In another thread I made a comment about taking some ammo to Desert Storm. So as to not go off topic there I will post here. I will tell you about my observations about firearms during my short time in service. I was in a U.S. Army aviation unit, 1987 to 1991.
Soldiers who lived in the barracks were not allowed personal firearms in their room. They could keep them in the Arms Room. Not sure how that was supposed to work, if you wanted to shoot on the weekend there was no one to open the arms room. One guy had his magnum found during an inspection. I think it was a super Redhawk. Story was he had two speed loaders. One had different names written on the cartridges. The other had the Squadron Commander's name written on all six rounds.
All soldiers on or off post had to register their firearms with an office on post, could have been provost marshal. Since the road to the rod and gun club went through the base I registered all my guns. I didn't like it but didn't want to get kicked out or sent to jail either.
Most in the unit of about 35 to 40 were issued the S&W model 10, 4 inch.
Only four were issued rifles. Latter we got issued brand new Berettas.
When we deployed in 1990 to Desert Shield we had one rifle not assigned to anyone. Since one of my additional duties was to assign weapons to our troop I assigned a M-16A1 to myself. It caused a problem at first because people were questioning it, I said we are short one Plt. Sgt., who do you want me to give it to? They never asked about it again. Being a gun person it sounded like a crazy idea to go to war with only a handgun.
Having a general idea of how the military operated I took a box of Silver Tip hollow points for my issued 9mm pistol. A huge violation for sure but I thought about how the military operates and took it anyway. I wanted to bring my silencer but chickened out.
When we boarded the commercial plane for the ride to Saudi I had inventoried to pallet of ammo that was going with us. It was ammo that would get us started once we landed. We actually has some cases of .45ACP that was made by IMI. I know some tankers in the Regiment had M-3 grease guns and maybe some 1911s but no one in my Squadron had a .45 that I knew of.
I don't remember when we got our ammo but I got 30rds for the M-16 and 15 for the 9mm. I remember not feeling very safe living at the docks for 2 weeks. A civilian fuel tanker truck parked alongside the building one day and more than a few got real nervous.
I had a harris bipod and scope on my M-16. I also purchased my own level 3A body armor with level 3 plate. The issued armor was the old flack jacket that would not stop bullets. I only wore my armor when flying mostly.
Personal firearms were a big no no. Some people had brought them over and some had NDs. This caused a lot of concern among the command. You may ask why were NDs a problem with personal weapons but not issue weapons. Well I viewed it as a matter of control, the command could take away guns or ammo if it was issued but they did not know who had personal guns. I believe the command was terrified of getting shot.
Most people over there had never been to war before, tempers were short, soldiers were nervous and scared of the unknown. Ever week it seemed they would announce that if you brought your personal gun you could turn it in and not get in trouble. We heard stories of some Air Force pilots that bought Glock 19s and were able to fly with them, I was jealous.
We arrived in October not knowing when things would kickoff. We moved out to the desert and I still only had 30rds for my rifle. We were still in Saudi but thought it was ridiculous we didn't have more ammo. After about two months. I pulled guard duty with only 30rds a few times. Seemed stupid to me. I finally got more because I kept asking. I think they gave me 90 more for the rifle, all red tip tracers. When our camp moved at the end of December to a spot closer to the boarder I got about another 300rds for the rifle, again all tracer.
During the months of Oct, Nov, Dec. we had our ammo taken away at least once and our guns taken away two or more times. I don't remember why but I think it had to do with the nervousness of the higher command. When they took the ammo away I was glad I had brought 50rds of my own. We would see people driving around the desert in non military vehicles. We didn't know who they were, they could have been a raiding force for all we knew. When they took away the bullets they made us carry our guns. I asked why and was told that the people we would encounter would not know that the guns were unloaded. That's military logic for you.
At this time all the holsters on the flight vests had crappy thin nylon holsters sewed that were made for the revolvers. They did not fit the 9mms very well. Many people bought holsters before being deployed.
I had a home made belt I used with a drop leg extender for the issued belt holster. I latter changed to a commercial made copy of the tanker holster . Some others just took the strap from the 2qt. canteen and hooked it to the belt holster and slug it over their shoulder. It never quite sat right. We had one guy that had a custom leather shoulder rig that looked like it came from Miami Vice. Lots of guys wanted it if he died.
One day we came across an abandon Iraqi base and test fired our guns and some enemy AKMs we found. My Beretta had many failures to feed with issued ball and my Silver Tips. Very weird as the gun had been flawless at the range trips prior. My scope on my M-16 was so far off that at 50 to 100 yds I could not tell where it was hitting. The scope had an exposed elevation turrent. I had lent the rifle out to others while they pulled guard duty. I guess they may have played around with it and turned it a complete revolution, because it was still on the 0 mark. Before we left the states I had zeroed it at 100yds. It is a good thing I never had to shoot at anyone. I had a see threw scope mount but I don't think I ever zeroed them. If I had to I bet they would have been closer than the scope.
One day our First Sgt. gave me a box of 20rd M-16 magazines, brand new, I think it was from Vietnam time period. I can tell you the stories of only loading 18rds are true. I loaded 20 and the bolt would not strip the top two rounds. Some things you have to learn the hard way.
Eventually the Army decided to issue rifles to pilots, a friend of mine while flying in Afghanistan had a M-4 with ACOG scope.
Soldiers who lived in the barracks were not allowed personal firearms in their room. They could keep them in the Arms Room. Not sure how that was supposed to work, if you wanted to shoot on the weekend there was no one to open the arms room. One guy had his magnum found during an inspection. I think it was a super Redhawk. Story was he had two speed loaders. One had different names written on the cartridges. The other had the Squadron Commander's name written on all six rounds.
All soldiers on or off post had to register their firearms with an office on post, could have been provost marshal. Since the road to the rod and gun club went through the base I registered all my guns. I didn't like it but didn't want to get kicked out or sent to jail either.
Most in the unit of about 35 to 40 were issued the S&W model 10, 4 inch.
Only four were issued rifles. Latter we got issued brand new Berettas.
When we deployed in 1990 to Desert Shield we had one rifle not assigned to anyone. Since one of my additional duties was to assign weapons to our troop I assigned a M-16A1 to myself. It caused a problem at first because people were questioning it, I said we are short one Plt. Sgt., who do you want me to give it to? They never asked about it again. Being a gun person it sounded like a crazy idea to go to war with only a handgun.
Having a general idea of how the military operated I took a box of Silver Tip hollow points for my issued 9mm pistol. A huge violation for sure but I thought about how the military operates and took it anyway. I wanted to bring my silencer but chickened out.
When we boarded the commercial plane for the ride to Saudi I had inventoried to pallet of ammo that was going with us. It was ammo that would get us started once we landed. We actually has some cases of .45ACP that was made by IMI. I know some tankers in the Regiment had M-3 grease guns and maybe some 1911s but no one in my Squadron had a .45 that I knew of.
I don't remember when we got our ammo but I got 30rds for the M-16 and 15 for the 9mm. I remember not feeling very safe living at the docks for 2 weeks. A civilian fuel tanker truck parked alongside the building one day and more than a few got real nervous.
I had a harris bipod and scope on my M-16. I also purchased my own level 3A body armor with level 3 plate. The issued armor was the old flack jacket that would not stop bullets. I only wore my armor when flying mostly.
Personal firearms were a big no no. Some people had brought them over and some had NDs. This caused a lot of concern among the command. You may ask why were NDs a problem with personal weapons but not issue weapons. Well I viewed it as a matter of control, the command could take away guns or ammo if it was issued but they did not know who had personal guns. I believe the command was terrified of getting shot.
Most people over there had never been to war before, tempers were short, soldiers were nervous and scared of the unknown. Ever week it seemed they would announce that if you brought your personal gun you could turn it in and not get in trouble. We heard stories of some Air Force pilots that bought Glock 19s and were able to fly with them, I was jealous.
We arrived in October not knowing when things would kickoff. We moved out to the desert and I still only had 30rds for my rifle. We were still in Saudi but thought it was ridiculous we didn't have more ammo. After about two months. I pulled guard duty with only 30rds a few times. Seemed stupid to me. I finally got more because I kept asking. I think they gave me 90 more for the rifle, all red tip tracers. When our camp moved at the end of December to a spot closer to the boarder I got about another 300rds for the rifle, again all tracer.
During the months of Oct, Nov, Dec. we had our ammo taken away at least once and our guns taken away two or more times. I don't remember why but I think it had to do with the nervousness of the higher command. When they took the ammo away I was glad I had brought 50rds of my own. We would see people driving around the desert in non military vehicles. We didn't know who they were, they could have been a raiding force for all we knew. When they took away the bullets they made us carry our guns. I asked why and was told that the people we would encounter would not know that the guns were unloaded. That's military logic for you.
At this time all the holsters on the flight vests had crappy thin nylon holsters sewed that were made for the revolvers. They did not fit the 9mms very well. Many people bought holsters before being deployed.
I had a home made belt I used with a drop leg extender for the issued belt holster. I latter changed to a commercial made copy of the tanker holster . Some others just took the strap from the 2qt. canteen and hooked it to the belt holster and slug it over their shoulder. It never quite sat right. We had one guy that had a custom leather shoulder rig that looked like it came from Miami Vice. Lots of guys wanted it if he died.
One day we came across an abandon Iraqi base and test fired our guns and some enemy AKMs we found. My Beretta had many failures to feed with issued ball and my Silver Tips. Very weird as the gun had been flawless at the range trips prior. My scope on my M-16 was so far off that at 50 to 100 yds I could not tell where it was hitting. The scope had an exposed elevation turrent. I had lent the rifle out to others while they pulled guard duty. I guess they may have played around with it and turned it a complete revolution, because it was still on the 0 mark. Before we left the states I had zeroed it at 100yds. It is a good thing I never had to shoot at anyone. I had a see threw scope mount but I don't think I ever zeroed them. If I had to I bet they would have been closer than the scope.
One day our First Sgt. gave me a box of 20rd M-16 magazines, brand new, I think it was from Vietnam time period. I can tell you the stories of only loading 18rds are true. I loaded 20 and the bolt would not strip the top two rounds. Some things you have to learn the hard way.
Eventually the Army decided to issue rifles to pilots, a friend of mine while flying in Afghanistan had a M-4 with ACOG scope.
Attachments
Last edited:
