This stuff is wildly amusing, and perfectly typical of those basing decisions on emotion and popular sentiment rather than cold logic. Look at the evolution of US combat arms since WW2 and you might realize we have a history of using the last war's weaponry for today's war. Simple solution is to accept the idea that battle field landscape in the future is uncertain and it might be useful to have 2, possibly 3 different platforms to equip our troops with. Cover the terrain, equip the mission and get it done.
And while we're at it, perhaps we can get over this idea that shorter barrels are better.
