Does anyone here think that providing an armored capability to current units would result in their being used as elite infantry?

This happened to US Ranger forces during WWII as I recall. The battalions acquired heavier weapons that made it harder to raid behind the lines and more likely that they'd be used in conventional combat. The high casualties of conventional combat thinned the ranks of skilled Rangers making it less likely that they could succeed in their original mission. This vicious cycle was compounded by the fact that the Ranger battalions had no regular source of trained replacements.

I could see a decision to send an armor augmented Ranger unit to storm Fallujah, for example. Whereas with their current equipment using Rangers in that environment was simply not an option.