BEAR vs USEC start discussion

Hey! Had my usual shower thoughts(my showers take way too long) and got curious what other people think about this thing. I'm not that much of "meta" player on the game, but to get through the early of the wipe I'm willing to start "better starter" faction. I've played 5 wipes of the game at this point.

So I've been thinking about since wipe is incoming and I've almost always started to play as USEC for english voicelines ingame. Now that VOIP is in the game and also BEARs got english voice lines so I don't see reason to play USEC on that note. BUT! When I start to compare starting gears on BEAR vs USEC, Is there any reason to start playing USEC in start of the wipe?

AK platform ammo feels much higher dmg/pen compared to 556 ammo. You can easily find ammo for 5.45 from different maps with medium/high armor penetration(BS,BT,BP,PP) and literally only ammo for .556 I usually find is M855/M856 or flesh rounds. Through traders it's much easier to get decent ammo for 5.45/7.62×39 platform on early wipe.

AK platform is also much easier to modify during low levels through traders and also most items I can find usually also fit easier on AK weapons. ( silencers for example )

What do you people think about starter set overall in this game? Should there be more of something, less, different armors?

Do you think early .556 ammunition should receive some buffs?

Is 5.45 , 7.62×39 ammunition overtuned for early ammo?

Do you feel BEAR and USEC are equal starters gear wise or should one or the other get buffs/nerfs for items?

Do you think starting weapons are equal to each faction or should weapons change for different ones? (Gotta love that MP5 early tho)