MikeSinn

I appreciate all the feedback and am somewhat surprised by the lack of consensus on this issue.  I thought I was just missing some basic command or process but appears it is far more nuanced.  @jtsjc1, I've seen tank commanders fire their 50cals but only on tank models where the MG is located in front of, or on the side ofm the commanders hatch. 
I've run a few more tests using scenarios with in the game (don't have enough functioning brain cells left to try and tackle the editor...) and have not been able to get any rear-mounted pintle .50cal gun to fire.  Would be great to hear from anyone that has a "reliable" way of getting these MGs to fire.
 
Thanks,
Mike

I found this solved my problem.  Before doing that, it could take 3 - 4 minutes from when I click on the shortcut to when the BF splash screen would come up.  After excluding the CM directory from AV scan, the game launches in less than 20 seconds.

That's too bad.  Nothing says "I'm thinking of you" like 380mm of high explosive material. 
I had posted a similar question below as I was looking forward to using it in the streets of Berlin as well.

I did not have Umlaut's Factory mod installed but after about 30 minutes of trial and error found the "non-textured truck" problem to be tied to a mod folder called "Panzermike".  This mod had a number of submods for flavor objects, roads, bridges....  When I removed the panzermike folder, the truck problem disappeared. 
Hope this helps others having the same issue.