This is some great stuff. I have my group set up very similar. Partly because our designated marksman is the only other decent shot beyond 500(let alone 300) meters besides me & partly because he cannot carry a lot of weight. He has an M1A with a match barrel and 4 20 round mags and a crapload of 10 round mags. Unfortunately, we as a group need to get to making a lot of firearm purchases. I myself need an AR-15 or a PTR-91, but income slows my purchases for now.

While AK's re extremely easy to convert you should get one of those civilian RPK's. They are easy to convert also and have a built in bipod, heavier barrel, and sights built for suppressing/area fire.

An RPK would, indeed, be better.I'm only using AK types as an example here, as well. RPK might be a smart way to go, even if everyone else carried a different rifle type.

Of course, you've got to use what you've got. You may very well end up with a couple guys having just a lever action hunting rifle. Idealy, you would all have similar calibres and rifles, but in reality that probably won't happen. It will be whatever people can get their hands on. Of course, this can change. For example, if you happen to win out on a fight, you really should strip those you've killed for their gear. It may be an upgrade for a couple of your guys. If not, it's additional items that can be kept for more people you can arm either with new unit members or the community. Same with keeping the ammo you find, or any other gear. Waste not want not. If the shoes/boots are in decent condition, take those. Clothes, well, take them, too. Someone may need them. Up to you if you want to take clothes that are blood stained. Myself, I'd rather have a blood stained coat than freeze my butt off. So I'd say make sure to strip them of everything useful. Even if you come across someone you haven't killed but has items useful and happens to be dead, do the same. If people in your community are queazy about things like that, then tell them you found it laying around. Don't tell them you pulled it off of a corpse.

If you're out and about, and you run in to individual homes with people in them, you might take the opportunity to introduce yourself. It may very well be that you can befriend them. If so, be sure to spread the word around the other teams so they can check on these folks once in a while. The thing is, while competition for what reamains will be very stiff, at least for the first year or 2 until it's all taken up, we must still try to work toward the rebuilding end of things.

As for selection of people to fill these teams.... Once you've established a security force/militia you should approach the best and brightest of these and ask them to volunteer for this. Once you've a pool to test, you should come up with a set of standards to test them for, and then pick the best amongst those. Tests could include physical tests (maybe a Physical Fitness test, tasks that are timed, tests basic knowledge) and interviews. You don't really need to be super hardcore with it, but even taking those willing to do the tests may prove to be good. Like I said, people are trainable. Quality people are tougher to find. You want the sort that will work well as a team and can handle the job. Physical fitness may be an extremely important factor, and probably will be. Mental aptitude is also extremely important, and the ability to operate on their own without being rode herd over. These guys must be able to think for themselves and still get the job done. You can have drones doing the militia thing, the Army proves that all the time. Quite a few soldiers are just those that just do as their told and don't think beyond that. It's not a bad thing, it just is. Many others are smarter than that and once past Basic Training and all that will continue to try to improve themselves just because they are thinkers. They want to fully understand all they are doing and be better at it. Many of these times end up in Special Operations, but not all.

I agree with wulfin that the sorts that will end up in these wolfpack teams will be the sorts that would have ended up in LRRP/LRS/Ranger/Surveillance/Recon type units had they been in the military. Just the basic make up of them would have pushed this.