Each day a new batch of soldiers receives the weapons, factory-wrapped in blue plastic and cardboard. At the same time, each man is scanned for biometric information to help build a database of army personnel and also make each soldier responsible for his rifle.
They spend the next three days on the range, zeroing in their sights and qualifying. About 92% make it the first time, their instructor said. They then graduate to live-fire tactical training, learning how to enter a house, identify a target and shoot to kill.
The rifle swap is part of a gradual Americanization of the Iraqi forces since the 2003 invasion. With their Soviet-made vehicles destroyed, Iraqi soldiers early on were equipped with American Humvees, on which they mounted Eastern guns. In September 2006, Congress approved $3 billion in sales of military hardware to Iraq.
But Iraqi defense officials were especially eager for the U.S. rifle to modernize their forces, Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari said.
"These weapons possess high quality and the most recent specifications that will help us in upgrading the work of our ministry," Askari said.
After some resistance, U.S. commanders now embrace the swap as a symbol of change for what they call the new Iraqi army.
"The M-16 is a sign of the Iraqi army being a modern army," said Brig. Gen. Robin Swan, who is in charge of the U.S.-led forces' Iraqi training command.
Base commander Col. Abbas Fadhil, who made headlines this fall by collecting donations from his men for California fire victims, had a more graphic rationale.
"They make better to kill by being very short rounds, not big," Abbas said.
His imperfect English left some doubt whether he was referring to the M-16's smaller caliber or its reputedly tight firing pattern, but his intent was clear.
"One shot, one kill," he said.
Most weapons experts agree that the M-16, with its lighter punch, high-tech sights and accurate three-shot firing burst, is most effective in the hands of disciplined soldiers in highly trained tactical units.
Not everyone is convinced that soldiers who still do the valor dance that puffed Hussein's ego can be raised to that caliber.
"Without a wholesale change in military culture and training, the Iraqi army will not embrace the fundamentals of precision rifle marksmanship necessary to successfully employ the M-16," commentator Philip Carter, a former Army captain and now associate in McKenna Long & Aldridge law firm, wrote on his Internet blog.
