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| 12/6/2011 By Sgt. Elyssa Quesada Rifleman Lance Cpl. Corey Wilson participates in a live-fire exercise aboard USS Makin Island here Dec. 6. Wilson, 20, who hails from Spray, Ore., serves with Battalion Landing Team 3/1, the ground combat element for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego Nov. 14, beginning a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions. |
Going strictly by the photo it would appear that 11th MEU has decided on how its going to deploy its IARs.
If the good Sgt's caption is correct then they are going to be used by Riflemen and not Machine Gunners...it also appears that high capacity mags aren't part of the weapons fit (yet) and it would appear that its precision suppressive firepower will be called upon in much the same way that Designated Marksmen were.
If I'm right, then it looks like we haven't really upgraded at all. What we might have accomplished is to find an M-16A4 and M4 replacement but other than that, this appears to be a flawed concept.
