Originally posted by Tom Highway:
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Originally posted by Jimipickle:
quote:
Originally posted by Tom Highway:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jimipickle:
My first post. Retired 11c infantryman and MP SRT.
Over 20 years of military service, 6 as a light infantryman and 14 as an MP, I never used a light or visible laser on a weapon. White light gives away your position and destroys your night vision which equals mission failure. Lasers create cat like responses to the eyes and the operator focuses on the laser more than the situation, another failure. Lights and laser on weapons add weight, that is all they add.
In law enforcement, flashlights are necessary but are not attached to the weapon because pointing a flashlight with a loaded weapon attached to it violates one of the fundamental safety rules, never point a gun at something you do not wish to destroy. If you have family member and search your house at night with a weapon attached light, you might end up pointing the light and weapon at a family member, as one of many examples.
In jungle warfare school, NVGs were useless, red dots were useless and white light was forbidden. Fundamentals were everything!
As to why lights and lasers are popular…”marketing”
For a hunter in bear, wolf or big cat area, I can understand a light on weapon concept, but you are still going to loose your inherent night vision and create intense focus on the beam and not the peripheral which could also cost you your life.
Just my perception from experience.
I was issued a handheld white light as well as a weapon mounted light on my issued Glock 17 at a recent law enforcement-adjacent job. You can use both. If you’re moving to contact, your muzzle is going to intermittently and briefly cover things that you don’t want to destroy. White lights on a duty pistol are standard now. Same for white lights on duty/infantry rifles. I am old enough to have just joined when NODs were still relatively niche. If I were still in I wouldn’t step off the line of departure without NODS now. With respect to your service, things have changed, a lot.
Appears they have.
Talked with an active duty infantryman last week. The infantry is using white light but a negligent discharge of white light is considered unacceptable as a negligent discharge of a round. Strict adherence to light discipline. However, when searching the objective (actions on the objective) after successfully securing objective, white light is acceptable.
Have not talked to an MP SRT Soldier in a while.
Local PD personnel in my town are not using optics or lights on weapon. Military and police have different mindsets when it comes to white light. Given the necessity of target identification of law enforcement, I can see white light on weapon being used. The practical application of pointing a white light on weapon towards an unknown person to properly identify them as friendly or threat becomes a grey area in a safety rule. Safety rules are great until your ass is on the line…
I used a white light in Baghdad to illuminate an Iraqi dressed in white trying to enter an exit to a ECP. It stopped him without escalation of force. White light does have a place. The white light in question was handheld.
As to nods, outside of a jungle, I would use them and an infrared laser for any mission where limited visibility could be encountered. In a jungle, you will only see the green leafy thing directly in front of you. It is not that they do not work, it’s just that they do not offer awareness past 5 feet.
I retired in 2015 after 20 years of service. My perspective is infantry/military police. Is yours the same? With the adoption of the M17, it will be interesting to see if MP’s start using weapon mounted lights.
