SOF have used armor: if I'm not mistaken, the Australian SAS used the Wiesel with 20mm gun for fire support on patrol in Afghanistan -- one answer to the beyond .50 BMG range engagement issue on the DM thread. If a small vehicle like the Wiesel 2 could be fitted with something like the Warrior 40mm CTW gun in the remote turret configuration, and powered by hybrid electric drive such as that demo'd in the RA 93-23 program, would it be useful to the Rangers? It would essentially be reprising the role of the M24 Chaffee but in a much smaller, airmobile and LAPSE-able package. This would fill the niche between the GMV-R and the Stryker 105mm MGS, if such a niche needed to be filled. There is also a Wiesel 2 with 120mm self-loading mortar whose 14-rds/minute burst-mode ROF and fire-control might be superior to the current towed 120mm mortar used by the Rangers. If only money were no object.

I think the light infantry fear, which I recollect a NZ Army infantryman expressing as he transitioned to Stryker-type wheeled armor, is that equipment changes mindset and mission focus (in this case, the fears expressed were that suddenly the concept was patrol-from-the-vehicle and COIN skills like tracking were dying out).