Rifle Squad Extra Gear

The Thompson submachine gun was heavy and required a lot of skill to make.  I have fired one and it is a lot of fun, but that's not usually a factor in combat.  Each company had a few to issue out as needed to their platoons.  Often soldiers who wanted one could pick one up someplace.  We forget that some battalions in Europe in WWII had 600% casualties.  So everyone you landed at Normandy with was killed, wounded, captured, or missing in two months and that continued every 7 or 8 weeks for the rest of the war in Europe.  So there was plenty of surplus equipment for those who wanted to carry it.  Submachine gun is 21st Century toys with resin painted magazines and pouch.

The good old GI flashlight.  Two BA-30 flashlight batteries in a design dating back to a Boy Scout design of 1927, I was issued one in the 1980s US Army Reserve.  Numerous small changes have been made in the last 100 years of service but it's still pretty much just like this one.

One GI Joe ammo can, I would like more but they seem hard to find in good condition.

One GI Joe .30 caliber machine gun, air cooled on tripod

Each of my three rifle squads have all this extra equipment as part of their gear.  Depending on the scenario I deploy some, none, or all of it.  I want to be able to have all the equipment that a US Army Platoon in Western Europe might reasonably have either issued or commonly scrounged up for my GI Joe platoon.

 The .30 caliber machine gun would usually be in the company weapons squad, but as troop strength in rifle companies diminished sometimes gear would be issued down to squad level, or squads would pick thing up off the battlefield.