Army guns
Caught a TiVoed The Daily Show yesterday. They were doing this section on Iraq when they cut to some video coverage of the troops. They showed a US infantryman who was carrying an AK-47 and not the military issued M16. They then cut to another guy descending some stairs and he had an AK-47 as well. Neither guy appeared to be special forces, so I was wondering if that was allowed under military policy. Anyone know?
June 9th, 2005 at 9:41 am
Are you sure they were US soldiers and not Iraqi army/police forces?
June 9th, 2005 at 10:24 am
A buddy’s unit was allowed to use non standard weapons because they were training ING. The argument was “commonality of arms”. Of course, right as my buddy was going to be issued a P99, the Bde CSM had it all revoked. Long way of saying that it is possible.
June 9th, 2005 at 1:15 pm
There’s a pretty longstanding military tradition of picking up enemy weapons. If it’s illegal under some convention, I’d be surprised.
June 9th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
Actually, when I was over there training the new Iraqi Army, we were allowed to carry either if we wanted. One reason is the avaialability of ammo and spare parts. Also, since the US Army didnt issue us M9s, we carried the Walther P99 that the Iraqi’s had.
June 9th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Thanks Draco. Both for your comment and service.
June 9th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
I don’t know about acceptable, but I bet it’s more common than you think.