The title caught your eye didn't it? Yes my son is asking for a pellet gun. He is a 15-Tango just arrived in Iraq. Seems this is the time of year that pigeon-size birds like to move into the hangers. His Commanding Officer has suggested that a pellet gun would remedy the problem. Ever heard of this problem and is it feasible to ship a pellet gun to Iraq? His wife was deployed to Iraq twice prior to her recent discharge (for the birth of my first grandchild) and thinks if I do that I shouldn't make mention on any forms or the package itself as to what it really is. I'm not real comfortable with that so I'm asking you. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

I don't know, His mail might be X-rayed before it even gets to him, Especially a large package like that going to Iraq, Not good for you since an air rifle could be considered a firearm in some places. I wouldn't try it.

What about a wrist rocket? slingshot with 1/4" steel shot. may take some time to master accuracy but it's very affective. We had incidents with birds in the hangars and had fun eliminating them.

I am sure he could find some surgical tubing and build one over there.

Thanks guys, I asked the local post office and they drug out the rule book. According to them a pellet gun is considered a firearm and would require a FFL. They also suggested that I bring in his APO and they could check online to see if it is allowed. I don't think I will, it looks like a lost cause. I will check with UPS on the outside chance that they could do it. Otherwise, I have an old wrist rocket and ammo I could send. Thanks for the good idea. It sounds like the crew has plenty of downtime between Blackhawks to master it. The other night they were up on the barracks driving golf balls dipped in glow stick fluid, Fore! Thanks again from a proud father of two top notch kids in uniform.

Please, Do not send him any type of weapon over there.


Both items are a bad idea in a hangar. For one any weapon taken into country (or shipped for that matter) has to be left in country and can not be brought back. This is not really a big deal if you are talking about a wrist rocket of a pellet gun but there are still larger dangers that he or his commandaing officer are thinking about. 15T is a Blackhawk maintainer I hold this MOS along with Apache and Cobra. We have a thing called FOD (forgien objects and debris or damage) It may not seem like much, but a bb sucked into one of the engines will cause more than $100,000 in damage possibly even leaving the AC without enough power to remian in flight depending on weight, temp, and altitude. To add to this there is a shinny little thing on the top of the ACFT called a AN/ALQ-144.



Each one of those little panes are lined on the inside with gold and cost about 30K each. A bad shot, poor judgement, pass through or just a richochet would just about end your sons carrer and the army can take up to a months pay for it plus all kinds of extra duty and headaches that I can assure you, he does not want. They can futher make his commander pay for the entire cost of the dammage.

You may look into some of the audible devices that mimick birds of prey and go off every 30 miuntes or so. They work about 80% of the time in hangars. We have two set up around our hangars and one set up in our covered wash rack and they keep them pretty clear.

Good to hear from you Red, I had some reservations and you have confirmed them. Thanks

Anytime. In Army ANV they tell us that we are all safety officers. If it feels funny you should question it, if it feels wrong you should not be doing it.

As fun at it would be to shoot a bunch of pigions one little BB or pellet falls in the wrong area in a hawk that is opened up and it can cause the acft to go down. That is not something you want to sleep with. I dont care about the equipment it is just money in a different form. You can not replace the people on board.

Have you son tell his commander that it would be a safety (FOD) hazzard and set up a couple of audible devices instead. It may get him some points when it comes to showing responsibility.

yeah I just caught this thread, n no pelletguns, airsoft, paintball etc, no slingshots, no blowguns, no dartguns etc, and yes ALL packages are Xrayed in NY before shipping, I'd also suggest some of the dummy owls to place a speaker or the whole audio device in if they can get the small devices, they do use them here n they do work

This post has been edited by Warlike: November 28th 2008 1:57 PM

I was amazed that I got my bow and arrow there and back with no problem. After talking to the MP's on the base though they were surprised that I could mail it. They said that they would not let it go back through our conexes.