Military issue handgun?

[RainDownmyBlues]

Just as possum said, as an Infantryman unless you're in some weird position you don't get a sidearm. Tankers, medics, and some other MOS's get sidearms, but grunts don't... for whatever reason. Never has made any sense to me. That being said, when I was on the battalion level CSD I had the Beretta M9.

Depends what unit you are in. In my unit in Afghanistan, we had the option of an issue M9, Sgt and up. I took one and two mags and jammed it in the front of my vest. A few of them didn't, but we had a lot of supply issues. I figured if I ran out of ammunition or my M4 crapped out- it would be better than running around with a knife.

 

[Tim the student]

Whats "Big Army"?

"Big Army" is a term used for units that are outside of the Special Operations command (such as CAG, SF, 75th). The 82d, 1st ID, 101 etc are all big Army units.

 

[buttrap]

Most people would be shocked at the amount of sidearms that are under DOD contract now. It is not a short list by no means at all. The standard is the what ever the unit or your MOS for the unit list says is the standard. You can come up with a justification and a way to cover the bill you can get most anything but 99.999999% of the time that takes a needs aproved way up the line way over anyone short of anyone that has a O grade to need a gun.

 

[golden]

BUTTRAP,

One thing to remember is that the ARMY is also the buyer for guns we are giving away to our allies. The ARMY recently bought SIG 2022's for COLOMBIA and RUGER'S & S&W SIGMA'S for IRAQ.

Jim