91AggieLawyer said:
Quote:
I would doubt there are 100 people in conventional force units that have actually needed to fire a pistol over the past 15+ years of war.
We may not be able to know, but this is just wrong. Wounded (or not) and out of 5.56 ammo, pinned down, and they're coming in. Not an unlikely scenario and very likely to have happened somewhere.
That it's an extraordinarily unlikely scenario anywhere except Hollywood. To start, a very small number of soldiers carry both rifles and pistols at the same time. Mainly officers and senior NCOs. Who are extremely unlikely to be in isolated firefights, out of 5.56.
Maybe in the 2-3 SOF ops gone real bad over the past fifteen years, but those dudes have always been authorized to carry what they want anyway.
Pistols are primarily for armored vehicle crewmen, senior leaders. It is nice to have one in a meeting with foreign military/locals you don't know or trust, and a long gun is inappropriate.