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Old 09-02-2010, 10:12 PM
Clutch Clutch is offline
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Default OK, educate me here regarding pistols and the US military.

One thing I've never fully understood about the military is why only officers above a certain rank (Sergeant, I believe, though I might be wrong) are issued the M9/92FS or M11/P228. Don't all recruits and trainees go through weapons familarization and training with handguns and rifles/carbines alike? And if so, then why not issue them those weapons from the start, especially if they're going to be sent into a combat zone? Or do they and I'm just reading wrongly into things here?
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Old 09-02-2010, 10:38 PM
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funkychinaman funkychinaman is offline
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A buddy of mine who enlisted in the army during the mid-nineties did say they were taught how to use the M9 at boot camp.
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Old 09-02-2010, 10:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Clutch View Post
One thing I've never fully understood about the military is why only officers above a certain rank (Sergeant, I believe, though I might be wrong) are issued the M9/92FS or M11/P228. Don't all recruits and trainees go through weapons familarization and training with handguns and rifles/carbines alike? And if so, then why not issue them those weapons from the start, especially if they're going to be sent into a combat zone? Or do they and I'm just reading wrongly into things here?
It depends on what your Military Occupational Specialty is. I'm straight up Infantry and when I went to boot the only thing we were taught about the M9 is that it sucks.

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Originally Posted by Clutch View Post
(Sergeant, I believe, though I might be wrong)
nope... the issuance of a sidearm doesn't have anything to do with rank really, more with your position.

P.S. Sergeant's aren't officers, they're enlisted

Last edited by AdAstra2009; 09-02-2010 at 10:57 PM.
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Old 09-03-2010, 12:44 AM
Nyles Nyles is offline
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In the Canadian military, pistols are issued to infantry officers, signallers, MPs, aircrew and naval boarding parties. Overseas they often issue them to people who are working mostly on a large base so they can fulfill the requirement for always being armed without constantly carrying around a rifle.
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Old 09-03-2010, 03:36 AM
Clutch Clutch is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdAstra2009 View Post
It depends on what your Military Occupational Specialty is. I'm straight up Infantry and when I went to boot the only thing we were taught about the M9 is that it sucks.



nope... the issuance of a sidearm doesn't have anything to do with rank really, more with your position.

P.S. Sergeant's aren't officers, they're enlisted
OK...so if you're a front-line infantry soldier, then you're getting a M9 and M4/M16, regardless of whether you're enlisted or NCO?
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Old 09-03-2010, 03:53 AM
Nyles Nyles is offline
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Generally no. Infantry don't really have much use for pistols, it's just one more thing they have to carry when they have too much already. The purpose of infantry is to close with and destroy the enemy, pistols aren't very useful for that.
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Old 09-03-2010, 05:18 AM
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And not all infantry would get the M4.
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Old 09-03-2010, 05:51 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyles View Post
In the Canadian military, pistols are issued to infantry officers, signallers, MPs, aircrew and naval boarding parties. Overseas they often issue them to people who are working mostly on a large base so they can fulfill the requirement for always being armed without constantly carrying around a rifle.
You do realize that the OP specifically asked about the U.S. Military, right? Though interesting, answers based on the Canadian military will be confusing. From what I've gleaned over the years, there are tons of little details that are different and very specific to the country and it's military.
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Old 09-03-2010, 02:05 PM
Nyles Nyles is offline
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Well, based on my fairly extensive experience working with the US Army, the scale of issues for pistols is pretty much the same. The only US infanteers I saw carrying pistols in Afghanistan were commissioned officers.
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Old 09-03-2010, 02:46 PM
Markost Markost is offline
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In our army the pistols are issued to sub-officers, commandos and second line troops.
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