All things considered, I would still choose a 16 inch Ar-15 or m-16 if I had to go back there.
I totally enjoyed your post of all the firearms you got to use. Such a nice variety. Thanks.
Shorty CAR and M4 version members of the M16 family were fairly uncommon in my circles during my trips there, long and short. They were seen on the streets carried by soldiers on leave from para and special recon units, and now most of the Tavors are shortys. If you want more than a 14.5" barrel an M16A1 is about the only thing to be had, even the Galils are now mostly gone. The good news: there are a lot of bent-barrel and otherwise crapped-out M16A1s that plenty of parts are around to be had, so keeping one up and running isn't hard to do.
I totally enjoyed your post of all the firearms you got to use. Such a nice variety.
In '73, it was like a museum with ammo. Plus the stuff from the other guys.