Troops left to fend for themselves after Army was warned of flaws in M4 rifle

[Michael]

I'm with Paul in all of his very valid and reasoned points. I have said it before and will say it again… The M4 served me well in Iraq and Afghanistan while serving in the INFANTRY, to include sustained combat operations in Fallujah in Nov ’04 and in Helmand province in ’08. I also conducted fairly extensive research/interviews/data mining on the effectiveness and accuracy of the 5.56 in ’04 because there were rumors that some were dissatisfied with the 5.56. The majority of the INFANTRY soldiers and Marines I spoke with were satisfied to happy with the M4 and/or M16A4, and understood the capabilities and limitations of their weapons systems. When employed within those capabilities it was effective a killing non-American bad guys. The horror stories were from the Fobbits and TOCroaches who spent very little time outside the wire. Granted, did not speak to any SpecOps while doing my little report, so I cannot speak for that community.

It is NOT a perfect weapon system or round, but it is not junk or ineffective. With the budget the shape that it is in, the U.S. military will be killing bad guys with the 5.56 M4/M16A4 for years to come.