It’s not difficult at all, I posted a photo of my view from the gun seated above the ring. I’ll see if I can find it and post it again. Standing inside the ring (the Army calls it name tape defilade) severely reduces your situational awareness, especially after they started providing added armor around the gun ring. When I sat above the ring I could see far better, you know - things like potential EID’s or bad people running around with shenanigans in mind.
I could see rotating the gun toward the rearmost part of the ring and standing behind it in the bed, if you felt the need to stand for a while or felt less exposed.
The cutout in that photo appears almost useless. If the gunner is not on the gun at all times during convoys ops, the gun itself is absolutely useless.
Note my avatar photo.
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Yes I used sponge and fine pointed brush
you can see this pix is a convoy truck stop. nothing going on. gunners relaxing in pix getting some fresh hot dry air. the ring free wheels either way. brake handle mounted on ring will hold ring from spinning on crazy bumpy high speed runs. during missions the 50 gunner STANDS on fold down diamond plate and leaning on a small back cushion on ring… 2… 3…4…5…10 hours. if its hot the gunner will have face covered and wearing sunglasses and gloves. OIF1 it was a learning experience for most. many collisions in every day zero vis sand storms and guess what? gunners sitting like this pix end up going home in a body bag. convoy stops and now the enemy has a field day. winning a war requires a team effort. 50 cal gun trucks (OIF1) are/were the answer.
the 50 truck two man crew keeps the mission safe. the 50 gunner and driver are on duty 100% of the time. In my 20,000 miles as a gun truck driver my dedicated 50 gunner was STANDING in the ring ready to rock & roll. your bs statement that the gunner is not on the gun the whole time…HUH? every and yes every 50 gunner I’ve seen was ready to… 100 or so…defend.
Wow! 20,000 miles you say? That’s a lot of miles. Why, the Army should devise a badge for that, like a wheel or something. What is that, like 55 miles per day, every day, for a whole year? You sure got me beat. I drove like three times.
I wonder what the reading comprehension scores are in your state. Did I say the gunner is not on the gun the whole time? In fact, in at least a few other posts I say the drivers drives, the gunner guns.
Now if you don’t like my method, well there’s nothing I can do for that. I’ll stand by it. Nametape defilade equals severely reduced visibility and situational awareness. So did sniper nets, which is why my crew never used them. Better to have the gunner up where he can see, exposing himself more obviously, than to risk five men in one gun truck because of something he missed.
By the way, better grammar might get your point across better, if there was one.
Wait… Gary, is that you again? 
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