and helmets stop 7.62mm rounds so I'd consider it a step up.

        • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
          ·
          3 years ago
          cw gory details of war stuff.

          one minute with an MK19.

          They're kinda cool, but also kinda fucky because sometimes they malfunction and instead of launching a round it'll cycle it through and drop it live between your nuts. That said it's gotta roll a few times to truly activate but fuck me is that scary.

          but when they don’t it makes a hole and is definitely rated beyond any kind of body armour troops wear. Sometimes those plates and helmets stop 7.62mm rounds so I’d consider it a step up.

          Well, the .50 that's shot is an anti-material round because of how much powder is being used to sling a giant fuck you piece of metal. Some of the legs I've talked to told me stories about how the near passing of a .50 was enough to kill somebody due to the sheer shockwaves it produced were enough to cause internal bleeding - much less what it actually did if it hit you, by which I mean if you've seen that one scene in Scanners where the guy's head explodes like a watermelon basically that. Ain't no way in hell any tier 4 body armor stopping that.

          • happybadger [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I see them selling these on after the war to things like future Mumbai attacks/Bataclan massacres/embassy attacks. Those anti-materiel rounds eat through concrete so they could probably get past any entryway that isn't a bunker.

            The only reason I want to shoot a MK19 is ArmA2's Takistan Life mod. It turns the game into a Pakistan/Afghan border RPG. Every server is full of 12 year-old German kids seriously roleplaying as cops. MK19s were poorly implemented so they were extremely powerful to the point of being gamebreaking since you could carpetbomb an entire VCP in a couple seconds. I used to sit there for hours griefing little Kyle Rittenhouse motherfuckers who'd spend half the day raising enough money to buy some special gun or vehicle. Then they'd begin screaming about IST NICHT ROLEPLAYHAUSENSPLAUSEN and I could double down on fucking with them.

          • MarxGuns [comrade/them]
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            I think they have to spin, at velocity, for 23m before they activate. Some little pins in there that are centrifugally activated or something.

            Also, the stuff about the .50 cal shockwaves is bull, I later learned.

            • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              Also, the stuff about the .50 cal shockwaves is bull, I later learned.

              I blame the crayola-eating marine infantry bros for telling me this.

              • MarxGuns [comrade/them]
                ·
                3 years ago

                I was artillery but :yea:

                Not sure if I was still in or not when it was corrected.

                • Alaskaball [comrade/them]MA
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  The one time I had to learn FO shit for officer bullshit I realized the one time I'll actually use the math they teach in school was for this and that I fucked up by failing math class.

    • JoesFrackinJack [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah I really can't think of a logical reason they did not attempt to at least partially destroy this stuff. I mean for face value, I could come up with quite a handful of conspiracy theories as to why they didn't. The optics on this are: not good.

          • happybadger [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            soy meme will be a perennial one. https://i.imgur.com/Y1OB9l0.jpg I mean my god. my god.

            • emizeko [they/them]
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              this is funny but I can tell there's another layer, at the risk of dissecting the frog is there a reference I missed?

              I loved the Fall of the Republic one that got posted here with the roman guys in togas and the rubicon

              • happybadger [he/him]
                ·
                3 years ago

                Nope, just pitbulls mauling toddlers. Going that dark with a meme hasn't really worked since advice animals.

                • emizeko [they/them]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  😂 okay now I can fully appreciate it, I thought I had missed a news story