re: M-60 Machine Gun

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Chuck Norris' younger brother was killed in Operation Ripcord.

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I had a relative that carried “the big gun” as they called the M60 and made it thru Operation Ripcord.

I know it's a long read, but here's what was written about him after his passing...

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Layne was a consummate soldier who never shirked a duty or complained when given a mission or task. He brought the same values that had been instilled in him growing up to the Army and to his comrades that were fortunate enough to serve with him in Charlie Company. Layne was born to tote an M-60 machine gun. He loved humping the “big gun” and damn well knew that when the “shite hit the fan” he was “de man.” He knew that his buddies counted on him throwing out a lot of lead in these situations and it was not in his makeup to let them down. Layne was incapable of boasting of his accomplishments as a soldier and making himself out to be something he wasn’t. The only time in my life I ever heard him say anything about himself as a soldier was late one evening while sitting around the campfire at a deer camp after a lot of beers. Layne looked over at me and said, “L.T., you ain’t never had to call me to bring up the gun in a firefight when I was with ya.” He was dead right about that. No soldier ever manned the “big gun” with more fervor in a fight than Layne. My most vivid memory of Layne as a soldier is the memory I have of him and his loyal and trusty Assistant Gunner Chuck Damron going “head to head, mano a mano” with the NVA machine gunners up on Hill 1000 on the late morning and early afternoon of July 8, 1970. The memory of these two magnificent soldiers giving all that was asked of them and then some is etched in my mind forever as they burned up a machine gun barrel and fired up every round of M-60 ammo they had with them that day until they were both ordered off the hill by their commander.

Layne loved his fellow soldiers as brothers and they loved him the same way. He revered Cpt. Vazquez for what he was, the toughest man he ever knew and the greatest “combat leader” in the Army. Layne brought a different view of the Ripcord battle to the table than most. He kept things simple and in perspective. If you humped a ruck and had smelled a little cordite in your life in the mountains of Northern I Corps, you were admired and respected by Layne. He wasn’t interested in the controversies that evolved out of the Ripcord battle. The kind of man and soldier he was is best illustrated by the following story. Late one night after a lot of beers, a group of Ripcord veterans were sitting around a table in the hospitality suite at the Harrisburg Reunion pissing and moaning about the Ripcord book not saying this or that, and someone asked Layne about some passage in the book. Layne responded “I ain’t never read the book,” which elicited the following response from one of the guys: “Layne, you are the only man in the Ripcord Association that has not read the Ripcord book. How in the hell is that possible?” Layne’s simple but eloquent response was “Why do I need to read some book about Ripcord. I don’t need nobody to tell me what happened. Hell, I was there. I know what happened.” A period of silence followed and everyone simply nodded their heads, knowing that the man who had just spoken these simple words was the purest of warriors with the noblest of hearts. Layne then pulled a drag on a Camel and swallowed down a good bit of a Miller Lite and looked over at me and said, “Ain’t that right, LT.” I said “Layne, you be de man.” The man was beautiful. He liked to keep things simple, so I will put it simply. Layne Hammons was “a soldier’s soldier” and “a man’s man” who was loved and admired by his fellow soldiers as a ferocious fighting man when the situation required him to be. There is no enlisted soldier who fought in the Ripcord battle that I know that is held in higher esteem by his buddies than Layne Hammons. There is no man that I know or served with in Vietnam that was more loyal, caring, and devoted to his comrades in arms than Layne Hammons.

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Animal Mother

Now for something comptely different.

Cracker

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That's one sour dude in the OP

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You’d be too if you had to tote that big bitch around.

My favorite. I can still smell the gun powder. Jimmy is bad arse too.

The Danes just upgraded their M-60 stockpiles

After qualifying with the 60 at Fort Benning in 1996, the range cadre's brought +/- 30,000 old rounds for us new recruits to freely send down range. I nearly melted a few barrels..........