Got it, we are still not communicating. I’ll try to clear it up.
1. A downed aviator has but one duty, evade and get back in the cockpit where they make marvelous killers.
2. Evasion is more difficult with a rifle because:
A. One M4 style rifle with 120 rounds adds an additional 10 plus pounds to your “escape weight.”
B. Using a PRQ7 while carrying a rifle, while evading, lowers either the effective use of the rifle or the users attention to a potentially
dangerous level.
C. Land navigation (critical component of E&E) is more difficult with a two-handed weapon.
D. Three 30 rounds magazines not effectively secured are shocking loud when you are moving.
E. Those same magazines stuffed for silence in your bag/flightsuit/pockets are now ineffective.
F. Firing at an “A” target twice a year is enough to get a cute ribbon for your uniform but hardly enough to prepare you in the
effective use of a rifle.
G. When you are trying to hide or fit in a small hiding place an extra 30” of inflexible steel is not a good thing.
Lastly, a pistol is designed for self-defense. A rifle is made for offensive operations. Armed with a rifle a pilot, who needs to evade, might feel compelled to stay put are try to fight it put. I have been on only one effort to help a downed Kiowa Warrior crew in Iraq (2006), and trust me, I wish they had been able to evade toward us rather than us maneuvering to them (they could not, they were both injured too badly).
All that said, I am not trying to change your mind, I am just offering a view point based on some hard earned experience on the ground.
Jesus...
A) You need to hit them gym if that’s a legitimate issue. Considering the physical fitness/size I have seen in some Navy aircrew....you seriously might have a point... but again that’s a cultural issue.
B) Curious on how you think carrying a hand held radio makes your rifle less effective? The logic jump escapes me.
C) through E). Also something easily fixed with the right equipment. Probably a little overstated as well.
F) More cultural issues.
G) 30” of steel? Dude an M4 is about 15-16” with a collapsible stock.
Last Paragraph: That is complete horseshit. It’s a training issue. If trained properly the M4 is a much more accurate and effective defensive weapon and easier to maneuver with and escape. Also the big difference between 9mm vs high velocity .223. I’ll tell you what...next time you get a chance. Take your M4 (or similarly designed weapon of choice...SBR-type) and a handgun. Literally any handgun. M9, M11, XDM40, whatever... and then take twenty shots with both at 25-50 meters at a non-maneuvering human sized target.
After you do that let me know how you feel about the weapon of choice in the extremely remote chance you’ll have to use it. Sure, I agree evasion and escape is the best course of action. Nobody is denying that...but if the off chance for self-protection is required... don’t you actually want to hit your target?