Within a Team of a squad, these soliders are usually made up within a team of a squad:
- Team Leader
- Rifleman
- Grenadier
- Automatic rifleman (SAW gunner aka Squad Automatic Weapon gunner)
- Medic: optional
Rifleman – A Soldier who carries a rifle . He has no subordinates , though the battlefield can change that . Throughout the patrol , he may be given simple standing responsibilities , such as delivering accurate rifle fire on the enemy in accordance with their leader ’ s scheme of maneuver and target precedence . Additional responsibilities may include compass checking , pace counting , and pack mule.
Squad Automatic Weapon ( SAW ) gunner – M249 is A light ( 17 lb . ) machine gun . Like an M4 rifle , it is designed to be fired from standing , kneeling and prone . However , unlike the M4 , the SAW Gunner cannot be accurate while kneeling or standing , and so he should be prone whenever the situation allows .
When I joined my company, I immediate was in placed as SAW gunner and never has been a rifleman. Being a SAW gunner is challenging, you need to be fit since you would wear full kit (body armor and helmet) plus carrring usually two SAW drums (200 rounds of 556 per drum) and one drum loaded. And you are required to run with these to your nearby cover and concealment when reacting to ememy contact (Battle Drill 1A) and if you are the B team (the rear team), usually your team would flank left or right to fire on the enemy from the side (or rear) while A team returned fire/suppress fire on the enemy so you would have to run as time is precious in battle so physical fitness is paramount.
Real story: During this year annual training oversea, due to a couple soldiers in gun team got sick so saw gunners were used as support by fire instead of gun team (usually gun team would be providing our support by fire) and we also were short of saw gunners so I volunteered to be saw gunner not just my squad but for other squad as well and if I recalled correctly we have to run about 300+ meters to our objective per iteration evolution ranged from dry, blank, and live so w/o working on my PT, I would not have been able to do it esp under extreme heat of our partnered country so yes PT is important.
(Within a squad, there are usually two teams: A team and B team and the squad leader)