Is This One Of The Best Jobs In The U.S. Marine Corps?

Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Fitzgerald. Courtesy photo

Business Insider: This Marine has one of the 'best jobs' in the Corps, and it sometimes involves firing 3,000 rounds a minute out of a helicopter

* Several Marines have told Insider that helicopter door gunners have one of the Corps' best jobs, so we asked one about his job.
* Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Fitzgerald's job involves handling heavy weaponry, including a minigun that can fire 50 rounds a second. But, there's more to it than just the big guns.
* "We are kind of like a SWAT Team, a police force, firefighters, EMTs, and car mechanics all wrapped into one, and we are able to take that anywhere in the world," he told Insider.

Daniel Fitzgerald was brushing his teeth before bed when small arms fire raked his building and explosions shook the ground at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan on September 14, 2012.

The North Carolina native rushed outside into what he describes as his most intense combat experience. It was chaos. Taliban insurgents disguised in Army fatigues had infiltrated the base. The fuel pits had erupted in flames, and the enemy was pouring fire of all kinds onto the base, everything from bullets to rocket-propelled grenades.

"My unit was under attack," Fitzgerald, who is assigned to helicopters, recalled. "We actually had to submit a request for air support on ourselves for ourselves."

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WNU Editor: For soldiers who are in an intense firefight, helicopter door gunners must look like the cavalry when they show-up.