I must be losing my punch. I never expected the son of a bitch to get up. — M*A*S*H

Like I always tell my kids, if you have to fight, fight until they stop resisting or someone pulls you off.  I’ve also heard someone say that if you have to shoot, shoot until the target changes shape or catches fire.  Either way, one punch, one kick, one shot, or one whatever might not do the job.  I had “One shot, one kill!” drilled into my head so much that now I have to remind myself in shooting competitions to shoot two or three times at the same target to make sure I ‘neutralize’ it.  Yeah, one bullet is enough if you put it in the right spot, but I can’t guarantee that I’m that good a shot on any given Sunday, and a little overkill between friends never hurt anyone.

Realizing that is why I’ve absented myself from the current argument about the U.S. Army’s rumblings about replacing their standard pistol, the Beretta M-9 in 9mm.  My 1911 brethren have come out of the woodwork, and the 9mm versus .45 ACP versus 5.7mm versus .457 Cthulhu holy wars have flared up yet again.  But if you look at the gelatin penetration tests, they’re all pretty much the same when it comes to how we gauge effectiveness.  With any pistol caliber, you’re liable to need at least one follow-up shot.  Truth be told, I’m starting to lean toward dropping the pistol completely for almost all troopers that need a weapon that’s not a rifle.  Instead, if I had a leg to stand on and anyone would listen to my relatively uninformed opinion, I’d suggest issuing pistol-build M-4’s in 5.56.  More compact than a rifle, pretty easy to carry, and with a rifle round coming out of the muzzle.

Of course, all of this discussion is moot if you don’t train enough to actually hit what you’re shooting at, but that goes without saying.