10-18-2015, 02:06 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-18-2015, 02:06 PM by Lightning8.)
stanc Wrote:While that approach certainly could be taken, it seems unlikely to happen.
It has long been SOP to equip the entire force with any new rifle, not just the "tip of the spear" (although that's where any such replacement typically begins).
As someone who has spent most of his career in a Army National Guard Infantry Brigade - a better equipped "Enhanced ARNG Brigade" at that, I would argue that the SOP is NOT to equip the entire force with the best weapons. The SOP has been to issue the deploying units with upgraded weapons, uniforms, etc. as part of the "RFI - Rapid Fielding Initiative" so the concept of getting the best possible weapons to the deploying units is not unheard of and in fact what normally happens to the ARNG units (now 50+% of the ground combat forces). We had to give up our M4s and M240Bs to the next deploying ARNG BDE as there were not enough to go around. With the current Army downsizing there may now be enough M4s and M240Bs to go around but last time I checked there were many M16A2s in service. But that is probably a separate topic to itself.............