I remember seeing this scene when I was kid on TV... for some reason they must have been airing the directors cut version or something, but at the time I had no concept of what a Directors Cut was.
Then over the next like 20 years I only ever saw the regular version of the movie and it drove me absolutely fucking insane because this scene wasn't in it and I was so confused. I thought I was going crazy, I would wrack my brain thinking what other movie I might have seen that I was getting it mixed up with... but I had like vivid images of Hicks, the Sentry guns blasting the Aliens, them huddled around the monitor counting down the bullets. It absolutely haunted me because I loved Aliens and remembered this badass scene which apparently didnt actually exist at all. It was a Bernstein Bears situation for me.
Then when I was like 30 years old I saw the Aliens Directors Cut Edition at like Best Buy or something and it just clicked. I know, Im a total dumbass for not connecting the dots sooner lol.
Bought it, watched it, saw the scene. It was like a 20 year weight was lifted off my chest. Was like my own True Crime documentary where I finally got a resolution on a cold case.