Dad had me laughing about issued weapons when he told the story of his carbine. As a skilled mechanic they kept him in England during WWII, keeping B17's in the air. At some point someone noticed he still had his 03 Springfield, which he liked and used to qualify Expert. His Springfield was requisitioned, and he was issued an M1 carbine, which annoyed the hell out of him. In his words, he "pulled rank" (he was a Master Sergeant by then) with the armorer and claimed a Thompson SMG. He liked the Thompson.
