I got to see some of that Soviet stuff during one of our rotations at Graf. It was interesting looking at them through our tanks' sights. We were not allowed to shoot at them, though...
And the Opfor at the NTC at Fort Irwin in California had an MRR outfitted in US vehicles VISMOD'ed to look like Soviet stuff (i.e., Sheridans turned into T72s).
I think we house-ruled arty in out game (but I don't remember how...).
As for recon units, as Carlos pointed out, MRR sent BRDMs forward, followed by a company-sized element of tanks and recon BMPs. And I was in an armored cav regiment for a while - Support Platoon leader, Troop (company-sized in the US) Commander, and Squadron (battalion-size in the US) S4. We could stand and fight if the mission or situation called for it...