The average Marine actually doesn't outfit his rifle with very much at all. Out of all the time I've spent downrange, while every douchebag, non-combat-seeing pogue unit in the Army was getting outfitted with tricked-out M-4's. Marine infantry guys are still lugging around M-16A2's with iron sights. Maybe the occasional AN/PVQ-31 ACOG, but that's about it.

What does the average Army Soldier outfit their rifle with? That's an entirely different story! We start out with a Colt M-4A4 with a flat-top "Picatinny" rail system and 4-sided picatinny handguards. For sighting, we either mount an ACOG, or an M-68A2 "red dot" scope. The ACOG magnifies 1.5x but doesn't have any battery-operated illumination. The M-68 has no magnification, but has an illuminated red dot that you can see at night. A lot of the big-time “operators” with beards and no name tapes use the EOTech holographic sight. Same basic principle as the M-68, but a little better visibility and choice of sight shape. (circle, dot, red cross, etc.) We also add a flip-up rear aperture sight to be used in case the M-68 stops working. The front sight is still there, so you can see it in your scope, but it's OK, because you may need it if the scope breaks or stops working. On the handguard, we mount an AN/PAQ-4 IR laser on the right side (only visible with NVG’s. We use PVS-14’s. Some units still have the old PVS-7’s) It's not a laser designator. Designators are the size of a mini-fridge and emit an 8-digit code that the munition hones in on. "Lazing" a target is an entirely different thing that Cav Scouts and Air Force TAC-P guys do. The PAQ-4 laser just shines a light that can only be seen under goggles. On the left, side we mount a Surefire light. The Surefire light is for room clearing. A lot of times when we'd go into someone's house, the light came in handy to blind suspects. There are a lot of instances where flooding the whole place with light (usually during room clearing) was better than night vision because NVG's don't give you any depth perception and you only have a 40 degree field of view. On the bottom, we either mount an M-203 40mm grenade launcher (super heavy!), a Harris bipod (also heavy and not very useful. There's ALWAYS something to brace your rifle against.) or a broom-handle grip. The Surefire light activation switch gets put on the broom-handle grip with black electrical tape. Everything is either safety-wired to the rifle or tied on with 500-cord for extra security. Last, but not least, some guys cover up all the optic lenses, close the dust cover and spray paint it with a light coat of matte brown and tan stripes, but that’s because they’re gay and they do it as a secret sign to pick each other out in crowds.