With the M11 around there's no good reason to carry your own weapon.
That being said TINS. I was in VAQ-141 on TR during ODS and the issue weapon was the five shot .38. Pretty good for shooting the pilot and taking his water and not much else. AIRLANT sent a message out saying thou shalt not carry personal firearms. CAG came out and said it's your pink ass on the edge carry what you want. At that point they all came out. I carried a Browning High power, my pilot a Glock .40, another ECMO the .38 and another ECMO the .38 but unloaded because "loaded guns are dangerous". A lot of other Glocks in the squadron, which at the time was a pretty new weapon, the XO carried a very nice custom 1911 Combat Commander, one ECMO, a former USNA shooter, carried a high standard in .22 assuming it would be quiet enough for any purpose. There were a smattering of revolvers and such. One ECMO hinge brought his wife's .380. He wondered why she gave him 9mm ammo. I would say maybe half the squadron carried a personal weapon. Rick Morgan wrote a story about it in hook a few years later. That CAG was Fox Fallon, now PACOM so maybe his preferences have changed.
