Did the military really strip SOF of their weapons?

Question

I read this article the other day (http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1111 ) and was shocked by it. Its bad enough they took the 416s away from the AWG, but does anyone know if they took them away from Delta too? The article is worded funny in regards to that, and it does say 2 tier one units were able to keep them, but i was just wondering if anyone has any other details on this issue. I know Delta helped develope the weapon and paid for it with their own dime, so it'd be a really scummy move if the military took away those weapons. Any info would be great, thanks.

Answer 1

No, they did not take them away from them, SOCOM is it's own command, the group that had them taken away is Regular Army and Regular Army can only think in conventional terms and they did not like that the 416's were in some peoples hands and did not want to listen to people complain about not getting them as well, so instead of getting them for everyone or giving a congrats for taking initiative for that unit for getting the 416's they took them away. If you have ever worked with Big Army you would understand that there is a reason they are not very good at a lot of things and it is usually due to poor leadership at the 06 and above level who prefer uniformity, rules and regs and spit and polish over initiative, out of the box thinking and practical ideas. Just the way they are. The poor guys at the bottom are the ones who suffer, the Army Senior Leadership is the epitome of the old adage of "Lions being lead by Deer".