Sir, I do believe that everyone is missing a very important point! Why does the US Armed Forces need a NEW pistol? Can anyone describe an event where a Soldier, Marine, Sailor, Airman has actually used a Pistol in Combat. With multiple combat deployments I know of ZERO. The M9, although I personally hate the thing, is just as capable, while being toted around on the hip, as any other sidearm.
Why do we allow the DOD to get away with this foolishness. This is not an issue of National Security or safety. The pistol is a weapon of last resort and serves to give the Officers, Senior NCO, pilots and Technicians a means to defend themselves. USSOCOM, the only guys that actually ma use the pistol, already have a different gun. This is just wasted money on a sham requirement. In 15 years of War, nobody has required the pistol. Just as soon as a “Pistol Bearer” is sent outside the wire, they grab an M4-M16A4. I could get interested IF they were talking about a Service Rifle.
Can anyone describe an event where a Soldier, Marine, Sailor, Airman has actually used a Pistol in Combat.
In a fire fight in a house in Fallujah, although wounded by seven 7.62×39mm rounds and hit by more than 43 pieces of hot fragmentation from a grenade while using his body to shield an injured fellow Marine, Kasal refused to quit fighting and is credited with saving the lives of several Marines during the U.S. assault on insurgent strongholds in Fallujah in November 2004. By the time he was carried out of the house by LCpl Chris Marquez and LCpl Dan Shaffer, Kasal had lost approximately 60 percent of his blood.[1] The photograph of Kasal, taken by photographer Lucian Read — blood-soaked and still holding his M9 pistol and KA-Bar fighting knife — being helped from the building by fellow Marines, has become one of the iconic pictures of the war. - Wikipedia
Looks to me like then First Seargeant Kasal was using his M9.