[Sibilant_Ghost]

My reference was to the right and left flanks of a line squad. A weapon at the ready would be oriented to the left on a right handed person and to the right on a left handed person, on a weapon at the ready or low ready. A right-handed soldier would almost have to place their steps backwards to hold a weapon at the ready in order to guard the right flank of the file.
And on the M16 the weapon tends to discharge brass at a 45 degree angle rearward on the righthand side, and a southpaw soldier would get brass in the face with-out the usage of a brass deflector (an item used regularly in basic training units to prevent the nice welts caused by the 5.56 casing)
My experience with traveling through forested/jungle terrain has consisted mainly of OpFor missions against 6 CAV and 2 ID. We havea few south paws in our unit and they usually end up carrying the SAW for this reason.
Of course with a little bit of experience a left-handed firer can also orient themselves to avoid brass, but the ease of use with the brass deflector (a seperate piece which clips into the between the rail and upper reciever) can take a lot of the hassle out of firing on the move.
~Sibilant~