Carrying Personal Weapons in Military

[Whistlebritches]

Originally Posted by Dfariswheel

According to best info on the recent Sand Wars, special ops people usually are allowed to carry a personal purchase handgun, but NOT rifle.
Attitude seems to be that if you're a Special Forces or SEAL you have enough sense to be trusted with a personal handgun and the concern is that you be effective as possible and if that takes a personal handgun, so be it.

All other troops are banned from bringing personal weapons.
Other troops have managed to take personal handguns TO the theater of operations, but it's almost impossible to bring it back.
Since security GOING is not as tight, personal handguns have been taken.
Often the gun is sold or given to another soldier when it's time to return home.

Coming home the military is VERY down on smuggled arms, explosives, drugs and other souvenirs and do diligent searches of gear to insure nothing banned is attempted to be brought home.

Some people who managed to bring home personal or enemy weapons were people coming home with trucks, armor, and heavy equipment.
In that kind of large gear it's easy to find hiding places, and some units were not effective at searching it.

There were several cases of special ops and standard troops caught attempting to smuggle full-auto arms home.
I seem to remember a couple of SEAL's caught with AK-47 rifles, one some time after returning home and attempting to sell one.

From what I've read, personal knives were permitted going and coming home.
Some units going so far as to make group purchases of knives, especially the more useful folding type knives, and at least one unit buying commercial folder knives and issuing them to the troops.

As an example of what happens when personal arms are allowed........
When things were hot in Iraq and Afghanistan there was a directive came down banning all M16 magazines except official issue aluminum mags.
People were bringing all kinds of crap and "trick" mags that were substandard and often failed in combat.
This jeopardized lives and missions, so the order banning everything except USGI aluminum.

As soon as all the commercial crap was purged, the Mag-Pul was re-authorized but you had to buy them yourself.
After that, only USGI issue aluminum and private purchase Mag-Pul was allowed.

Absolute no-no.......US Navy Special Warfare(SWWC).Damn good way to get up close and personal with an Admiral.

[Rob228]

"The Best Info" is incorrect. Dfariswheel might want to try a source other than wikipedia.