Mal,
Thanks for the correction as it was the 40th anniversary. I should have looked at my key ring a bit better or paid more attention to maths back at high school all those years ago.
Rich,
Thankyou for your comments as well. I agree that there is frequent experimentation and/or change but troopers do not get to select their own weapons. There are standard weapons and there are mission specific weapons that can be chosen. Its an old wives tale that you can have anything you want. In the case of side arms you can have either the H&K USP or the Browing Hi Power. If rotated into CT then the USP is the only side arm used. The USP HAS been in use since 96/97 so the deadline of July 24 2001 really is irrelevant
As Andy the Aussie said earlier, I guess this is one of those times when we have to agree to disagree.