The Support Gunner.
The Support Gunner provides the brute force for the team, they are the
hard hitters who can provide heavy covering fire and lay down a hail
of rounds quickly and effectively. Support Gunners are some of the
lesser used roles and aren’t as common as other jobs, this is normally
down to the types of gun they use and that they don’t appear at first
glance to be as fun as other roles.
However, Gunners can be a very helpful and useful asset and help
provide the rest of the player with a large amount of fire power
whilst still being able to move relatively quickly. A Support Gunner
should be able to use this you their advantage and be able to use
their large amount of ammo to help provide their team the opportunity
to move and do their jobs.
So what should a Support Gunner use, what does he need?
The choices for a support gun aren’t as wide as other types of rifles
in airsoft, though there is still a good amount to choose from. The
most popular are the M249 and M60 series which come in various
versions from different manufacturers. There are also the options of
Light support weapons such as the L86 and MG36. These often come
pre-fitted with a bipod which is a great help as they tend to be heavy
and this will take the weight of the shooter and help stabilise the
weapon. Optics can also be used but that’s down to the user. More
often than not, high capacity box or drum magazines are used which
gives the player a greater amount of ammo which will provide an
advantage when firing.
What should a Support Gunner wear and why?
As with the gear for most player in airsoft, what you wear really is
down to you. However you won’t need many pouches as you’ll probably
only need one mag due to the high capacity. Also, your primary weapon
will more than likely be heavy so a decent sling is a good idea and a
piece of kit that is worth having. You might decide that you don’t
want a vest or plate carrier or just a very low profile rig, this
might help you in terms of manoeuvrability as it will allow you to be
quicker and speed up your movement. You might want a small holster to
keep a side–arm in which will allow you in an event where you need to,
to let go of your primary and use a lighter weapon.
The Job?
The Support Gunner’s main job is suppression, this is the covering
fire that will be used to force enemies to get down or move out of
their positions because of the sheer amount of rounds coming their
way. It is an important role that not many people are interested in
but it can greatly boost the abilities of a team or squad and allow
the rest of the players who can then push up and secure objectives and
other places.
The support gunner should be capable of looking for and trying to
prioritise targets to suppress and hold up, this will give other
player the chance to do their respective jobs more quickly and easily.
You will however need to be prepared for a heavier gun but the amount
of ammo you can carry and put down range can counter that and make the
role a position that is widely useful in a variety of situations.
