Free Republic

The M4 Carbine dates back to the Vietnam War when the Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol soldiers needed a weapon that was compact and still semi-concealable so they could snoop deep into enemy territory without being seen. This was the CAR-15, the older brother of the M4. The M-16 was longer and cumbersome in close combat situations, so special operations personnel later preferred the smaller size of the M4, especially when they jumped out of airplanes. The M4 then spread to light infantry units later in the 1990s. Some soldiers and marines still used the M-16A2 and A3 until the Second Gulf...

You can be the best shot in the world, but your expertise won’t count for much if you run out of bullets. The same principle holds true for a country’s armed forces. Just ask the U.S. Navy. It’s getting low on munitions—yet the Pentagon is refusing to ask for sufficient supplies to replace them.