Alright, they are toning down the pistol, Paul Bertone said they where for ODST, why not Reach? He even stated in the latest Bungie Podcast (as of 6.07.2009) that the pistol from "halo 1 was a little rediclous."
Luke: "What, how?"
Paul (in whispered voice): "used to be pretty good at shooting down banshees."
Luke: "So what? A pistol takes down a banshee?"
And Bungie Employee and writer of Contact Harvest Joe Staten said that a special assault was on the cover because of it being in the testing phase. People tested new tech before rge spartans. Even these new ODSTs are doing that.
*Sorry if someone already said this. I was too lazy to actually read all the posts =P.