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					Originally Posted by Mauser98  
BTW: out of my own personal interest, do you get slugs    I take it you are a Navy Corpsman unless this is a recent thing for the 68Ws | 
	
 I am a 68W in an MP unit.  MTOE has me down as only getting an M9, but I was taught repeatedly in all the medical courses I have taken and in Iraq that the best battlefield medicine  is fire superiority.  I am not by any means as experienced or as good as many of the members of the board here, but I do not see how to "gain and maintain fire superiority" with a pistol.   Sure, not having a rifle to worry about would make patient care easier, but I do not understand the Army logic of issuing me a rifle when I was in a clinic unit and then giving me a pistol when I am going to be out on the road more.  In short, the compromise with my unit was that even though they could not give me an M4 I could at least have a shotgun.  It is not a great compromise, but it is what it is.  
For the rest of you, thank you for your time and input.  You guys have given me a lot to think about.  I need to replace my TacStar sidesaddle on my personal home defense shotgun, so I think that I am going to try a velcro sidesaddle on it and use it/abuse it to see how it handles in addition to trying some of the other methods.  I have a while before we leave, so I will let you guys know how it goes and anything that I learn from comparison along the way.  Thank you again.