Well being a tank gunner, during OIF 1 from 2003-2004, I can say that yes, we did have AK-47's and AK-74's on our tanks as weapons. I have seen pretty much every type of assault rifle on a tank. Its not that the crews didn't have assault rifles, its that only 2 crew members have them, the TC and loader get issued M-4's and the standard tanker 9mm. The Gunner and Driver only get the 9mm, so we would pick up what we could where we could. My company had one crew that had MP-5's that they conficated. They woud share them though, and let me tell you, that is one of the best assault rifles I have ever used. GREAT for a tanker too b/c of its compact size. There was also one tank crew that had a Dragunov SVD sniper rifle. They used it too in An Najaf.

Hey what can I say, we're tankers, we don't steel, we aquire what we need, and put it to good use.

Mike

Not to be inflammatory, but "pry the open handguard of the rifle"? It's not THAT hard to do, man. Or are the M4's handguards that crazy nowadays?

In Basic Training the only weapons issued to us are the M-16, and the handguard is not the rail or the metal ringed handguard. Remember those old vietnam war movies when they use fibreglass/plastic handguard? Those smooth type? So to remove handguard, u need to pull back the slipring, and slowly slip in the bayonet tip and pry the guard.

I was a platoon sergeant in a Basic Training School, thus i only need to teach the basic weapon.

Just for reference for everyone as "M-16" is too broad given the changes it has undergone, you are talking about the M-16A1 and not the removable handguards of the A2, A3, and A4.

Jeff

Yeap, but we call ours as M-16S1...just like taiwan have theirs as M-16T1..
The carbines and other weapons have handguard that are much easier to remove. Though our new assault rifle is made locally now, so i dont think we are using M-7 anymore.

Our unit a Military Police company in OIF had several soldiers employ lasers (grip or mounted) and flashlights on the M9s or M4s. And at times we would take Aks from Iraqi Police Officer that would be hestiate to use them so we could employ them correctly and so we wouldn't "waste" our rounds subpression fire. I personnal used two weapons for truck protection. One was a Ax handle from the pioneer kit, to keep the kids off the truck and/or trailer. The second (my favorite) was a hand made slingshot ($2 from iraqi kid) made from a olive branch a heart bypass tube and a leather strip. Used mainly to teach the kids not to throw rocks at soldiers while on missions!!!

A friend who was flying F-4G Wild Weasels in the First Gulf War said a guy in the neighboring F-16 squadron had an Uzi. He kept it strapped to his chest.

They told him if he ever ejected, the Uzi would probably crush his chest.

His reply was, "Well, I'll be on the ground with a crushed chest.....and an Uzi."

I read that book when it first came out, before I went to Iraq. Anyway to go along with your question, I carried a 9" buck knife in a leg holster on my left side. I knew guys that had brass kuckles, trench knives, etc, etc. But the joke was they never wne t outside the wire so they never used them. I never used mine either, but at least I wasnt a fobbit.

I stand corrected -I mis-understood him- he was issued specialized rifle that he carried with him at all times - my mistake for the incorrect info.

I personally used an M-14 and on rare ocassion a BAR for shipboard defense.

Glad you fixed that. Contrary to popular myth, even SF guys do not get to bring in whatever they want. However, what they find in country can be used to a certain extent. Either AK's confiscated or found ( I carried one) or even local purchases can be authorised. Glocks are a popular choice in Iraq but must be sold before leaving.
Since an upper is not considered a weapon, shorty uppers ARE authorised in theater, and are quite popular. I may take a left handed shorty upper next time around.

IM getting into this one a bit late, but found the topic interesting. What I think sucks is that none of our guys are allowed war trophies anymore. I know in WW2, (and no, IM not that old! :-) ), guys took ALL SORTS of war trophies. A friend of mine has a P38, a Luger, and a Kar98 (all german weapons) his grandfather brought back. Not to mention a bunch of nazi flags, a hitler Youth knife, and all sorts of other interesting historical goodies (I few I dont dare mention here!). Now granted in the US, there is an assault rifle ban in many states, and you need to be a firearms dealer with a class 3 fed lisc to own anything automatic, But whats the big deal about someone bringing back a captured dragonuv or such? Is there NO spoils of war whatsoever anymore? Maybe one of you guys serving now can explain this to me.

You may bring back muzzle loaders made prior to 1898. I brought back two 3 inch cannons that way. Also, the commander may authorize unit war trophies. We brought back a 1918 Maxim MG, and a BRDM-2, among other things.

Well, at least with the BRDM-2 parked in the driveway, you wont have to worry about the nighbors dog crapping on your lawn! LOL :-) The Maxim is a nice find, especially in good condition, it would bring a good price from a collector. My best regards!

The Maxim went to a sister company. The Birdum sits in front of Battalion now.
<img src="http://photos.kitmaker.net/data/500/medium/Task_Force_Python_006.jpg" />

Here you go.

When I went to Vietnam, I brought with me a Hawes (Sig-Sauer) replica of a Colt Single Action Army revolver in .45 long colt, as well as plenty of ammunition for the piece. I did this against the advice of a good friend who was already a Viet combat verteran and was on his way back. In the nd, i was glad I did....the .45 auto I was issued was very old - a 6 digit serial number - and jammed after the first round every time. I wore the issued pistol to comply with regulations, but carried the contraband revolver when I anticipated trouble. The revolver did not jam, so it gave me a feeling of comfort to have it around. I fired it in anger only once.....I wasn't really angry, just scared outa my skull. I could have used it another time when I hadn't anticipated the need.

Knowing that I could not take the revolver back to the States, I gave it to the senior advisor in our ARVN Ranger (Biet Dong Quan) Battalion. I ran into him a few years later and he told me he had traded it for a nice matched set of Russion pistols the Rangers had taken from a dead NVA officer. (The Ranger battalion commander always had his eye on my "cowboy" pistol.)

I also carried a sawed off 12 guage pump shotgun I was given by a couple of Army Special Forces guys I worked with while advising some ARVN Regional Forces. I never fired it in anger, but it was fun to tote around when I was in the rear and it too was nice to have near me when I slept.

In the bush, in addition to the revolver I carried an Air Force survival knife - shorter and more compact than a kabar, but very similar. That knife could really hold an edge. I also carried a machette which I found to be largely useless. In retrospect, I would have been better off to trade both the machette and the knife for an old fashioned tomahawk or hand ax. Either would have been better for the tasks I used the knife and machette for.

Dave

Rob was talking about the standard shake down prior to deploying or coming back. Well, when I went to ODS we got the same shake down and I had one of those "Rambo" knives that Rob is talking about. I had no problem taking it over there, but when we came back, the guys conducting our return shakedown made me pack it in the center of my duffle bag. We where also told that if we bougt any of the swords or knives from the locals, that we had to do the same. Oh, yes, we where allowed to buy knives from the locals and bring them home, but they could only be up to a specific size.

This may be sort of off topic, but it falls in the linbe of the shake downs and what not to bring back from overseas. For those of you who have been over there and thiose of you who know, you can get these cigerettes over there that are called "bennies." you get about 50 of them for about $.50 and they look like dark marajuana cigerettes. Well, we where allowed to smoke those and bring up to two packs back, but at the last minute, they where prohibited from coming back to the states. Well, a stupid buck seargent decided he wanted to ignor that order and cut a hole in one of his canteens and stuff a bunch up it thinking that the guys shaking us down wouldn't look at our gear on our persons. need less to say, buy yhte time we got home, he was a private again and all for some stupid bennies.

When we reached Bangor, the fourth of five stops en route to Ft. Carson, I asked the customs agent a question about the rugs I was bringing back. He said, "You guys just came back from f-----ing Afghanistan. I'm not going to inspect anything. "
Ah, the lost opportunities...
Your guys definitely would've enjoyed finding my bag of AK bayonets, in plain view. Not quite "Rambo" knives (I have a Phrobus III) but a cool find nonetheless.
As for my coolest souvenir, I almost forgot the best of all, which money cannot buy: A deed from Wazir Khan, for a 400m x 400m chunk of land in the Paktika Province outside of Orgun. The deed states that this land can never be taken away from me. That'll be testd one day I'm sure.

I crossed the berm into Iraq with a 9mm. Talk about feeling naked! After the first bad-guy we took down, I took his weapon, an RPK and carried that for months. I later switched to an SVD when we couldn't get an M-24 thru the legal / proper channels because we didn't have a sniper position per MTOE. That still baffles me to this day. I countinued to carry the SVD for about 4 months until we moved to a relatively safe/ quiet area before re-deployment. Tried to get it home as a war trophy, but it turned into a huge hassle, so I took a picture with it, and left it at that. The only non-issued weapon I carried, other than the above mentioned weapons, was a throwing tomohawk. These were great weapons with a multitude of uses. It took awhile to figure out at what distances we could accurately throw them, but it worked out to roughly 12'-15' or about 8 paces. The back end could be used for hammering, the blade tips for opening cans etc. We had some targets we made from busted up pallets in the shape of a man sized figure. While they weren't extremely sharp after a lot of throwing, the pure weight of the head and the point would more than ensure a lethal wound when it found its mark. We were able to routinely "stick" them when we threw. It got to be a matter of having to call your shot, head, chest, heart, groin, etc..prior to show you could hit what you were aiming at. Bragging right more than anything really. Luckily we never had to use them in that way. We did get a lot of funny looks from the brass within the unit, but were never told to get rid of or destroy them. I still have it hanging on my wall. "Q"
ps. on a side note, I had a major bring a custom .45 into country worth about $1500. He got to stand by and watch the Regimental XO throw it into the Euphrates river after it was brought to his attention. Talk about making a sad face.

To have to watch someone throw a custom 45 into a river would have brought me to tears, I have had 3 of them in the past and hated to give up any of them.

hi treadhead, in in answer to one of your questions yes some of the guys during gulf war one, did carry enemy weapons i knew of a couple of lads who used sniper rifles. er, draganov svd,s i think and a couple of ak,74,s one mobile unit (sabre squad) even had a stash of 3 rpg,s these weapons were used but were NEVER seen around the camp under threat of punishment. and as for knives i myself carried a randel an aircrew and a sa80 bayonet and of course my fave a swiss army knife the reason some lads carried these weapons wasnt to look cool it is because the sa80 is rubbish, when i had the option of using another weapons system i would. cheers

Hello all, new here to the forum and decided to make my first post on this topic I am in the US Army and have been to Iraq twice, along with a few other spots over the years. I am an Infantryman and also a sniper. As others have said on here, you can not bring your personal weapons with you. I have seen a couple people smuggle personal handguns over with them but that is a very risky thing to do. Several of us did have our own sights for our weapons, not out of need, but out of personal prefference. I have also seen soldiers bring over custom uppers for their M4's but have never seen this in the units I have been in, just other units soldiers I have seen on the FOB.

I am not at all saying that it does not happen but this was my experience at least.

I'm ordering my 10 1/2 inch Leitner-Wise piston upper tomorrow (later today actually) We've also gone back to the 45, alas not the 1911, but the H&K Mk 23. We're taking the M9's as well-only one guess as to which gets used.

18Bravo, have you used one of them Leitner-Wise uppers yet? I was talking to the owner of the company on line while I was in Iraq last time about a 10.5 upper and he just quit responding to me. I attempted several times to get ahold of him but nothing. I decided to just wait to see if I couldn't get one of the H&K uppers but ended up getting an XM177E2 clone built instead.

I preferred to use my bayonet as it was just as effective. Also in Gulf War 1 I had a lot of problems with my SA80 rifle so I ditched it for an Iraqi AK47 which I found to be a much better weapon. I wasn't struck on the M16 though. Some guys in the 101st let me try out the M16, but I wasn't very impressed. I also found a Lugar in Kuwait that I used and it was a great pistol.
Scott