I was always very leery of the EOTechs et al specifically for the reasons mentioned here. I found the EOTechs fogged on me and I have always been hesitant to rely on anything that takes batteries. Aimpoints are very nice but like you guys have already said optics like this erode your fundamental skills.

For OIF II I went with the ACOG (I had an M4/203 combo) and LOVED it. Initially I wanted one of the sexy new ninja sights but learned very quickly that this little beast was where it was at. It had just enough magnification to enable me to get a clearer picture of what was out there but not so much that it prevented me from being able to engage in the close fight. (With DA, CQB roles and presentation drills I would aim "slightly high" and put rounds exactly where I wanted them.) I found that even after using the ACOG I could pop it off and fire iron sights with the same level of proficiency because even with the little scope I still had to have sight alignment, sight picture which equated to front/rear sight alignment with iron sights so very few of the good habits were erased. The lens itself is large enough to facilitate rapid target acquisition and I never had a problem with using the scope and my NOD's either so that was another plus...

One last thing on that little optic... once it is dialed in that sucker will dot "i's" and cross "t's" if you want it to... near or far.