choosing a s&w revolver for a green beret in iraq

[mg357]

dear smith and wesson forum im an amateur writer and im working a book about a green beret's tour of duty in the iraq war and im trying to decide on a smith and wesson revolver to arm him with as a weapon of last resort any and all help with this would be greatly appreciated sincerely and respectfully mg357 a proud member of the smith and wesson forum.

 

[10mmillie]

I would suggest either a 640 or 642 no lock on either.

 

[Pisgah]

M60 .357, given to him by his Dad, who was given HIS M60 .38 by HIS dad when he shipped out to Viet Nam (a real-life story line I am close to).

 

[Messer]

I thought you were writing a book about a 1880's Texas Ranger? (at least that's what you said on the Colt Forum)

You can't play both sides of the street!

I'd also vote for a model 640.

Take care,
Bob S.

 

[feralmerril]

How about a model 66 3"?

 

[Harrison]

First, you might want to check and see if he is even allowed to carry a personaly owned firearm. In today's modern politicaly correct military, I bet not. Now he might have a backup gun, and it may be non-standard issue, (being spec-ops and all), but I doubt if it would be a personally owned weapon. Secondly, he would probably be carrying a backup, in a caliber that he could easily get in country, like 9mm or 9 Mak.

 

[tguil]

dear smith and wesson forum im an amateur writer and im working a book about a green beret's tour of duty in the iraq war and im trying to decide on a smith and wesson revolver to arm him with as a weapon of last resort any and all help with this would be greatly appreciated sincerely and respectfully mg357 a proud member of the smith and wesson forum.

As an amateur writer, you might want to think about correct English usage, capitalization and punctuation before submitting your book for publication.

Oh,in Viet Nam my cousin carried a personal S&W 3 1/2 inch Model 27. But that was a long time ago. I have no idea of what is carried legally or not-so-legally in Iraq.

 

[Pisgah]

It was against the regs to carry a personal weapon at least as far back as WW2. Hasn't stopped thousands of GIs, though...

 

[safearm]

There were (are) no officially issued revolvers to US forces in Iraq or Afghanistan. There might have been some revolvers still issued during the first Gulf War (Desert Shield/Storm), but not during OEF/OIF. While some individuals may elect to carry personally owned weapons, they do so at their own peril. The powers that be are not very forgiving of this activity, especially after the debacle at Ft Hood.

 

[Torakan]

Well, I just got back last Aug from my, hopefully, last tour in Iraq. Spent a year up in Balad working for HQs JSOC. Every SF guy I worked with was issued a 1911 or Sig. If you want your book to be accurate, Operators dont use revolvers. They use pistols as a back up to their 1st Line weapon which is usually a M4, M14, or shotgun. Secondary use weapons are pistols. And they really are not called "Green Berets" that much any more, Special Operator would be a more accurate term.

 

[WC145]

............

 

[32sgteot]

From your posts on other forums, and lack of proper English verbage, I SAY YOU ARE SCREWING WITH PEOPLE.

 

[indiuckian]

the secret is the grips...

To match a green beret would be tough but I believe they make green laminate grips that would go really nice with that. I suggest a black floral pattern holster with a light green lining. Definatley wear outside the pants and with a short jacket as to show off your ensemble. I think it's great you are thinking this way. When you finish your script I suggest sending it to Bravo network and be sure and include a glossy of your outfit.

 

[Art Doc]

I am not making any accusations, just making a casual observation.

After 10 years on these firearm discussion forums I have noticed that at this time of the year, right about the time school is out for the summer, a number of new members will pop up asking fairly silly questions and I get the feeling they are bored teenagers who stumbled across the forums.

I would agree that the OP's first order of business should be classes in grammar and English composition.

If I were writing a novel about a soldier in Vietnam packing a handgun, I'd give him a WW II Victory Model in 38 Special as this would be a gun he would likely encounter.

A buddy who was in the 82nd in VN in the late 1960s says he traded a bottle of scotch for a Walther PPK in 380 and carried it for 11 months. He sold it to another GI as he was headed home.

 

[photoman]

I used to have dreams. Fighter pilot. Mystery writer. International man of mystery.

Woe be it unto me to spoil someones dreams...

The first thought that came to my mind was a Model 36.

 

[JJ_BPK]

dear smith and wesson forum im an amateur writer and im working a book about a green beret's tour of duty in the iraq war and im trying to decide on a smith and wesson revolver to arm him with as a weapon of last resort any and all help with this would be greatly appreciated sincerely and respectfully mg357 a proud member of the smith and wesson forum.

In addition to the above comments..

There are no green berets in the sand-box...

There are American Soldiers that are called Special Forces because they have earned an 18x series of MOS. Special Forces is a branch within the Army, much like the Artillery, Infantry, Engineers, and other REMF's.

They have special equipment for specific missions, all part of the Army supply chain. They are not Cowboys and do not go out and buy the latest toy-de-jour. They do have access to tools that may not be available to the other Branches, on an as-required bases..

Your lack of SA does not bode well for your selected career as a writer of FICTION.

Good Luck..

 

[murphydog]

mg357:

You sound to be a sincere person, and I'm guessing you are using a small device with an electronic keyboard (like an iPhone) that makes typing capital letters and punctuation bothersome. I'm sure that if you have aspirations as a writer that you will attend to details like these in your manuscripts.

Regarding your specific question - from your previous posts I gather you are trying to be detail-oriented and true to the history of the stories you are writing. I would guess, as some of the other posters mentioned, that in the modern US military it would be nearly impossible for anyone (special operations personnel included) to carry a personally-owned weapon of any kind. This may have been tolerated or tacitly allowed in the past, but not now. So, as far as the plot line of your proposed story, your reader would need to accept your character having an S & W revolver as a detail necessary to the rest of your story. Others would see this as impossible, and it would turn them off from treating the rest of your story as authentic, as hard as you try to do so.

Just a point to consider, and I wish you well in your writing.

 

[Combat_Diver]

I'll thru my two cents in here. I was in Iraq in 91, 03,04,05 & 06' with my old unit the 5th SFGA. While it is forbidden to bring your personnal weapons into theather there is some leeway depending how far out you are. Even at the flag pole this grumpy old E8 carried numberous foreign weapons (MP5s, FAL, MG3) besides my issued M4A1, M14 NM, M79, Mk 13, M107, M1911A1, M9 etc. During my years there I have aqcuired the following revolvers in Iraq. Smith M29, Colt Diamondbacks 2", Smith M10 2", Korth .357 with gold trim, Webleys MK IV, V & VIs, Enfield No 2s, Rossi 38 2". Have had ammo for all the guns at various times. (several thousand rds of .455). However never carried those, just used them as range toys.

The Iraqi people have a rich and deep firearms culture. They may now own one rifle and 60rds of ammo per house hold. Very few pistols are allowed and they have to have a permit for that. The most used rifle is the selectfire AK followed by the SKS and then Enfield rifles.

As far as "Green Berets" that is our issued headgear, never worn in country. Green Berets is an excepted name for us, even though our correct title is US Army Special Forces.

Here's me and my son at his first Regimental Formation known as "Donning of the Green Beret"

To answer your orginal question if a team member found a Smith 940 in 9mm it would be a nice inside the pocket carry to back up his other 3-6 guns.

CD
SF 83-08'

 

[1sgpierce]

I was a 38 year Special Forces veteran (18B, 18F, and 18Z). I served in Viet Nam, Just Cause and finally in Iraq (07) when I was medevaced and medically retired under protest. The most common S&W revolver in Viet Nam was either a J or K frame 38 of some kind. The only ones with revolvers in Iraq were the locals. Other than that, what Combat Diver said was pretty much on the money about personal weapons in today's modern "politically correct" army in Iraq.

 

[GatorFarmer]

It's also more dead weight to carry instead of something useful like more cookies, more water, some smokes, etc. Outside of the realm of fiction, a pocketful of scavenged MRE goodies is going to be the most common use of an extra pound or so of stuff carried.

A vet on another board was in the Marines in '03 in Iraq and somehow got away with carrying a Hi Power he found somewhere.

What the OP didn't specify was whether the character was acting in official capacity or not. There's plenty of Ex(fill in the blanks) serving as contractors. Usually one will see a Glock 19 and an M4 in that case, but it isn't beyong the realm of the possible for someone to have taken a small revolver with them. The State Department still had revolvers for issue under limited circumstances until recently, and CIA firearms training consisted of firing a few rounds from a Chief's Special (just to say that you had) for some years.