MENA_Conflict

Big Army: You may be thinking, "But Big Army, we can't take advantage of the full range of the existing, completely lethal, 500m + 5.56 ammunition our existing rifles use, surely we don't need longer range ammo." But that's where your wrong! Dead wrong! Nevermind that the average

soldier cannot hit a static target at 500m, let alone a moving target, what we need is a cartridge that can reach out and kill a man at 1,000 m. A caliber we presently have absolutely NOTHING chambered in, required a complete overhaul of our exiting arsenal, logistical chains,

ability to share ammunition and weapons chains with our NATO partners, and which offers no real benefits over existing weapons, at a cost of billions of dollars!" I swear this scenario gets repeated every 15-20 years since the advent of the bolt action rifle. Senior leaders get

obsessed with the idea of longer range rifles, convinced that, despite ALL EVIDENCE FOR THE LAST 150 YEARS, that most combat occurs during engagements under 200 meters, that what will REALLY increase lethality is for your basically trained rifleman to get a rifle that can

SUBSTANTIALLY outperform his actual ability to use it. If you're going to pour a shit ton of money into developing this farther hitting rifle, necessary to penetrate the armor of the enemies we *checks notes* aren't facing and don't have a reasonable expectation to, then for the

LOVE OF GOD, give the soldiers (and by extension Marines because it will invariably come to USMC next) the fucking training they need to take advantage of it. I don't what it is about range by itself that gives senior Army leadership such a fucking hardon, to the point they just

consistently ignore that outside of their most highly trained troops, a) most combat DOES NOT OCCUR at extreme range and b) your basically trained Specialist out of Ft Benning DOESN'T GET the training to take advantage of the range offered by the rifle he ALREADY FUCKING HAS.

But don't let that stop you Army. Full speed ahead on 6.8mm replacements for the M4 & M249. You've demonstrated a remarkable ability to fucking PISS AWAY taxpayer $ changing uniforms every few years, why not a few billion on guns we can't properly exploit? http://soldiersystems.net/2019/05/23/sofic-19-sig-sauer-exhibits-next-gen-squad-weapons/ …

And make no mistake, the Marine Corps does dumb fucking shit like this all the time, I've got a whole bunch of hate in my heart for the EFV chicanery, it's just that this specific mugglefuck is 100% Army.

And to be clear- I am a *fan* of changing when it makes sense, is practical and affordable, and actively improves a servicemember's ability to be lethal without substantially hampering them. So the army seeking a lighter weight machine gun is a positive step (albeit to my