User blog comment:CaptainMacMillan/Ok Battlefield Wiki, BC2 OR BF3?/@comment-202.89.176.216-20120119023616/@comment-2224289-20120121232244

lol they were testing using only 4 classes from the original 7, nothing was defined at that point. DICE had personal help from top clan players and entusiasts tho, they helped a lot on the class balance of 2142

Either way, they could prove themselves useful by successfully spotting enemies or planting spawn beacons relatively close to the objective while handling their carbine so they could pave the way to their teammates. The Squad Leaders lost their spawn beacons to the Recons, and they can't even take advantage of that. Saying that BF3 Recons PTFO is just BS in my book