Well I guess I have some input that may or may not be valuable here. I am sitting in Baghdad right now as I write this. I have been in South West Asia maybe 85% of the time since 9-11. So I do have some experience to draw on.
I think the biggest consideration, which has been mentioned above, is the mission you will be on. There are so many things that a person can do here that you can not make the general "going to Iraq" statement. For example the first time I was in Egypt I was doing a more tech oriented job. I used a light for looking in commo equipment and filling the generator at night. The third trip, to Iraq, I was doing a more hands on job. I needed the light I believe you are discussing. But when you are clearing buildings or rooms you are doing it with the weapon light the vast majority of the time. Sometimes you will use a hand held to search the premises once the area is cleared.
This trip I am working on a completely different mission and I am outdoors nearly all of the time. I need a spot that can illuminate targets at distance for most of what I do. I have also found a great use for the strobe on my hand held. I can shine a light at someone 100m out and they will not see me at all. They will not respond to commands because they do not see me. When this happens the situation gets tense. But with the strobe they nearly always notice me. I can honestly say based purely on my experience this trip that the strobe on my Gladius has kept me from pulling the trigger several times, which in turn means people who are presumably innocent are alive because of it.
I guess in the end I would say if you are headed to the sandbox you need to take several things:
1) A general utility light: I prefer a AA for this. I want something that is reliable and has decent run time. I am currently using a Fenix L1P. This light is on me 247 no matter where I go or what I do. I am about to replace this light with a Jet MK IIx.
2) A proven weapon light: I want a light that is dead reliable for this. I am not going to take chances on anything new to the market. I want a solid spot with some flood. This could be different with the mission. If I was still kicking in doors I would want more flood. You will go CR123 on this one, be it 6v or 9v. I go to a Surefire 9v in a LaRue Tactical QR with the pressure pad in a TangoDown Vertical Grip.
3) A proven "tactical" light: For this I want an LED. I currently carry a Gladius. This light has a dead simple interface, is bright enough, and is versatile. Here is the strobe I have used to successfully get noticed and I believe save lives. The light has a momentary full bright as well as a continuously variable brightness on the on position. I am in the process of finding a Gladius donor to get the Cree or Seoul upgrade. I want all the features and more output. This light is on my kit and if I am in kit the light is always on me and attached via lanyard with QR.
4) A reading light: I know it sounds crazy but you are going to have down time. I have an old CMG Infinity that has been around the world literately dozens of time and has never failed me.
5) "One Is None" : When I am on base I have a light always on me and a second very close by. When I am on mission I have one on my belt, one on my weapon, one on my kit, and at least one in my go to bag. I have a couple of backups always laying around and are in rotation in the bag depending on what I am doing. I have the Surefire EL1 and KL4, a couple more Fenix, and an old MiniMag LED conversion. These are also the lights I will hand to a fellow soldier when they need one. I know there is a 50-50 chance of getting it back so these are the ones that get handed out!
So I guess that the real answer is "it depends." It depends not only on the mission but also on your role in the mission.
I believe there are two difficult obstacles that a soldier deploying faces in terms of lights. The first is that your particular mission will not be clear until you are boots on the ground. The second is that the Army supply system is slow and will not always get you what you need. I have learned from experience. I pack a box of all my goodies and leave it home. The first day in country that I know I have a decent mailing address I have it shipped. This means I am not going to have to rely on the Army to get me the things I need to survive. This box has thousands of dollars worth of stuff from HK M4 mags, EO Tech, ACOG, lights, knives, and weapons accessories. The only problem is that most soldiers can not afford this luxury. I found out a long time ago getting this stuff in country is easy. Getting it out is a pain in the ***. So when I leave I will either sell at 25 cents on the dollar or simply give the stuff to an incoming soldier who seems to appreciate the necessity and will use the stuff.
I hope some of this may have helped a little. I am by no means an expert on lights and have not tried every light out there but these are just my observations.
Gypsy
