As I was a E-6, MOS 0311 (basic rifleman) and 2112 (Armorer). I think you may well be right, John about the "Whole Nine yards" But understand, if you will, my Lt. Col. USAF 'friend" from the two weeks UMCOR TDY tour in FL a while ago was the first one in my life to ever offer a logical explanation to that oft-heard phrase.
Furthermore, not only is he an Officer and a Gentleman, he is a Southern Gentleman, and I tend to rank those as highly as I do the late Gen. "Chesty" Puller. Case in point- we had some female volunteers on the job site crews, as well as doing the cooking and laundry for the crews- A sweet Lady from Waycross, GA was up with us on a roof (in FL any roof built over a 4/12 pitch is considered "steep") we were removing damaged shingles and plywood, she slipped and caught her backside on a nail point- Bob caught her and took off his shirt to cover her "wounded area" and to also protect her modesty- We had a First Aide tent nearby so she received proper medical care (and a new set of clothes) from them, and came right back up on the roof and resumed the work--
So, if Bob had told me that Ho Chi Minh played Ma Jong with 5 Trappist Monks on Fridays- I'd believe him- He also confirmed the aviators term "The Iron Compass" for me, NOT to be confused with the Iron Triangle of course--
But as a qualified Armorer who serviced and test fired a few "Ma-Deuce's" back in my day (now they have a Modified M2 with closed bolt firing, fixed headspacing, right or left hand feed options, and Stellite liners in the barrels for the SLAP specialized rounds- and usually our Uncle goofs up, but this new version will also take the std. barrel group that requires headspacing and the aircraft group with its lighter profile-- anyway, I took the armament specs for my favorite WW11 Allied fighter plane, the P-51D Mustang- 6 .50 MG's total rd. capacity of 1880- 2 sets at 400 rds each, 4 sets at 270 rds. each (Thanks to my Jayne's ref books) at an aprox. working width of .850" x 1880 equals 133.2 ft. for all SIX feed trays (Belts is a misnomer here- the 1919-A-1 Cal. 30 MG had a cloth belt, the M-2 .50, like the fine German M34 and later M43 LMG's had a frangible metal feed link- most common came linked 100 rds. in a attachable feed ammo box--
Our USMC legend- Gunny Carlos N. Hathcock about 1968 worked up a modification of the M-2 set for single rd. firing and scoped it and took out an enemy target of opportunity at almost 2000 yds- a "one shot confirmed kill" Now we have the Barrett and other .50 cal modified sniper weapons in "The sandbox" Little did John M. Browning know in 1921 that two of all his great military weapons he designed for the US would endure yet today- the 1911-A-1 .45 ACP pistol and the "Ma-Deuce" in all its useful variants.
Thank you for your service to Our Country in Korea, Lt. Dallas!!
