Imagine you have a rifle outfitted to your specifications, and gear adjusted to your personal needs. You spend a substantial time training before spending several months to a year using it. Then imagine your rifle is given to someone else, and the next time you need one, you’ll have to start from scratch with a completely different gun.
It’d be bad enough for a hunter or competition shooter, but according to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who has spoken with several Navy SEALs on this matter, this is the reality facing many of the nation’s most elite troops.
Recent budget boosts and the relatively small price of rifles suggests insufficient funding isn’t to blame. Instead, Hunter cites a slow-moving, out-of-touch bureaucracy and wasteful spending. With a current budget of $10.4 billion, plus $400 million more proposed for 2017, there’s no reason our most elite fighters should be at such a disadvantage.
“It’s their lifeline. So let them keep their guns until they’re assigned desk jobs at the Pentagon,” Hunter argued.
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