I had a unique opportunity to talk to some “varsity” operators today.  I was shooting at a civilian/military range in the Ft. Knox, Kentucky area and came across several guys that were working on their gear and getting ready to go shoot up a combat town.   The guys didn’t come out and say Delta but I’ve been around the block enough to know, and the Army Ranger guys that were with them were treating them like royalty.  They looked more civilian, didn’t have the “mowed” hairdo, and looked like they could all run a triathlon with all of their gear, all very articulate and intelligent.  

          These guys were dressed with all of the latest goodies and reminded me of Lance Armstrong the way they were dressed with high speed/low drag stuff and the equipment they were carrying.  I broke into their conversation to ask them about their Aimpoint scopes.  They were carrying the M4 with Aimpoint 2 scopes.  They had an IR illuminator on the left side of the ribbed handguards (couldn’t tell what brand handguard), a CQB Vertical grip, and a targeting laser on the right side of the handguard   All of the weapons were painted desert camo,  If you dropped one of these weapons in the sand at night, they were painted so well that you might loose it.  

         They also had camelback waterbags on their back but no body armor. One guy said they were waiting on some new military gear that integrates the IR laser and aiming laser in one unit so they could take at least one thing hanging off of the gun.  I got the impression that they didn’t like the “Cadillac with all of the options” weapon.   I asked the guys what kind of optics they liked.  They said pretty much the same thing I have been hearing from the “informed” guys on this board concerning the optics/range issue.  

          For close order stuff, these guys unanimously agreed that EOTech Holographic sights were their first choice.  Supposedly, they had some trouble getting the EOTech stuff for all of their team (that’s how they described themselves) at the last second so they were going with the Aimpoints that they were used to.  They said that everything they would be doing in the next few weeks would be CQB so that is why they were equipped as they were.  They were out for a “test run” on the M4’s before they left in a few days for the sandbox.    I didn’t understand exactly why these guys couldn’t get anything they wanted??  

       Anyway, I asked them about the ACOG sights and they said that when the ranges they were working were a little further out, the Trijicon ACOG’s were preferred because they were excellent optics and they wouldn’t have to carry binoculars..  You could tell these guys were built for speed, they wanted minimum weight and maximum speed, no armor, no combat boots, they had on some kind of mountain triathlon shoes,  makes sense.  

        I’m glad these guys are on our side, DOOM ON YOU bad guys, some one is going to f*ck you up.    I am a former Marine and flew pointy nosed jets in the first Gulf War.  If I were to be ground bound, I would have loved to be with these guys, a class act.  

Please reformat your post so it has some paragraphs. In its current state, it is very difficult to read.

Thank you.

My eyes got lost a few times, but managed to get through it. Nice post, but paragraphs would be a lifesaver

Sorry guys, I'm not trying to make you cross-eyed, hopefully it is a little more readable now.....  

Nice post - welcome to the boards.

Quoted: Sorry guys, I'm not trying to make you cross-eyed, hopefully it is a little more readable now.

Thank you, that's much better. Can't shoot that well if you're cross-eyed.

Good read. Thank you for posting that.

Excellent post.  I'll say no more out of honor and respect for these great men.