Personally Owned Weapons

[96USArmy]

Does anyone know why soldiers cannot take personally owned weapons on deployment? I mean a sidearm, not something outrageous. I know the army cannot provide M9s for every soldier that could really use one, in fact the medics in our battalion don't even have M9s, they will be deploying with M4s. I just don't really understand why I couldnt take my own sidearm if I wanted to.

[Sammy Sandbag]

I haven't ever found an AR that covers this, but I believe it is a command decision. I've heard of soldiers being allowed to carry POWs in the past, but I don't know what the current situation is. Your predeployment briefs might cover this, if not, ask.

[96USArmy]

I don't know for sure, but all I have ever heard is NO. And rumor is that even if you did sneak one over, you couldnt bring it back through customs. I didnt know military had to go back through customs when we came back. Havent heard anything in predeployment briefs either.

[Ezmartini]

Military does go through Customs, but apparently it's not a thorough check. A buddy of mine said they just make you dump everything out of your ruck, and you could conceivably put something in a bag inside your ruck and they would never care to open it.

[CrazyasaFox]

I've heard of something different but maybe this was a long time ago.. but if you brought a sidearm, it would have to go into the armory. Which means that anyone could sign it out..

Maybe this is the late night + alcohol talking but I remember hearing this before. I didn't like the fact someone could sign for my personal weapon.

[Associate289]

no

[96USArmy]

I think what you are talking about is that if you are a barracks soldier, you have to keep your weapon in the company arms room. This is true, at least the companies I have been in, but I really doubt that just anyone could check out your weapon.

[Wes]

You are not allowed to have a personal weapon for a few reasons:

The Army likes to account for rounds.
If your weapon fucks up then you're SOL.
The Army doesn't trust you.
It is against General Order 1A

[armynurseboy]

You are not allowed to have a personal weapon for a few reasons:

The Army likes to account for rounds.
If your weapon fucks up then you're SOL.
The Army doesn't trust you.
It is against General Order 1A

Plus civilian firearms are not necessarily chambered for military rounds so you might not be able to get supplied. And if you bring your own ammo, there is no check to make sure you are not bringing in illegal type rounds.

And customs varies between debarkation points. We did a dumpout of our bags going into the belly of the plane and ANOTHER dumpout of our carryon shit. Anyone caught trying to smuggle stuff (like drugs, cigars, weapons) not only got into serious trouble, YOU DIDN'T GET TO TO GO HOME (which IMHO was the worst punishment).

As far as what medics carry, 9 times out of 10 they will tell you they'd rather have an M-4 over a M-9 any day. If I have to shoot my weapon, I want something that has a bit more punch than a 9mm.....

[96USArmy]

The way our medics made it sound was that medics arent supposed to carry rifles... But maybe that varies. And I may be thinking of a different general order... cuz I dont see what guarding your post has to do with personally owned weapons lol.

[Wes]

You're icon shows MI....


General Order 1A

Deployment General Orders = Different than your 3 General Orders.

General Order 1 prohibts porn, alcohol, etc... in AO

[96USArmy]

And since when does MI make sense? Come on now.... But thanks for clearing that up.

[armynurseboy]

The way our medics made it sound was that medics arent supposed to carry rifles....

They need to reread the Geneva convention. Medical personnel are allowed to carry weapons for self defense and defense of their patients up to and including the M-16. An M-16/M-4 is primarily a point target weapon, so that meets the criteria as a self defense weapon. You can't arm him with a SAW or a M-203. Also, medical personnel aren't supposed to pull security outside of their aid station/hospital. All of my medics carried M-16s (although we would have much preferred M-4s).

[CrazyasaFox]

Well.. its a lot better than the days of old and only being able to defend yourself with harsh language.