Cosmoline,
While I am sure it was unintended, your statement is an insult to every U.S. infantryman. Your statement demonstrates your lack of understanding as to what is truly necessary to be successful in combat. The quality of soldier that our country puts on the battlefield is unquestionably superior when compared to our enemies. Most notably, we are better marksmen, more disciplined and are more physically fit.
I have had the unfortunate experience of engaging a numerically superior enemy force without the benefit of heavy weapons, gunships and tanks in the same conditions that are at issue here. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, it was no contest. We all came home, scores of them are taking a dirt nap.
I thanked you earlier for your passion regarding the fielding of a better rifle. I would welcome a better rifle. But do not think for a minute that the quality of my rifle determines my quality as a soldier. Far from it.
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Excuse me while I
No, I never insulted any serviceman. I insulted the AR-15 platform. It's a disservice to our servicemen to give them second-rate weapons which need to be cleaned over and over and over and over and over again in order to function properly. The fact that our servicemen have made do with inferior weapons and managed to come out on top says a lot about the quality of our servicemen. The fact that we continue to give them schlock in order to keep Colt in business says a lot about us, none of it good.
I for one do NOT want to see our guys in Iraq go nose-to-nose, without armor or heavy weapons, with the dirty-fighting !%@$s with nothing but the junky rifles and carbines we've given them. Maybe they'd come out on top of the fight with no losses, but by G*D I'm not going to sit by silently and force them to roll those dice. We are giving them GARBAGE and any resulting deaths are our collective responsibility as tax payers.