My father, and 4 uncles served in WW2, one uncle in Korea, a brother in Vietnam, myself in the Gulf. Both grandfathers served in wars before (WW1, Spanish American war).
A few of them were infantry, artillary, Army-Air corp, and throught that the BAR was a better rifle than the Garand was. A quote from my father who, after recovering from 9 months of hospitalization from D-day, who used to train other airmen and soldiers how to hit moving targets and vehicles. A favorite quote of that short little guy was "pick anything out to a 1/2 mile away, if you can hit it once Ill guarrantee 2 hits on it moving".
I like the design of the garand for its time, it was the best anyone could have made for the situation. Today its nothing compared to whats available.
The FAL, from what I can remember it was given away by European countries to as many 3rd world countries as possible to make way for newer better rifles, lighter, more reliable, more accurate rifles. Anyone I knew who had experience with the FAL in combat complained about them being too long, too heavy, and not being very reliable.