Re: do GMS/P troopers carry ARs?

>I was wondering if people play as though their troopers who carry
GMS/Ps also
>carry ARs.  my friend was arguing that it would weigh too much
together,
and that

We play that the GMS/P gunners carry the same ranged weapon as the squad
they are with, irrespective of what the model has on it.  Keeps things
simple, and I think, perfectly "realistic".

While the GMS models appear to be rather large in some cases relative to
the figure, who knows what they weigh?	I believe that in the Canadian
army
today, guys who carry the equiv size weapon (our Carl Gustav unguided
rocket launcher) also are expected to carry their rifles, and the Carl G
is
*heavy*.  The weapon is assigned to a section, not necessarily to a
specific guy, and if the troopers in the field are only carrying 3
missiles
(as is standard with several of the GMS/P systems in the SG rulebook) I
don't think they'd want to be stuck for the rest of the battle with a
pistol!!  Especially if TODAY we can provide them with weapons like the
FN
P90 which provides near-rifle effectiveness within 100 m or so.  And is
tiny.

Now a question related to this that we should also look at (if it hasn't
been before some time), is what happens to the GMS/P when the trooper
carrying it is shot.  Right now, we take the fig off the table and the
weapon is gone.  That makes sense if the trooper carrying it was
obliterated by some kind of powerful weapon, but if he was just shot,
why
would his buddies leave their tank killer on the ground?  I know the
game
is an abstraction and for playability purposes we keep it simple, but
has
anyone addressed this with a house rule?

It would be easy to suggest that if a special weapon gunner
(particularly
the GMS/P) is a casualty, as long as the weapon wasn't destroyed it may
be
picked up by another member of the squad.  Perhaps this requires a reorg
action, and a check of some kind if the gunner was hit by anything other
than smallarms.

Thoughts?

Adrian