Imagine loading your M2 Browning .50 caliber heavy machine gun, as you hear the rotors of the heavy CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter increase in intensity as you take off above the South China Sea. You’re the door gunner! Sometimes it might be worth getting enlisted after all?

Each day a different image from the world of firearms. We call this POTD, short for Photo Of The Day, and is our daily article series where we go to great lengths trying to find the most interesting pictures for you out there. Here we have a soldier with the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). They have just departed from the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), the flagship of the America Expeditionary Strike Group.

Painting an “S” in the South Chinese Sea with the M2 Browning .50 caliber heavy machine gun.

Thanks for visiting today, please come back for more excellent photos from the world of firearms tomorrow.

Photos by U.S. Marine Corps, Cpl. Isaac Cantrell,