Im a bit late coming into this but in regards to your poly counts I find them to be excessively high. You already say your not trying to compete for detail against FPS models as you want to have more "1:1 realism factor for squads" instead of like CMx1 with 3 blocky toons, yet your numbers are higher than theirs and they have some of the best detailed models in games.
As an example RSE (Red Storm Entertainment, makers of Ghost Recon and the R6 series) character models are in the 1000-1200 poly range. The weapons come in at around 150-300 polys. I dont have the numbers on the vehicles handy but think they too are high with all the modelling I've done.
Get your models down into the FPS count like above and you'll actually be able to include more soldier models for your squads, making that 1:1 ratio more realistic if not pratical.
Take a closer look at CoD, GR, R6 etc. Quite amazing what 1000-1200 poly characters can do with textures.
Im sure most would agree the FPS models are far superior to what is currently in CM now, more than enough in detail for what would be needed, and yet approx. half of what you are proposing.
:confused: