Considerations on the Evolution of War

[stanc]

We seem to have gotten bogged down in the morass of caliber-specific arguments and have lost sight of the basic question.

Let's reset with a summary of the Gen III capable assets as listed above.

Then let's refine our mental pictures of what small-unit operations in Gen IV our troops would likely see. We already know differences exist but let's see of we can spell them out. One of the specific questions to be explored is whether these troops will look like Spec Ops forces with significant latitude in weapons drawn for missions or more like line troops with limited training and little or no options for weapons beyond standard issue.

Last for this thread anyway, would be a qualitative description of what that small unit needs if it is built on the Spec Ops model or one the line unit model.

Only after fleshing these questions out can we embark on meaningful discussions of calibers, cartridges, and so on.

Actually, the caliber/cartridge issue is the basic question. I know you like to make discussion subjects as complicated as possible, but it's not necessary to do all that in order to answer the question. As I said before, the rifles and machine guns will be the same, regardless of whether used in Gen III or Gen IV conflicts.