Since I'm a fan of and have a few friends who are Marines, *insert cliche Marines are better than the Army joke*

The Marines are good troops. Mostly core (combat) and the Navy takes care of most of the logistics and support for the Marines (yes there are Marines who are in support jobs, but not as many as the Army has). The Army has a core (Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Combat Aviation, Special Forces), but also provides a huge part of it's support. I was one of the support troops (hey see how long even the toughest troops go on without beans and bullets, fuel, communictions, clothing, pay, medical, intelligence and so on). Support doesn't go to the range as much. Now here is where somebody who was in the Quartermaster Corp or Signal Corp chimes in that they went to the range twice a month when they were in. :p

My buddy joined an Army Reserve band in 1996, and I think they only went to the range twice a year for qualifications. He did complain however, when their M16A2s were swapped out for M16A1s. He said he hated the fact that the A1s didn't have the adjustable rear sights.

I know a guy in the National Guards and he is telling me that his unit is just now getting M4s

My last unit when I was in was the 10th Mountain Division. The 10th was part of the 18th Airborne Corp which was the Rapid Deployment force for the U.S. Army. So we got M4 carbines in 1998. I remember we were all very excited. We were all very impressed with the modular concept.

We're they burst M4s or M4A1s? And what was available at the time for accessories back in 98?

We were told all about the optics and lasers and lights that were available, but we did not have any of those. It took the war to bring that stuff into the system for just the average troops. In 98 the high end units were getting all the extras. I was military intelligence. The infantry battalions were going to get the extras.

I don't remember if we were issued M4 or M4A1 carbines. I do remember that they were brand new. We got them still in the boxes and wrappers. Like I wrote earlier it was very exciting. The settings were safe, semi-auto and 3 round burst. The division's Long Range Surveillance Detachment (LRSD) was assigned to the Military Intelligence Battalion for administrative purposes. They were in our barracks and actually were very well behaved troops.

Those guys were authorized to wear the maroon beret since they were airborne qualified. They also got all the extras for their carbines. At the time we decided that the reason why a bunch of MI Pouges got new carbines (while all the other support units stayed with the M16A2) was because we had LRSD as part of our battalion. We figured it was an administrative decision. Just easier to issue carbine to the entire battalion instead of just one platoon sized element within the battalion.

I'm actually a FIG as well, and a reservist at that, so I get to the range once a year. That said I was attached to 1 PPCLI for almost 2 years when I deployed, and they didn't seem to get to the range much more often, maybe twice in 9 months of work-up. The modern infanteer has a whole host of skills to learn (first aid, radio procedure, calling in fire, vehicle operation & maintenance), almost all of which are more complicated than firing a rifle.

As for weapons, I had a C7A2 and a 9mm in theater. Most of the guys in the rifle companies wouldn't have had the pistol, didn't need them. C8s were pretty much reserved for LAV drivers, gunners, and commanders, recce platoon and M203 grenadiers. Even the commander had a rifle. In my home unit at the to time (2009) I had a C7A1, we've since upgraded. No pistols in the militia though.

Standard optic across the CAF is the Elcan, but some (maybe 50%) of the C8s in theater had EoTechs. Out recce guys ditched their EoTechs for Elcans since the insurgents kept shoot and scooting them from about 100M and the Elcan was more precise at that distance. BUIS are supposed to be issued with every rifle but they're uncommon in the regs and unheard of in the reserves. I don't know why, but I've also never seen an optic fail. In theater most of the guys in rifle companies (but not drivers) had lasers and lights on their rifles, guys in support trades or HQ coy didn't. Everyone got a vertical foregrip, I hated mine and took it off. I've never seen one in the reserves.

What's a FIG? :confused: Not an acronym I am familiar with.

Fu**ing Int Guy.