I agree completely. Although we've never discussed this particular point, I'm not at all surprised to hear you say it. I spent 4 years in the US Navy, not in the submarine service, but chasing Soviet submarines by secret electronic methods. All or most all of those boats were armed with nuclear weapons. So I had a similar overall mission to yours.
During that time, I met many people with a similar attitude to yours. I knew one Marine in particular who liked to act like he was hard core grunt, even though he did somewhat similar work to mine. But when it came to his M-16 and other weapons, he respected their power and danger, but he admitted he was no longer in love with them as he had been earlier in his career. He said the M-16 could blow your skull & brains into bits, but no weapon, no matter how fierce looking, could ever love you back. He even admitted that the Marine Corps – known to all in the USN as a group of serious badasses – actually looked to weed out those who fetishised their weapons. They were suspected as being a danger, not an asset.
So, to all those amateur soldiers who can't get enough guns & ammo, you all need several months of boot camp and combat infantry training. That should be enough to get most of you over that childish worship of small arms and camouflage fatigues.
