When were you firing Bren guns, and how long were you in service that the transition from a 1940's weapon to a 1990's acronym like GPMG was being used?
Hi Pilto,
I was in the RAF (engineer officer, later logistics officer) from 1972 to 1997. One important thing about the RAF (vs other “younger” air forces (not naming/shaming anybody here!)) is that with us, all ranks are trained from ab initio to actively defend our own air bases. Speaking frankly, we had long since learned and internalised the lessons of Crete 1941.
So in my time, we used Bren guns rechambered to fire NATO standard 7.62mm rounds (the magazine wasn’t quite as “bent” as the original WW2 0.303” version), and also used the GPMG (“Jimpi”) which was the standard British light/medium MG at the time. Plus all of my chaps were fully qualified on the 7.62mm SLR (= Belgian FN))(airmen only) or 9mm Sterling SMG (officers and SNCOs).
Hope that explains it.
Cheers
Mike