They were posted by a young Marine who is getting ready to come home to the US from the Helmand province of Afghanistan. He is apparently the SAW gunner for his squad. He wields an M249 Light Machine Gun in 5.56 x 45 mm. He says he has never had a malfunction in combat with it. Which is interesting since the Marine Corps is going to replace it with the M27 IAR. Some good views of the M249.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gunThe M249 is gas operated and air-cooled. It has a quick-change barrel, allowing the gunner to rapidly replace an overheated or jammed barrel. A folding bipod is attached near the front of the gun, though an M192 LGM tripod is also available. It can be fed from both linked ammunition and STANAG magazines, like those used in the M16 and M4. This allows the SAW gunner to use rifleman's magazines as an emergency source of ammunition in the event that he runs out of linked rounds.
Some of the photos show the squad on patrol and some show the living conditions, the terrain and the people of Afghanistan. There is an interesting set of photos of an IED damaged MRAP vehicle. It's amazing that MRAP technology has progressed to the point that so little vehicle damage can occur from a IED. Notice that the headlights are still intact and the tire isn't even shredded. The captions explain most of the images.
Either way, I hope you guys enjoy the photos as much as I did. It's not everyday that one gets to see photos from the average grunt's point of view (in a combat zone).
Here they are
