What is the United States Army's policy about carrying personally owned sidearms on duty or into battle?

Question

For instance, could a GI enlist and carry, say, his grandfather's revolver in leiu of a standard issue 9mm?

Answer 1

The applicable regs (and I pored over reams and reams of them with other members of my infantry company before OIF kickoff in 2003) state that you can carry a POW (personally owned weapon) so long as the first O-3 (Company Commander) in your Chain of Command approves it. In practice, this will NEVER happen. A weapon that fires nonstandard ammunition (i.e. .44 Mag) will NEVER be approved under any circumstances.

Never mind that the vast, vast majority of enlisted duty positions do NOT permit the carrying of sidearms; sidearms have been an officer prerogative since time immemorial. If you manage to somehow sneak a sidearm into country, consider the following:

(1) If you are caught with it, you will have it confiscated and you will be UCMJ'd. Your Chain of Command will likely consider you to carry it for the sole reason of using it as a "throwaway" weapon to plant on local nationals you may unjustly murder, never mind your blatant disregard for various Memorandums in effect.

(2) If it fires nonstandard ammunition (i.e. JHP) your local JAG officer will happily prosecute you for violating the Laws of Land Warfare.

(3) Bottom line, Customs will NEVER let you return home with it. Right after Gulf 1 ended, a lot of POW rifles ended up left in Saudi because they could not be shipped back to the United States.

So if you really, really feel like throwing your life away or losing an heirloom, take it into country.

Answer 2

the policy is that you only can use your issued weapon. some of took over 9mm as our "just in case" weapon.
bringing it home is a risk because they have been hemming people up for that, but customs in kuwait is a joke so anyone could sneak their personal weapon back home.
when we came home last novemeber, i had given my 9mm to a guy who was replacing us because i had believed the rumors about customs being tough.

personal opinion, i dont know what why you'd want grandaddy's revolver over there. even as a good luck charm it would be just another thing to haul all over.
also, 9mm arent issued to everyone, i cant speak for other brigades, but in our company, only the medics and a few guys who sat in the TOC had them. actually, the medics didnt have them after a few months because E7s and E8s didnt like carrying their M4s all over the FOB. well, thats a whole other story

Answer 3

SOME units DO allow personal sidearms, at the commander's discretion, but it's uncommon.

Finding ammunition and maintenance for is a major problem - That's why the military uses standards. Everyone uses the same bullets for the same weapons and the same Techs fix the same weapons.

If I get deployed, I'm hoping to be allowed to carry my Kimber .45ACP rather than that useless M9 Beretta, for sure...That thing is more useful as a club than as a pistol. But I'd put the odds of that being allowed at somewhere between "When He!! freezes over' and 'sure on the sixth Thursday of each month.', especially in the unit I'm heading to. :-)

Orion

Answer 4

Absolutely not under any circumstances. The only personal weapon you can carry is a sheath knife; as for firearms, you MUST carry and use what the Army issues you. You're not even supposed to use captured enemy weapons without command approval.

Answer 5

Depends on the command....some allow it You can alter your issued weapon as long as it is returned to issue satus. Meaning, you can add lights, sights, slings, etc
When I was in, I carried my own shotgun ( Winchester 1200 & 38 special )

Answer 6

Sure if your SF, otherwise heck No! One can get into a lot of trouble doing that.

Answer 7

This is absolutely forbidden by US Army regulation.

Answer 8

That's a No No! See: strategypages.com

Answer 9

lol, no you cant do that