May 20, 2005

Officer sentenced to prison,
dismissal in war-booty case

By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — A military judge sentenced an Air Force officer to one year in prison and dismissed him from service Friday for illegally shipping a small arsenal of automatic weapons and hundreds of other war souvenirs home from Iraq.

Maj. Gregory McMillion showed no emotion as Col. Ronald Gregory imposed the sentence in this judge-only court-martial. Afterward, McMillion and a group of supporters formed a circle and said a prayer. He was taken into custody before reporters could ask him questions.

The 44-year-old McMillion had faced anything from no penalty to loss of rank, pay and benefits, a discharge and a maximum prison term of eight years. Maj. Gen. Robert W. Chedister, commander of the base’s air armament center, could reduce the sentence when he reviews the case.

Gregory found McMillion guilty Thursday of violating an order against taking, retaining, storing and transporting war trophies for nonofficial purposes.

The judge also convicted the maintenance officer on charges of failing to turn over captured or abandoned property and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was acquitted on a charge of making false statements.

McMillion, who once served in the Army, is a gun and military paraphernalia enthusiast who tried to use his deployment to stock his personal collection, prosecutors contended.

McMillion’s booty included 29 Romanian, East German, Hungarian and Iraqi automatic rifles, a Chinese machine gun, four antique rifles, six rocket-propelled grenade launchers and dozens of magazines, scopes and sights.

There also were several dummy land mines and grenades, 1,183 Iraqi army berets, more than 600 pairs of socks and eight full uniforms.

Other items included a statue looted from an Iraqi museum, 253 bayonets, two anti-aircraft gun seats, several empty artillery shells, an Iraqi helmet, a ledger with Arabic writing, a pistol and a flare gun.

McMillion’s attorney had contended that his client had made a “honest mistake” because he and others didn’t understand the rules governing war souvenirs.






May 19, 2005

Officer: War booty shipment was ‘honest mistake’  

By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. —An Air Force officer made an “honest mistake” in shipping home from Iraq enough foreign-made automatic weapons for an Army platoon, along with hundreds of other illegal war souvenirs, his lawyers argued at his court-martial Wednesday.

They said Maj. Gregory McMillion and many other troops, including his commanding officer, misunderstood a standing order against personal use of captured or abandoned property in 2003. Troops in Iraq commonly displayed war booty in the early days of the conflict, they argued.

“No one is understanding this is a violation,” said Capt. Brooke Schmidly. “Why? Because it’s everywhere. ... They are not sitting around reading three-page general orders.”

A prosecutor, however, contended McMillion, 44, who once also served in the Army, is a gun and military paraphernalia enthusiast who tried to use his deployment to stock his personal collection.

“He did not have authority for anything in this room, period,” said Capt. Heather Lengel. “He got it from his Army bubbas. ... He abused his position as a maintenance officer.”

Lengel cited the sheer volume of the booty stacked in the courtroom including 29 Romanian, East German, Hungarian and Iraqi automatic rifles, a Chinese machine gun, four antique rifles, six rocket-propelled grenade launchers and dozens of magazines, scopes and sights.

There also were several dummy land mines and grenades, 1,183 Iraqi army berets, more than 600 pairs of socks and eight full uniforms.

Other items included a statue looted from an Iraqi museum, 253 bayonets, two anti-aircraft gun seats, several empty artillery shells, an Iraqi helmet, a ledger with Arabic writing, a pistol and a flare gun.

Col. Ronald Gregory, who is presiding at the judge-only court-martial, did not immediately hand down a verdict after hearing closing arguments. The trial, which began last week, will continue Thursday at this Florida Panhandle base.

McMillion was not charged with stealing the statue. Schmidly said he had no way of knowing it had been stolen.

He is charged, however, with violating the no-souvenirs order, making false statements, failing to report and turn over captured or abandoned property and conduct unbecoming and officer. If convicted he could face anything from no penalty to loss of rank, pay and benefits, a discharge and prison.

McMillion admitted to investigators that he had most of the items shipped to Eglin in crates of equipment being returned to the base a couple months before his unit, the 728th Air Control Squadron, returned from its deployment to Baghdad International Airport.

He consistently has denied being responsible, however, for shipping receivers for the automatic weapons, which were taken apart and shipped in pieces. Such guns are illegal under any circumstances, but without the receivers they are not considered weapons under federal law, Schmidly said.

She suggested that other troops placed the receivers in the crates without McMillion’s knowledge.

Schmidly denied McMillion brought the material back for personal use. She said he intended to use the weapons and bayonets to make plaques and awards for squadron members, give away the berets and uniforms to other troops and use some items as training aids or donate them to a museum.

Sorry, but a truckload of stuff isn't a "mistake".  An Iraqi beret (qty:1) would have been a mistake.

Quoted: Sorry, but a truckload of stuff isn't a "mistake".  An Iraqi beret (qty:1) would have been a mistake.

+1.

MAYBE a gold-inlayed hi-power could be an 'oops', but the 6 RPG's kinda stretches 'honest mistake'......

Didn't a couple nuts send back a few 'boxes' like this at Elgin and get busted awhile back?

I mean a ton of shit.......anyone remember?

Dang, I'm not against bringing home a trophy Kalashnikov or SKS, but DANG!

Ben

Quoted: Didn't a couple nuts send back a few 'boxes' like this at Elgin and get busted awhile back? I mean a ton of shit.......anyone remember?

Yeah...RPGs, anti-tank mines. I'll dig up the pictures if I can find them here in a minute.

Ben

Yeah, someone else must have put some of the stuff in them boxes.  I only brought back SOME of the war booty.

I understand the rifles and all, but why 600 pairs of socks?

I brought back a (for a lack of correct termanology)sp?, rag head decor and cord, an Iraqi canteen and helmet (only one hole) and a book out of a bunker all in Arabic.....about 99.999999% as there are a few pages with some english text and oddly enough its words loosely ganged together like "United States" yada yada "Satan" yada yada yada "Evil Infidels" yada yada".  No shit I'll try and dig it up later.  I have no idea WTF the book is or what it is about but it was pretty freaky fast flippin thru the pages and the only text readable was like above.

Quoted: Didn't a couple nuts send back a few 'boxes' like this at Elgin and get busted awhile back? I mean a ton of shit.......anyone remember?

You might want to read the aricle that KA3B posted.

Quoted: I understand the rifles and all, but why 600 pairs of socks?

The man likes socks, guve him a break

Quoted: I brought back a (for a lack of correct termanology)sp?, rag head decor and cord, an Iraqi canteen and helmet (only one hole) and a book out of a bunker all in Arabic.....about 99.999999% as there are a few pages with some english text and oddly enough its words loosely ganged together like "United States" yada yada "Satan" yada yada yada "Evil Infidels" yada yada".  No shit I'll try and dig it up later.  I have no idea WTF the book is or what it is about but it was pretty freaky fast flippin thru the pages and the only text readable was like above.

We had a party at my house (germany) after gulf war 1 and all my dad's friends (af pilots and forward air controllers) had their loot on display....all i can remember is uniforms though (helmets, tanker helmets, etc)

There were some army guys busted for hiding AK pieces all over their humvee (receiver in the engine, barrel taped under the bumper...stuff like that.) (from gw2)

Quoted: Quoted: Didn't a couple nuts send back a few 'boxes' like this at Elgin and get busted awhile back? I mean a ton of shit.......anyone remember? You might want to read the aricle that KA3B posted.

NO,  I think this was a couple conex boxes full of basically a Friggen Armory.  Either Conex or large wooden equipment crates (a couple/few I think) and this happened a couple years back.  They had more stuff than this guy did.

Quoted: Quoted: I brought back a (for a lack of correct termanology)sp?, rag head decor and cord, an Iraqi canteen and helmet (only one hole) and a book out of a bunker all in Arabic.....about 99.999999% as there are a few pages with some english text and oddly enough its words loosely ganged together like "United States" yada yada "Satan" yada yada yada "Evil Infidels" yada yada".  No shit I'll try and dig it up later.  I have no idea WTF the book is or what it is about but it was pretty freaky fast flippin thru the pages and the only text readable was like above. We had a party at my house (germany) after gulf war 1 and all my dad's friends (af pilots and forward air controllers) had their loot on display....all i can remember is uniforms though (helmets, tanker helmets, etc) There were some army guys busted for hiding AK pieces all over their humvee (receiver in the engine, barrel taped under the bumper...stuff like that.) (from gw2)

We were warned (and ready to come home) and threatened with Legal Hold if it came up.  So we only took stuff we knew we could get back.  And they made us dump our bags on the Tarmac.  Apparently some goobers ahead of us had alot of stupid ass crap like, ordnance, rounds, weapons, ears (no I didn't fucking make a typo....fucking ears) etc etc.  When it was time to come home we weren't fucking around.  Not only was the legal threat enough....I would bet if missed our flight window because some ass wanted booty...we would have beat his ass an inch from his death.

BTW, just joking on the "only one hole" thing.  

Damn so no Iraqi AK's in the EE anytime soon?

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Didn't a couple nuts send back a few 'boxes' like this at Elgin and get busted awhile back? I mean a ton of shit.......anyone remember? You might want to read the aricle that KA3B posted. NO,  I think this was a couple conex boxes full of basically a Friggen Armory.  Either Conex or large wooden equipment crates (a couple/few I think) and this happened a couple years back.  They had more stuff than this guy did.

This is the Eglin bust that you are thinking about.

am I the only one who thinks this is a damned shame?  Damned shame they found it........

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Didn't a couple nuts send back a few 'boxes' like this at Elgin and get busted awhile back? I mean a ton of shit.......anyone remember? You might want to read the aricle that KA3B posted. NO,  I think this was a couple conex boxes full of basically a Friggen Armory.  Either Conex or large wooden equipment crates (a couple/few I think) and this happened a couple years back.  They had more stuff than this guy did. This is the Eglin bust that you are thinking about.

So they are finally getting to it?  Man I didn't know they had a backlog that large?
I thought they'd have fried this MF'r a longggggggggggggg time ago.
Still think he's got it coming .

Sure.......who hasn't fucked up like that?

Bump for the update

Quoted: am I the only one who thinks this is a damned shame?  Damned shame they found it........

This dipshit went above and beyond taking a war trophy.  Farking RPG's and mines?   Not familiar with Italian mines are you, IIRC he had a Valmara 69 bounding mine - that mine is a motherfucker

Christ, had a serious case of BRD

Quoted: This dipshit went above and beyond taking a war trophy.  Farking RPG's and mines?   Not familiar with Italian mines are you, IIRC he had a Valmara 69 bounding mine - that mine is a motherfucker

Yeah, I wouldn't have had a problem if it hadn't been for the DD's.

He put everybody who touched those boxes from Iraq to Eglin at risk.

Quoted: Quoted: This dipshit went above and beyond taking a war trophy.  Farking RPG's and mines?   Not familiar with Italian mines are you, IIRC he had a Valmara 69 bounding mine - that mine is a motherfucker Yeah, I wouldn't have had a problem if it hadn't been for the DD's. He put everybody who touched those boxes from Iraq to Eglin at risk.

I assume they were flown in, any one of those mines or RPG's was more than capable of taking down the cargo aircraft with its crew.  God only knows how well these pieces of Ordnance were stored and their condition.

Quoted: Have you priced out good socks lately?     If I ran the zoo,  I'd dismiss all charges and let him open a museum if he wanted to. But then again, I'm a radical who believes that all gun laws are unconstitutional and  "no war trophies" rules are absurd and counter to longstanding tradition, too.

It used to be quite traditional to hang looters on the spot.
I think he got off easy.

Quoted: May 20, 2005 Officer sentenced to prison, dismissal in war-booty case By Bill Kaczor Associated Press EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — Other items included a statue looted from an Iraqi museum, 253 bayonets, two anti-aircraft gun seats, several empty artillery shells, an Iraqi helmet, a ledger with Arabic writing, a pistol and a flare gun. May 19, 2005

I don't have a problem with souvenirs. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere.

How did all this stuff get in my pocket.

This guy was bringing home 4 RPG's and only got a year, he should be happy.  Is it possible for him to be prosecuted in Civilian court too?????  29 Kalashnikovs thats 25 new MG's that wont be for sale after immunity/amnesty period is granted for registering war trophys like it is said their will be.  This guy could have had a retirement fund off the AK's $12,000 X 25-29= $300,000+

He makes the Chisler from Kellys Heros look like an amatuer.

what a dummy, why didn't he just strip out the receivers and smuggle them instead of the full rifles? that's what the smart ones are doing, then building up with parts kits and selling for 2k canadian north of the border.

I'm a military officer too (yeah yeah), and you never use ignorance as an excuse in the military, especially as a leader.

I remember from our ethics lesson during training (and this was a few years ago mind you) that they mentioned something along the lines of taking home military artifacts, especially artifacts that were/are weapons!  When in doubt, ask a lawyer.  There are plenty in the sandbox right now, so he shouldn't have had any trouble finding one.

Is it just me, or do people love playing the excuse "I didn't know any better!"  Just admit it when you're wrong.

You all hear about the aircrew (one officer and one SNCO?) that brought back over 290,000 pills of ecstasy on a C-5 about two or three months ago?  hahaha

From Lumpy's 'photos for gun nuts' thread yesterday.

WooHoo, the LootWaffe strikes again...

Quoted: I'm a military officer too (yeah yeah), and you never use ignorance as an excuse in the military, especially as a leader. I remember from our ethics lesson during training (and this was a few years ago mind you) that they mentioned something along the lines of taking home military artifacts, especially artifacts that were/are weapons!  When in doubt, ask a lawyer.  There are plenty in the sandbox right now, so he shouldn't have had any trouble finding one. Is it just me, or do people love playing the excuse "I didn't know any better!"  Just admit it when you're wrong. You all hear about the ANGaircrew (one officer and one SNCO?) that brought back over 290,000 pills of ecstasy on a C-5 about two or three months ago?  hahaha

Fixed that for ya, active duty guys aren't usually quite so stupid.  Funny how most all of the guys at Abu Ghraib were reservists too...I still can't believe that Capt and MSgt though, how the hell do you get to be a company grade officer or SNCO (even in the guard) and still let your mind come up with that crap?

I hear Kansas is nice this time of year    Real touristy, Lots to do !

Quoted: Have you priced out good socks lately?     If I ran the zoo,  I'd dismiss all charges and let him open a museum if he wanted to. But then again, I'm a radical who believes that all gun laws are unconstitutional and  "no war trophies" rules are absurd and counter to longstanding tradition, too. All our troops should be permitted to keep whatever they find. (Not steal, FIND,  or accept as surrendered property.)  But subect to a few requirements:   1:  They must pay for the transportation and shipping of anything they take. 2:  They must declare everything, and it will all be inventoried, including photographs and notes on ID marks, serial numbers, etc.   3:  They must be able to carry what they take without any assistance, mechanical or otherwise. What they can't haul on their backs in one load, stays where it is until the next load or stays behind entirely. 4:  The serviceman may not leave his post or abandon or neglect his duties in any way while seeking to obtain war trophies.   (Or any other time, either, but just to be clear about it.) CJ

+1