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To: Hoa Hao who wrote (62983)	8/23/2004 10:53:22 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 793600

I have never been on a boat firing a 50. I have fired a CAR 15 in training from small boats and I have fired and been around lots of 50s in Nam, both vehicle and tripod mounted in a machine gun tower. The 50 is a special machinegun. The bullet and casing are several times larger than either the M16 or the AK 47. When firing the 50s noise drowns out everything else. Two men standing beside each other and close to a firing 50 would have to scream at each other and still might not be heard. You are right the shell casings fly around. I can imagine them bouncing off the metal Swift boat tower and going every which way including into the water. The 50 tower is the highest point on a swiftboat. I have been amidst a 50 and a twin 40 (duster) firing simultaneously from a forward base camp along with a few M16s and an old 30cal M-6 MG or two. There is no way to discern enemy fire with all that going on unless it is night and you see green tracers which was not the case. I have been in the water in training with rifles firing overhead. I could not figure out what was going on without looking and then I couldn't see much because the small boats were making waves. Rassman had some five 50 footers making waves and blocking his view. That tells me he saw little to nothing. He also presumably fell off the boat in full combat gear. If so, he was too busy trying not to drown to be aware of much else if anything. If Rassman was not in full combat gear he is either not an SF Officer or he was lying about the enemy being around him.