Carbine Dating

Opinion: U.S. armed forces still using outdated equipment. By Michael Lynch, Special to the Mercury News, Posted: 03/06/2010 08:00:00 PM PST

I was issued an M16A2 when I was mobilized and deployed to Iraq as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve's 341st Military Police Company (San Jose) in the spring of 2003. However, we should have been issued an M4, the more modern version of the M16, which active-duty MPs were given. Instead I was handed a weapon that was state of the art during the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

The M4 carbine is not an assualt rifle like the M16 rifle. It is a lighter and less powerful weapon (same bullets, but a shorter barrel to add energy to the bullets) and yes it would have been a better choice for a MP unit, if not for line infantry.

Journalists can be forgiven for not knowing the difference between a rifle and a carbine, but it would be nice if the service members of this nation's armed forces who are issued such weapons could tell the difference.

-HJC