Navy SEALs tell top House lawmaker they don't have enough combat rifles

[Matt80]

You are right about the keep work jobs but there is the niche factor - how many companies can build a periscope?

One company, located in Northampton MA. Although on the Virginia boats, there are 2 optronic masts - not traditional periscopes.

 

[Bcamos]

Wait, I thought there were "standard issue" um, standards; for this VERY reason. Shouldn't everything all be the same?
Not for SOF guys



Is a desk job at the Pentagon now a given?
No





Wait, is this for duty use, or personal use?
No. It times past, SOF were typically allowed to train and deploy with personal weapons as long as they proved reliable. I'm not sure if this has changed or not. It was typically only used with sidearms, since rifles tend to come better equipped (and cheaper) from the gov.

See above, in red.

 

[Picton]

Come to think of it, I think I read about this very subject in one of the 17,000 SEAL memoirs that have come out sine 2002. I think it's in Lutrell. He talks about a training layover in like Qatar or Bahrain, and local attitudes toward NSW Americans.

 

[Andy in NH]

Bean counters not knowing how to support those at the tip of the spear.

Link.

A Republican lawmaker said Monday he's been assured the Navy has resolved a procedural glitch that caused combat rifles used by SEAL teams based in San Diego to be taken from them unnecessarily.

Hunter said what Losey described during their call wasn't a weapons shortage but a "break in the system" that affected only the SEAL teams assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group One in San Diego. Weapons that service members had used in training and planned to go into combat with were effectively being impounded for cosmetic flaws and other minor issues, according to Hunter.

Essentially, a by-the-book approach was trumping common sense. "That does not meet commander's intent," Hunter said. "Commander's intent is, 'Who cares if there is a scratch on the butt stock.' We're not talking about the action, or the bolt or the barrel."