The Machine Gun Platoon, Support Company, Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4th Marine Division, based out of Chicopee, MA, has been participating in the Agile Spirit 2011 military exercise at the Vaziani Military Base, Republic of Georgia. Dvids reports …

All gunners in a regular infantry platoon combined can dish out 7,650 rounds per minute upon the enemy. Multiply 7,650 rounds per minute seven times and you have the capability of Machine Gun Platoon, Support Company, Anti-Terrorism Battalion, 4th Marine Division based out of Chicopee, Mass.

There are machine gun sections with approximately 20 machine gunners each in regular infantry weapons companies but Machine Gun Platoon is the only unit where close to 70 machine gunners come together to train. The number of machine gunners and their employment of all three dominant machine guns, the M240B machine gun, the M2 .50-caliber machine gun and the MK19 40 mm automatic grenade launcher, is what distinguish them from any other unit in the Corps.

A machine gunner from Machine Gun Platoon fires the M240B machine gun during Agile Spirit

The .50 cal business end of a M2 machine gun. Taken during Agile Spirit