Something that always struck me odd,....

[Abbott Shaull]

You know after watch show on the military channel about the Marine Reserve Aviation unit assigned to Afghanistan.

Well you know back in the barracks in the armory, at least for the Infantry unit there was enough M16s for everyone in the company. I mean on range days everyone from Machine gunners, AT gunners, and SAW Gunners would draw out M16s.

After watching the show noticing that the pilots were carrying what looked like M4s or some similar short barrel variant of the M16/AR15 around camp. When a unit were in say their bases, would the everyone carry a common weapon, turning in the likes of SAW and M60/M240 into some type of armory. I am not talking about temporary bases, but established bases where Machine gun emplacements have been worked out as well AT tank position where people don't need to carry weapons all of the time.

Also how many shotguns would be in Company size unit? I mean by t2k these weapons could be used both for hunting purpose and close-quarter fighting. I can even see at Company level or higher having some hunting rifles for the same purpose. So as not to waste military ammo for game hunting.

How many non-authorized side-arms and abundant amount of SMG? Would troops who didn't have need or regular be issued side arms and/or Submachine guns would they be allowed to "borrow" them from elsewhere and keep them. Especially troops that Assault Rifles or Battle Rifle that have been in lot of urban built area fighting, might accept the extra weight for peace of mind having something they can handle more readily than their regular weapons. I mean the Machine gunner are issued side-arms for reason of self-defense at close range, but I can see them using them at times while clearing a house for use of outpost later where you don't want to tear it up too badly if you do find previous 'owners' still in residence.

Any thoughts?