U.S. troops do use AKs.

My brother apparently had an encounter with a Master Gunny who was training with an AK last month and headed back to Iraq.  His comment "They just shoot anyone who is carrying an M4.  I like the extra seconds the AK gives me."

Quoted: Quoted: U.S. troops do use AKs. My brother apparently had an encounter with a Master Gunny who was training with an AK last month and headed back to Iraq.  His comment "They just shoot anyone who is carrying an M4.  I like the extra seconds the AK gives me." There is just something wrong with that statement, if is he going to train the ING I can see it, but if he is serving with a Marine unit, its not happening, But more important if he is a Master Gunnery Sergeant, he probably wouldn't have a M4 or in reality a rifle.  There is only a couple of them in a Regt and they all work at the Regt HQs, meaning those who don't even carry rifles.

Actually, there is nothing wrong with that statement.  I was there.  He's been in Iraq twice now and is going back for a third tour.

edit - Yes, he is a Marine.

Check your IM in a few mins

There hasn't been a good "all of the troops shit can thier M16 and grab AKs" thread in a while. It is not common for US troops to use wepaons that they have not been issued, it does happen, but not very often. I call bullshit on the thoery that caring an AK will give you a few extra seconds before the badguys react, they will notice your uniform long before they notice what rifle you are carrying, this practice is however likely to get you a personal encounter with the guns on an Apache, as they will often be using electronics for targeting and they will notice the shape of your rifle and not your uniform.

Edited to add: American fighting men have been known to talk shit back home too. If half of the war stories I heard while I was active duty were true, this war would not be possible, because every living soul in Iraq would have died in teh first Gulf War. Same goes for Viet Nam, I have been told on more than one occasion, by veterans who had been in different wars, and were genuine hero types, that they grabbed up AKs when there M16 jammed and didn't have any problems getting ammo because the Ak is designed so that you can use M16 ammo in it but you can't use AK ammo in an M16.

Quoted: There hasn't been a good "all of the troops shit can thier M16 and grab AKs" thread in a while. It is not common for US troops to use wepaons that they have not been issued, it does happen, but not very often. I call bullshit on the thoery that caring an AK will give you a few extra seconds before the badguys react, they will notice your uniform long before they notice what rifle you are carrying, this practice is however likely to get you a personal encounter with the guns on an Apache, as they will often be using electronics for targeting and they will notice the shape of your rifle and not your uniform.

Call bullshit all you want.  You weren't there.  You don't know all of the facts and I'm not gonna post info about this guy on an open forum.  

bulgarian aks47's, would be my guess.

I think I stated that I know full well that it happens, I believe that some guys do it, but to assume it is a common practice would be wrong, and regardless of experience my won common sense tells me that a guy flying CAS over a hot firefight is going to be aiming and shooting in a quick precise fashion from a good distance out, an AK has a disticnt profile, a gunship pilot is not going to assume that an AK is being carried by an American, now if there are ING forces on teh operation he may hesitate. I myself took every chance I had to familiarize myself with any weapon that I could, because you never know what you may have to deal with, but it was drilled into us that you do not pick up and use an enemy weapon without a damn good reason, because when the bullets start firing people make descisions in the blink of an eye, shooting at things seen out of the corner of an eye, sounds heard in the distance.

As far as in the what SF people do in the field they will absolutely use Ak type weapons (more exactly they will use the best of breed to whatever is indigenous to an area, they do it for tactical and logistical reasons.


I still believe that using an AK for the reasons given is a bad tactical idea, your vehicle, uniform, and tactics are going to give you away as an american long before you are close enough to be spotted based on your rifle, and if it confuses the bad enough to keep the bad guy shooting at you for a few seconds, it is likely to get you lit up by one of your own guys just as quickly, and once again, our guys shoot a lot better than the average Iraqi. I have also heard of tales of Iraqis dressing in US style uniforms in order to get close, if that is true I sure as hell wouldn't want to be holding an AK wearing a USGI uniform.

Edited to add: I know good and well Tatjana and STRLN are in no way full of shit, and I know full well that they know the difference between a bullshitter and the real deal, better than I do I am sure. I am just pointing out for other folks who aren't as familiar with military life, that not all troops are the dame, and that what certain high speed type units do is often very different than what a normal Infantry/Rifle unit would do. At typical grunt would catch hell if he was caught using a nonissue weapon unless it was approved by at least the company commander, or was a life or death situation, while a Green Beret or SEAL is often given the lattitude to make his own descisions while in the field, I would imagine that long range patrol guys and Recon guys would also be allowed some leeway in a similar situation.

Quoted: For those who say there is no way a master gunny would be in the field, I'd like to remind you that anyone that crosses the border into Iraq is "in the field". There are no clear battle lines. The war is being fought in the rear as much as anywhere.  It doesn't matter if you are an infantryman, a truck driver, a cook or a clerk. If you are in Iraq and you are wearing the uniform of the US Armed Forces, then you are a combatent and better be prepared to fight. I would think this applies to MSGT's as well. -CH

Yep, I would imagine a lot of folks who might not normally be issued a rifle are toting one over there, and if one hasn't been issued I would not be surprised that they didn't have a captured weapon that they keep forgetting to turn into S1, along with a pile of ammo for it, it may not be the perosns first choice, but it is better than a pistol, and sure as hell better than nothing. I reread one of my earlier posts and realize that I came of sounding like an ass, I guess I am an ass, I had and have no doubt that the Gunny was being honest, and that is very likely to be the case for him, the point I was trying to make (very poorly trying) is that for the average trooper that is not a standard practice, nor one that the command would be happy about. For the people who find themselves in a firefight unexpectedly, having nothing but an AK to fight with, they generally won't have to worry about friendly fire, or being lit up by helicopters, if they had supporting troops within shooting distance or air support they probably would not be needing a weapon to fight with anyway, and if they did there would probably be an M16 close at hand from a casualty. Once again I apologize if I have offended anyone, I really did not mean to call bullshit on the statements made about a particular person, or situation, I meant to try and dispell a bit of the myth that says US troops are prone to picking up random guns on teh battlefield for no other reason than dislike of the M16, because it in general is not true, outside of hollywood and indoor ranges.

To tell the truth my military experience taught me that it is not all that common for a soldier to really give much thought to guns, for the most part they take what they are issued, learn it, live it, love it. Most soldiers see thier weapons as just another part of thier gear, they know that they have to take care of it, they know how to keep it running, and they know how to use it, they may have assumptions about other weapons, they often will have experience with other weapons, but rarely do they think much about why they use thier weapon over something else. It is like this with any piece of equipment, when I was in we Worked with all digital tactical switches, and they were great, but there were a few old timers who swore that SENS were junk and that tyc41s were the best tactical CO ever, There were people who believed that CUCVs were superior to HMMWVs (I was one of those kind of, I would much rather driver a Blazer on the highway than a HMMWV, but not offroad), but given the choice most folks are just as happy using the equipment they are trained on, and know the nuiances of.

Combat Drivers POS AKs thread


More evidence no gun is totally abuse proof.

Quoted: Um....being in the marine corps for beginners...having a shitload of friends and family that are still there,   Im tellin you, we/they, can/will/do carry AK's With that being said, i dont personally know anyones "background" and am not going to argue who bullshits about what.   What i am going to tell you is this, i know for a fact that we/ they do carry AKs when given half a chance, do we actually "shitcan our M4's", well, no, if we arent able to account for them were in deep shit, but when we can we carry aks.

So you're in recon I take it?

Quoted: Quoted: Combat Drivers POS AKs thread More evidence no gun is totally abuse proof. Heresy! The AK is incapable of jamming! It never needs to be cleaned!

Whats that damn SF guy in Iraq know anyway?

Quoted: Dude, the smiley meant "joke"

Im joking back you dork