Military discounts

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Skid_McCoy

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I have a question as to why our soldiers buy their own M16/M4's, sights, mags, etc. I've heard of some soldiers spending big money. My question is why? I wasn't in the military and don't have any current friends who are. I can surmise it's either because they get issued a field grade weapon and they want something better. Are they taking them to Iraq or Afghanistan?

PS - God bless our troops!!!
 
I have never heard of soldiers in the regular military being allowed to buy and use their own weapons. I have no idea about SOCOM guys, but the average soldier does not buy his/her own weapon.
 
They may by some accessories, but not their own weapons. SOCOM and a few other "special types" might, but not the average soldier.
 
Most of the soldiers I know that are buying weapons are doing it so that they have a "buddy" when they get home. Once you live with it for so long it doesn't feel right to not have one any more.
 
No privately owned firearms while on duty period. Bringing your own accessories can also get you in trouble. This thread's title is incredibly decieving.
 
Personal firearms - NO

Personal accessories - yes, frequently. Army issued stuff is often not on par with private stuff. Some of it is great, but things like mags, red dots, lights, knives, etc soldiers like to have their own.
 
It has been a few years since I got out but I have heard from buddies that few soldiers buy much of their own equipment any more. It was somewhat common back when I was in the Army. Back then, red dot sights were not all that common so some purchased them on their own, especially once we hit the ground (OIF 1 for me).

I was in a tank unit for OIF 1 back in the days of Rumsfield's "you go to war with the Army you have" days. Basically our unit was still setup to fight a doctrinal tank war with the USSR or N. Korea. A tank crew of 4 would only have 2 M4s on the tank an an M9 (Beretta) per man. This became somewhat of an issue when we started doing HUMVEE and dismounted ops after the invasion ended and the insurgency started heating up.

So we did what soldiers do and improvised. AKs and ammo were everywhere so that is what we carried and used, except when the BN Commander or CSM happened to come outside the wire. We looked like we were about to invade Poland or something with all of our AKs, and old comm-bloc webgear to carry AK mags. Luckily, about the highest ranking officer that was around was our CO and he was cool with it and carried a practically new MP5 that we "found" one day.
 
Have read some very interesting comments here about privately owned firearms in the Army. Due to my good fortune I found myself in SE Asia in the '60's. I was authorized a sidearm but there were none to be issued(was issued a M2 Carbine). I managed to buy a S&W Model 39 pistol and holster from a copter pilot rotating back to the world. There was plenty of pistol ammo around such as 9mm, 38 spl and 357 mag, that if you could hook up with a pistol, you could carry it. My CO(a MJR), carried a 5" S&W Model 27 with his "homemade" loads in it. Everyone just looked the other way. Things definitely have changed since then.
 
Ok, check these pics out. We sent all of our leftover patriot girl posters from SHOT 06 to Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of the guys who got posters over there emailed back pictures. You tell me if these Glocks look like standard issue.
CIMG0355.jpg
CIMG0356.jpg
 
Those guys look like contactors to me and Glock 19s and 17s are issued to some guys.
 
We only sent them to APOs. The names were given to us by people who were GunsAmerica people who had family and friends over there. I have never seen Glocks offically issued. I have been told that lots of the guys over there are carrying their own guns.

And as for accesories, Spike's Tactical here in florida has made a living from milled alluminum billet front grips because the issue ones bust.
 
Again personal firearm accessories are not officially authorized, just depends on who sees them. One last time THERE ARE NO PERSONAL FIREARMS ALLOWED IN THE AOR BY US G.I.s!
 
Maybe those guys are SOCOM or Contractors, but they sure don't look like regular joes. The khaki pants, assorted footwear (I've never seen Merrell hiking shoes on the approved list), and random tops scream PMC to me. No two of those guys are in the same uniform.
 
SOCOM active duty military guys don't get to bring their own toys either just the defense contactors.
 
Here is a blurb from AFI 31-101 I am sure other branches have a similiar manual.
10.5. Arming and Equipping Security Forces. MAJCOMs may specify the type of weapons security
forces carry or delegate responsibility to ISCs. This includes weapons carried by flight commanders and
flight chiefs who perform both police services and security functions. Commanders ensure security forces
members are armed and equipped to perform their assigned duties.
Click to expand...
 
They definitely weren't contractors. The posters only went to military and the pictures all came back from military email addresses.
 
Its amazing how things have changed over there in since 2004!!

Right after the invasion and the months that followed there were all sorts of weapons floating around.

My favorite "unauthorized" personally owned weapon was a SIG P220 that one guy had. Handguns did get clamped down on later in my unit after an accident involving a found handgun. One of the SGTs in the PLT had found one of those Beretta copies that were pretty common over there (I forget the name). They were pretty similar to the M9 except for one VERY important feature. If the hammer was back and you switched it from fire to safe, it would fire. This guy found this out the hard way when he put a round through his calf with one. Luckily it was not a serious wound but bad enough to get him a ticket home:D

Handguns overall were pretty rare over there at least quality ones. Our interpreter was authorized to get a handgun for SD and came to work one day with a rather interesting combo. I managed to get an old Webley revolver that someone had taken a hacksaw to to turn it into a snubnose. I guess Webley ammo was hard to come by so he got the best next thing - .45 LC ammo with about 1/8 filed off the nose of the round so it would fit in the cylinders!! I explained to him the error of his ways and let him know he had better be nowhere near me if he ever fired one of those off in that gun.
 
Well if they are contactors set up on a U.S. base they will have .Mil addresses that is how it works. Thanks for your support though.
 
THE SPEED LIMIT ON THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY IS 55-65 (DEPENDING ON LOCATION) MPH

Violation of speed limit is a ticket.

Do people go 55/65? Hell, some stretches you'd think the sign said 85.

Do they go 75-85 all the time? Of course.

Do they go 85 MPH when a State Trooper is cruising near them? No. Well, no one who isn't a moron that is.

See where I'm going with this?

Life is full of things like this. Not just the army and guns. Honestly do you do everything 100% in accordance with your employee handbook at work?

See where I'm going with this?

PS those cowboys in the pictures are screaming CONTRACTOR!!!

They have .mil addresses too if they're working out of the base.

There's a lot of contractors there. Current estimate is 104,000 working in Afghanistan alone. Not all of them are mercenaries, of course. Some are drivers, construction, etc.
 
I was just thinking the same thing Dark Knight, I was going to use gun control as an example but the speed thing works. However with my unit I expect everything to be 100 percent with our regulations but I may be considered the "State Trooper" I don't know.
 
We see a lot of traffic from .mil and have sold some items to folks in various military institutions, a lot of sights from EOTech etc...
 
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