Jeff_Ewing
Posts: 45
Joined: 7/16/2001 From: Staten Island, NY, wargame captial of the US Status: offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Truckeye: ok, kinda off topic, but my 2 cents. i served as a US Army officer and was told several times that the .50 cal being against the rules to use against infantry was a myth. can anyone quote a Field Manual or treaty that says it cant be used?
No, they cannot, because it's a ridiculous, though amazingly persistent, fable. I wish I knew how this got started. I suspect it's a bit of black humor. The fact of the matter is, that while the weapon is supposed to be used against vehicles and materiel, that's more in the way of a money-saving tip rather than international law. Usually, people will tell you it's against the Geneva Conventions. This is entirely untrue, and can easily be checked by actually *reading* the GC at http://www.icrc.org. It may be that people are thinking of the Hague Conventions of 1900, which ban weapons like explosive bullets, dum-dums and the like. But the .50 does not fall into this category.
It's my personal jihad to extirpate this bit of misinformation.
Jeff
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