What about ratings?
Military hardware typically use electronics with wider margins for temperature, humidity, power surge, etc... While consumer hardware is used a lot in R&D and testing, it normally doesn't make it to the final product.
Of course, I practice, I think that a peripheral designed to withstand the wrath of gamers worldwide could handle an actual war just fine. And if not, replacements don't cost much. But still, it is surprising that armed forces accept something not covered by rubber stamps and red tape.
This isn't the first time our armed forces have used the venerable Xbox 360 controller, they're cheap and easy to replace, ubiquitous, and basically anyone can use one comfortably.
Sure, they aren't waterproof, dust proof, have overvoltage protection, etc. but whatever - you can carry a dozen spares for $240.
I guarantee that they ran some tests and figured out that xBox controllers were either manufactured to tolerances "close enough to what we'd spec out that the difference is negligible" or that stuffing one more spare in a ziploc bag gave them less overall downtime than nicer hardware and carrying fewer spares.
Of course, I practice, I think that a peripheral designed to withstand the wrath of gamers worldwide could handle an actual war just fine. And if not, replacements don't cost much. But still, it is surprising that armed forces accept something not covered by rubber stamps and red tape.