PDWs...and other small arms.

[n9nwo]

...and make a cappuccino latte.

Knives at 5 paces and 300M guns that fit on the belt. This thread is more Star Trek than reality.

A 5.56mm 10.5" AR with a collapsible stock is effective to 200M. A 7" barrel is good enough for 50-100M and would be more effective with specific ammo for the short barrel. Smaller calibres are less effective on flesh but have their place in the paramilitary. If these guys are non-infantry and don't train with their weapons then you wont be able to offset smaller calibres with shot placement. If the most compact versions of effective guns are still too bulky for a soldier's MOS then have other soldiers nearby fully tooled-up and the non-infantry guys with similar weapons within easy reach. If they go out by themselves then they tool-up for the likely threat. If the cap fits, wear it.

One last comment, your 'unit policy' of deferring to knives in a CQB gunfight is utterly inconceivable - 'Sliced one insurgent from chest to stomach' with a tomahawk. Your claims are steeped in ignorance. I don't trust them.

One thing to remember is logistics. We can have a pistol or a PDW but not both. the problem is that the more systems you have then the more ammo has to be brought into theater. We are attempting to have less systems, not more.

I was in Saudi for Desert Shield, Storm and Return. When I left there was 43 sq. miles of ammunition being prepared to ship back to the states. That is like having a pile of ammo on every block in Chicago. We had to much specialized stuff. Thus the Army and Marines are looking at ways to have few types of weapons so that they can bring more ammo for the ones that they have. Thus the need for 6.5mm cartridge to replace both the 5.56x45 and the 7.62x51. And merging the three cannon rounds into one (get rid of the 20mm and 30mm in favor of the 25mm).