Thread: Two question about military and gun options

No and no.

What if you wanted to carry a personally owned M9 instead of the issued M9? Not really sure why'd you want to, but it's a curiousity.

Also, what about personally owned accessories/optics? I remember you saying some of the guys in your battalion had personally owned EoTechs they had on their M4s.

No personally-owned firearms are permitted in theater. This includes civilian copies of military weapons. Some secret squirrel units may have received exemptions from CENTCOM, but I never saw any.

Lots of guys bring privately-owned optics, weaponlights, lasers, etc. This is generally not a problem, as long as the soldier isn't making major modifications to a weapons system.

Is it a problem for guys to order stuff for their weapons while they're deployed?

Mike, I read somewhere that a lot of guys were buying their own body armor because they didn't feel the issued stuff was adequate; but the Army is now saying that if they get injured wearing their own stuff they may not be entitled to benefits. Do you know if there's any truth to that?

Most likely not while on duty. You are issued weapons as needed by the supply sergeant or armorer.

Now, that does not mean you cannot OWN your own guns while in the military, and those weapons CAN be carried by off-duty officers stateside (especially now that concealed carry by military, police and retired servicemen/officers is allowed at the federal level). But, like Mike said, no personally-owned weapons in-theater. Mother Green provides everything her killing machine needs to do the job.

Originally Posted by fivehourfrenzy

Is it a problem for guys to order stuff for their weapons while they're deployed?

Not usually; you specify an APO or FPO to ship to, and if that location is in-theater UPS just hands off to the USAF who fly it in with the rest of the mail and supplies for that base. You're just not going to get second-day air shipping by any means.

Originally Posted by fivehourfrenzy

Is it a problem for guys to order stuff for their weapons while they're deployed?

Not as long as the company you're ordering from is willing to ship to an APO/FPO address. Getting gun parts and magazines back to the US through Customs is tough, though. You pretty much have to hand-carry any gun parts back.

Originally Posted by Todd

Mike, I read somewhere that a lot of guys were buying their own body armor because they didn't feel the issued stuff was adequate; but the Army is now saying that if they get injured wearing their own stuff they may not be entitled to benefits. Do you know if there's any truth to that?

There was a fad with some guys buying the Dragonskin armor. In the early days of the Iraq war, there wasn't enough body armor to go around. Families were buying body armor to send to their relatives in theater. That changed pretty quickly. We're now on the second generation of "armor for everyone," with the IOTV supplanting the earlier IBA.

Our supply room had boxes full of Second Chance Hardcorps armor just gathering dust. We only issued it to Afghan interpreters.

I suspect that the Army made the threats about the use of privately-owned armor to scare guys into wearing their issued armor. I doubt benefits would actually be denied, though they could be. But since suicides are often covered up as negligent discharges or combat deaths so that families still receive benefits, I am pretty sure "someone" would make sure that the Big Army's beancounters didn't know about a KIA wearing privately-owned armor.

Originally Posted by Mike Barham

No and no.

O and K.