When I first enlisted, the M1911A1 was the standard service pistol of the US Coast Guard. The one I carried had been somehow acquired by my great-gransfather in WWI and has been handed down from father to son through four generations. (It has been rebuilt and refurbished so many times over the decades that I doubt that anything but the frame is original anymore.) I still had it with me during my last deployment, but carried it more for the sake of family tradition than anything else; this was the venerable weapon's last war.
I also had an issue M9, of which I was originally skeptical but soon came to appreciate. In addition to sharing a common ammunition with other NATO pistols and submachine guns, it has less recoil than the .45, holds more ammunition, and is generally easier to handle. I used to encourage those of my men who were issued pistols to spend enough time on the range to become accurate shots with them; if they ever needed their pistols in battle, they were going to appreciate being able to hit their targets effectively.
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