Look what made its way to Afghanistan

[IMARMED45ACP]

How many people here that ever bought, or come across an old weapon(helped a friend); totally stripped, inspected, and made sure it was safe to put back into battery.
Me!
Hope everyone else here has that knowledge, if not get more training; its kinda like a chef with a dull knife.

 

[IMARMED45ACP]

I would advise against it. Typically, you cannot bring home ANY gun parts, even spent casings. For the receiver you're looking at serious criminal charges. For non receiver parts, you're still looking at trouble. I suppose while you MAY be able to explain that it's just a magazine or wooden stock or whatnot, think of the value in that item (a few bucks) vs. the trouble it will certainly cause. It's not worth the trouble it stirs up, especially in an Army looking for reasons to make Soldiers redundent.

And for those thinking they are more clever than customs, remember Customs has been doing this now for a decade. They find the guns and parts hidden in the copy machines, under the false floors of trunks, in the pillows, etc. That stuff is inspected and Xrayed. Guys go to prison and receive Bad Conduct Discharges for unsuccessfully trying to smuggle home a $300 pistol or rifle. It's absurd.

I've also seen guys go to prison for a stretch for bringing back a full auto AK47. Invariable someone finds it or snitches and the guy fries for it. Agree or disagree with the law and rules, thems the rules and it just isn't worth it.



I've never fired the PPSH 41, but I've fired the Uzi, and various MP5 types. They are just pussycats. They are so controllable. I would LOVE to have a subgun in a handgun caliber.

Great advice, fellas I'd heed the warning; job #1 is to come home safe.

Thanks for your service, and God Bless.
Mike~

 

[CZguy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by C-grunt
What exactly are you getting at here? Because from my point of view it doesnt seem like friendly conversation.

Then perhaps, you should reconsider your point of view, friend.

I think you missed the point.

 

[Mountainman1888]

My squad snagged one just like that in Fallujah. We also came up on USGI weaponry. The insurgencies definately have an interesting networking and procurement capacity. On more than one occasion we also found USGI WWII era frag granades.

 

[SaxonPig]

The U.S. military has always seized civilian firearms from any area in which it operates. Not political, just fact.

 

[Mountainman1888]

SaxonPig. That is not true. In the areas i operated in the only times that weapons were taken in a generalized manner were big ops such as Phantom Fury and Iron Curtain. Civillians knew to leave town, or stay and fight. That was on them.

During routine operations, personal defense weapons were NOT taken, as the civillians needed that protection desperately.

Has it happened in other areas? Sure. But that was the result of poor leadership and bad foresight, and isn't routine or "always" by any means.

 

[Murphy4570]

My squad snagged one just like that in Fallujah. We also came up on USGI weaponry. The insurgencies definately have an interesting networking and procurement capacity. On more than one occasion we also found USGI WWII era frag granades.

When you came upon the old USGI weaponry, did any troops wish to keep and use them? It is still government issue weaponry, after all, just not current issue. Seeing the troops use BARs or M1 Garands alongside the modern stuff would be a pretty cool sight to see.

 

[Mountainman1888]

Not generally, no. The old pineapple frag grenades we found had to be blown in place. The were wired to door frames. Additionally, the fuse assemblies were heavily corroded, and would most likely fail if deployed. Not good.

As far as the other weapons, not really. Although most all of us were spun up on the soviet and other captured weapons, we didn't carry them on patrols. Some of the grunts in other companies actually ended up engaging insurgents with RPG7 rockets after supply couldn't keep up, but that was not typical.

 

[Chindo18Z]

Among Afghans, AK-47s are so ubiquitous that we referred to them as Male Jewelry. Adult males in the tribal areas wouldn't leave home without them. And no, we didn't confiscate them...which would have been a silly waste of time and a good way to alienate the very folks we were allied with.

Crew served, ground-to-air threats, caches...yeah, we'd grab all that and dispose of it.

Large weapon caches saw us recovering everything from Milan wire-guided anti-tank missiles to black powder Jezzails. I'm talking average hauls of 10-15 semi-tractor trailer loads of armaments typically pulled out of single holes in the ground, "basements", or caves.

One of our guys re-conditioned a water-cooled 1906 Maxim and integrated it into our firebase defense. He used parts from 4 guns, had the locals go find some cloth belts of German WWI ammo (paid a bounty), and the gun was good to go.

An OGA friend (former SF guy) carried a very nice Thompson 1928A1 for his entire tour.

Several of us carried Makarovs as BUGs.

The only "modern" scavenged weapons adopted in quantity by members of my unit were PKM machine guns. Great weapons and a handy way to plus-up small unit fire-power.


The reason for the eclectic weaponry present in Afghanistan is that every international arms dealer in the world divested themselves of stockpiled ancient weaponry during the era of the Soviet invasion. The US, Pakistan, and certain Arab states underwrote arming the Mujaheddin. In response, shiploads of otherwise unsalable and obsolescent arms were moved to the region with a will. In most cases, exactly what was being delivered was not carefully scrutinized. Many millions of dollars were involved, and certain customers got taken to the cleaners by unscrupulous holders of end-user certificates.

Remember the scene in Uncommon Valor, where the US mercenaries lose their high speed gear in Thailand, confiscated by the authorities? They resort to re-equipping from a local small arms black market. Having limited funds, they are taken to dusty crates of bargain basement WWII small arms.

All the ones Gene Hackman and his movie buddies didn't buy? Shipped to Afghanistan...from everywhere in the world. Seriously.

 

[JShirley]

If you have a buddy that wants to donate a real Enfield No1 Mk1 or an original Martini Henry to a good home I'll provide my address...

Yeah, the odds of finding either are approximately .00001%.

When I was here last, I saw 3rd Group with a PPsH in 2007. One of the team members told me he would take it on missions, if he'd had ammo for it.