Lightning8 Wrote: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.No doubt there are still many A2s in service. Replacement doesn't happen overnight. When soldiers in Vietnam were using the M16A1, the ARNG was two generations behind with the M1 Garand.
Eventually "the best" does filter down, though. Of course, by then there usually is a new "best" at the top of the food chain, and the whole process begins again...
