Are any weapons i.e. firearms allowed to be brought back from Iraq or was this practice outlawed under Clinton?????[devil]

I know there were a bunch of guys burned for bringing weapons back in '91. Mostly jarheads and sailors since it's fairly easy to hide it aboard ship.

Read an article in Newsweek about eight or nine years ago talking about it. Seems some senior enlisted jarhead was getting a divorce and his old lady decided to turn him in. NIS/NCIS put the bite on him to give up some of his buddies in exchange for reduced charges and he gave up two friends who gave up two friends, who gave up two friends and so on.

Despite any ban or policy, I'll bet some items make it back anyway.

i dont think clinton is responsable for this.it has never been o.k. wink wink to bring back war booty.of course it probably wasent really strickly enforced in wars past.

btw bush no# 1 WAS IN CHARGE DURRING gGW1

At one time, it was perfectly legal to bring back a "war trophy." There was even a form for this.

They've put the skids on bring-backs to make sure [s]France[/s] none of our [i]allies[/i] accuse us of 'looting'.

While I was in Germany, there was an E-8 who went back stateside.  Somehow during GW1, he acquired some Iraqi AK-type rifles, and kept them in the arms room.  When he DEROSd, he didn't take them with him.  The SPC arms room MFIC, had a visit from CID, and ended up getting burned for possession of these rifles.

Sad, really.

-Zmeja

Who searched the MPs?

What I don't get is various individuals think because THEY couldn't get away with anything, that no one got away with anything.

Wherever there're rules, someone will break them. The more seniority someone has, the greater the stroke they have to get around things.


I knew a guy in the Navy who was on a gator in GW1. When they went pierside to pick up their Marines, the jarheads had weapons stacked on the pier awaiting disposal/destruction. The story he tells is some of the jarheads swapping or selling odds and ends to the sailors as well as sneaking things back aboard for themselves. If the quarterdeck watch is lax, it's pretty easy to sneak things back on board in pieces, parts, and in supplies and shitcans coming back on board. Hell, it's easy to do that even when they're paying attention.

If you've ever been on a Navy ship, you'll see that there are beaucoup "hidey holes" within workspaces. These areas are generally left alone during health & comfort inspections. Guess where contraband items are hidden?

This same guy told me he swapped a Marine for a pistol that he later gave to his dad. The way he described it, and he was not a gun nut, it may have been something like a CZ52.

And yes, there were some guys who were burned for the bring backs on board his ship. Some were caught in transit to the U.S. and some were caught later on off of the ship in base housing and other places.

There have been similar threads in the past and there are always certain individuals who invariably post something to the effect of "It's illegal, you can't get away with it, I couldn't get away with it, it's all BS, etc." Well, BULLSHIT. Where there's a will, there's a way. Some guys are willing to run the risks and some aren't. This time around, just as in the past, there will be some things make it back that aren't "supposed to," if you get my meaning.

Pretty good article in SAR a couple of months ago about an Air Farce FAC who sneaked a Swedish K back in when he "wasn't supposed to" during Vietnam. He wound up amnesty registering it in 1968. Of course THAT will NEVER happen today, but it just gives you an idea that people will take their chances if they think they can get away with it.

When we rotated home from GW1, we were warned that the MPs would have us dump our duffel bags, etc.

Well, we went through the "inspection" at about 2 AM and all they checked was to see if the soles of our boots had soil on them...  no bag dumps, no nothing.

I'm SURE stuff came back on that trip.

Alex

CENTCOM general order #1 prohibits the taking of war trophies by individuals. This order was signed well before the war, in fact I suspect it has been policy since the late 1990s.

Of course, there will always be individuals who disregard the rules…

Pretty cool, Quib!

:)

Yeah, we were pretty surprised that we didn't have to dump..  there were some very relieved people getting on the airliner.  I have a feeling that there are some folding stock AKs floating around Texas right now that aren't exactly kosher...  I remember the guys carrying them during the war but I don't remember them in the dumpster outside our rooms in Khobar, or in or near the amnesty box.

Alex

The amnesty box sort of resembled a Salvation Army drop box, and it was fairly full from the sound made when I threw away the AK parts I salvaged. No parts of weapons were allowed to be brought back.
++++++++++++++++++++++++

After reading the various responses on this thread its amazing that going back to civilian life (after having fought for you country)you are no longer trusted by your government with weapons or even parts of weapons.[devil]

I was in Bosnia in 2000 and Kosovo in 2001 as EOD and we were responsible for cleaning out the Amnesty boxes.  It was like Christmas!  All the goodies that everybody tossed!  Of course I "NEVER" brought anything back, CID didn't even want to touch our bags!  Scardie-Cats!  Seriously though, I have heard the same poop that 'Delta_3_63' mentioned about not letting anyone bring back anything from Iraq for fear of perceived LOOTING.  Of course, that was the same party line for GW1.  I have personally demilled & inerted weapons (& provided documentation in official memorandum format) before for units so that an ORGANIZATION (not individuals) can bring back UNIT HONOR AWARDS, "trophies" to be put in display cases back at unit HQ.  I have also assisted CID with busting IDIOTS trying to bring back grenades and explosives FULL UP!  Morons!

My stepgrandfather in law (retired E-8 Marine) alledgedly brought back a Thompson in WWII.  He started with China Marines in '35 and retired in '65.  I don't doubt that he had one. I got to visit both Christchurch and Guadalcanl in '78 and while we were talking we determined I visited some of the same opubs in Christchurch.  a few years later he told me that if he had known that he would have had somebody in the family that would have sppreciated it he would have hung on to it.  My wife has since told me I am the only one he ever talked about the Pacific battles with.

Whie we stopped at Guadalcanal, we found out that many of the local taxi tours also stopped at a EOD dump equivalent.  One of the returnees luckily(?) showed am intact mortar round to the Quarterdeck Watch.  After that everybody got searched and then we passed the word for everybody that had souvenirs bring them up for inspection.  We let the fragments go, but after getting underway must have dumped about a hundred pounds of intact mortar and 3" projectiles over the side.

A buddy of mine decided he didn't want to continue in Navy ROTC in 1972.  Well he borrowed a 5" practice projectile and packed it in his seabag leaving Pearl Harbor.  Took two guys to lug it in to the airport.  The clerk almost dislocated his shoulder grabbing it.  He figured he made it until we told him the FBI routinely X-Rayed all military luggage and seabags coming back from Hawaii to detect contraband.  He literally sweated the entire flight home. and almost didn't pick up his bag at baggage claim until we pointed out it had his name and baggage check on it.

Just a side note, troops in Afganistan have brought back old muskets.  They had to be made before 1898ad., legally!