Hi Tolik,
I like the way you think. The problem the small calibers are trying to solve is lack of shooting skills. If you need 20 bullets to hit a bad guy, those better be small bullets and easy to carry. OTOH, if you only need 1 bullet to hit the enemy, it doesn’t have to be that small. The military has decided it is cheaper/easier to buy small, less effective bullets than to teach marksmanship at an effective level. I remember my basic training back in 1984 and we really didn’t get any individual help at all. We would march out to the range, there would be a 30 minute class on what we were supposed to practice that day, then we would have one or two turns shooting, then march home, next day repeat, for about 3 or 4 weeks. I doubt we fired more than 500 rounds learning how to shoot, and no one gave us individual feedback, so the improvement wasn’t a lot.
As for weight, that is just officers being stupid. What the VA is finding out now is that lots of soldiers are having medical issues because 110 lbs being carried all day up and down mountains in 110-degree heat is surprisingly not good for your body. We put too much cheap crap on our soldiers, and cheap crap is heavier than expensive equipment. We can buy a 300 million dollar fighter plane that can’t fight in a dogfight, but give a soldier $2000 body armor instead of $200, God Forbid!
There is some good news. With the new optics like the ACOG and ballistically improved ammo like the M855, the M4 is becoming a better weapon system. When I was in back in the 80’s, we were lucky to get a M16 that could shoot within 4 or 5 MOA. I was not a line soldier, I was in signals intelligence/tactical electronic warfare, so truth be told, if I were firing, something was really wrong.
Having said that, I could easily hit the 800-meter target every year at qualification time with the M60 machinegun that fired 7.62 NATO, so I know our 7.62 was a good round, even back then. Instead of .30-06, which I do like, why not go to 7.62 NATO which we already have a stockpile of. Switch the M4 to the AR-10 and then teach the soldiers and marines to actually hit what they aim at. Buy them some lightweight level 4 body armor, and either find lightweight alternatives to their equipment or leave some of that crap behind. If we want good infantry, we have to spend money to make them good. The days of people coming into the service already crack shots is over.