From what I've heard from a few friends that served in the first Gulf War it was a little easier to bring things back (Uniforms etc) I know of one friend who even got some gun parts back (Mags etc) But the only thing that was obvious was no actual firearms?

Most of the little nik-naks dudes picked up were shipped home to avoid customs. I know people are buying/shipping C&R rifles back, but nobody around me did. We traded patches, but we were not particularly interested in anyone's uniforms around us Most of the weapons and parts we found that weren't destroyed were given directly to the ANA handlers and handed out. We bounced around a lot to different fairly large fobs, so we didn't really have a lot of leeway for a treasure/trinket collection.

Customs would kick back any sort of UXO, brass, anything organic, a certain amount of pirated movies, opened meds, anything "gun part" looking that wasn't attached to your weapon. It would not have been difficult to slip tiny things past customs, but it wasn't worth the risk when you could just ship it, no questions asked.

We brought an 82mm baseplate back by simply sharpy marking a "serial" on the bottom, marking it as inventory, and putting it in the conex. Everyone in the section signed it, and It's a pretty cool piece for the old office.

I noticed when my unit left kuwait after being in iraq till the end of the war that thee was alot of pouches and what not that they didnt even open to check and when i went on r&r they let me bring home a pen flare launcher since i had no pyro for it

Many of us had lots of crap picked up off the battlefields (Kuwait).  Some of our guys had chance to return to CONUS early and were fucked with by the (Reserve/National Guard) MPs before being allowed to board the bird home ... Some had several empty AK magazines and were told that they couldn't take that many back - only one or two; some who had tanker helmets recovered out of destroyed/abandoned tanks were told that they couldn't return with them ......   Basically, some MPs wanted to have some trophies of their own, so cowed the returning troops into dumping some of their captured swag into the amnesty box.

Rest of us boxed all of our crap up and sent home through APO.  We had to leave the boxes open for Post Office Soldiers to look through.  Mine were filled with Iraqi helmets, uniforms, gear, as well as tank, mortar and RPG sights.  Young female Army Specialist was digging through my second box, when she asked me: "None of this stuff came off of dead people did it?"    I simply smiled at her and said "Not ALL of it!"     She looked stunned, then simply gave a cursory glance at the remaining two boxes and went ahead and sealed them up!


Word went out in '91 that bayonets were a 'no-go' for bringing home.  Those of us who picked up AK bayonets simply went to the APO and asked if we could mail them back.  Response was "as long at they're declared on the customs form."

I was in Afghanistan two years ago as a DA Civilian Contractor.  Was amazed at what people could NOT mail home!  Holsters!!  Even though holsters were sold at the FOB PX and in the local shops (on-base).  ANYTHING that attaches to a firearm: front grip, empty magazines!

I even watched a young Airman told that she could not mail back some personal grooming items (shampoo), because of alcohol content!

I shipped my body armor, helmet and field gear home at the end of my contract.  had a few empty Glock 19 magazines (I carried an M4 and Glock while downrange) which were tucked in some pockets in my empty rucksack.  Forgotten about them, and the U.S. Customs inspector missed them when I mailed my stuff home.  After returning CONUS my tough boxes arrived via mail.  Apparently they are sent through xray machines.  One of my tough boxes had the padlock cut off and a note inside stating that four pistol magazines were found in my gear and subsequently confiscated.

I mailed about 6 Henry martini rifles home

Just had to have the JAG antique rifle letter and be mailed registered mail.

Mailed a lot of AK bayonets home with no issue in 2008

Free

I only brought back AK mags. I just dumped my M4 mags into the team toughbox and filled my mag pouches with the ak mags. Customs was none the wiser.

I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to sneak some cool shit back if you knew the right people. I believe there are certain transport flights that do not have their cargo checked by customs due to the cargo's sensitivity. Hook the right guy up with his very own AK and you're good to go.

1st Gulf War: We were not allowed to bring back parts of weapons. I was all set with souvenir AK-47 FSB's and bolts, had to toss them in the amnesty box at KKMC. I also had a used Iraqi gas mask. Due to the possibility of containing chemicals, I had to unscrew the filter and toss it in the amnesty box as well.

In 1991 I shipped back two AK bayonets and

two daggers like these (new, not antique)



marked as "knives". No problems.


In OIF/OEF I didn't find anything of interest.

I had some stuff taken by customs while trying to fly out from Kuwait in 2004.  The one that pissed me off was a 105 mm casing from an AC-130 Spectre that had been shot on a mission and taken out a bunch of insurgents.  The crew engraved the casing with their names, date/time, mission number and kills.  I had the shell demilled by EOD and signed off by my leadership including the wing commander stating it was ok to take home.  The assholes in customs seized it.  They even tried taking the British gear that was given to me by the RAF Regiment guys I worked with.  I threw a fit and got my leadership involved when they tried taking personal items.  My CO told the customs guys to back off.  Those fuckers still got my casing though.  What really burns my ass is those guys were from my career field.  

I still have some war souveneirs though.  

I got an AK bayonet home from Iraq, that's about it. I had a radio console from a MiG-25 I also had gotten hold of, but customs seized it from me. It was really cool.

I brought back an Iraqi helmet, an SKS type load bearing chest rig, random metal chunks I found... An Iraqi canteen, that's about it.

I sent home a pile of stuff in 2005, mostly uniforms, helmets, bayonets and printed matter. I found an old Russian helmet half-buried in the desert, and thought it was UXO until I walked around the other side of it and saw the remains of the leather suspension. Dug it up and took it back to the FOB, then boxed it up and mailed it home.

Traded some stuff for some brand new Tantal bayonets that the MOD security guys didn't want. Gave one to a buddy of mine who went over in 91 with 1/6 Marines and got all his souvenirs confiscated by the Customs fuckers.

One day I'll start my own little Iraqi bringback museum.