Hey guys, just a quick question for our current and past military members.

I know a guy who was in the Navy, while in Iraq, he was assigned with a Marine squad and was fullfilling the job of the local Armorer.

Now, he is an old-fasioned type I guess you could call him and issued NO optics aside from irons.
Is that unusual? I am not sure if he was even asked, but he seemed like he didnt even have anything ready for deployment and told me he thinks they are pointless.

If someone asked for an optic, I deunno if he would have given it or not...

I am always seeing pics of guys in the sandbox with vast arays of optics. is it a per Armorer choice as to whether an optic will be offered??

I have no idea how it works nowdays. I know I had nothing but irons while I was in.

Same here, but we did have guys use their personal while in Iraq.

Jay

that is what i am guessing judging by all the pictures i have scene. does any one know if you can use your personal weapon on a deployment? i imagine no but, its worth a shot

I've heard of people ordering uppers and having them shipped over. Depends on the unit and who is watching I suppose.

When I was with the 24th MEU I knew of guys that put their own optics on, but all the issued ones I could recall were ACOGS. My M4 has irons.

it's pretty much commanders discretion, as for ordering uppers to Iraq I'd love to know how that worked since mail was scanned in and out for weapons when I was there

I am not sure about the other services but the army has a document called the Modified Table of Orgazational Equipment (MTOE). This tells you every thing the unit is authorized to have from helicopters and tanks down to screwdrivers and tools. Items listed on the MTOE are generally called property book items. A unit will have a MTOE built around the type of unit that it is and its mission. For example a SF unit would not be authorized to have a Tank and a tank unit would not have a minigun. As unit MTOEs are being updated they are phasing out the M-16 and bringing in the M4s. When we went to AFG we were not authorized any optics and only our pilots had M4s the rest of us had M16s. Most army units with M16s have not been authorized optics. Now a year after we got home and they shipped out 58D guys over our MTOE had changed to include more M4s and added the M68CCO (Aimpoint). Our 58D pilots requested an exception and funding to mount something other than the M68 on thier M4s for cockpit work. You can not get down on the M68 wearing a flight helmet. I forget the one they got but it has a much higher sight over bore than the standard M68. This does not mean that you can not take your own sight it just means that Uncle Sugar wont give you one. I had a 3-9x32 scope and a cheap red dot that I took just in case. As far as personall weapons they are a "no-go". In the early days of the war folks were allowed to carry over some personal shotguns but were told up front you will be selling them to the replacements and can not under any circumstances bring them back.

You also have to take into consideration what the unit does and what is his job in the unit. For example even the highspeed Rangers have cooks, motor pool monkies and general REMF jobs where even though they are "Rangers" they are more than likley FOBBITS when they get over there. Why waste money for optics for a guy that will most likley only see the inside of a chow hall?

TOE's have been around since Christ was a corporal.

A lot depends on your battalion unit commander. Though they cannot officially waive the TOE without a ton of paperwork they usually tell you upfront before you deploy what they are willing to "not notice". Some are hard cases and some are hard chargers. A good colonel will say if you are good at using it and it doesn't weigh you down then drag it along. He'll do his best to cover you at Customs when you return. In all cases he'll tell you that personal gear is at your own risk. Lose it or break it and no one is going to make much effort to help you. And while experienced CO's can dance a bit with Customs on return there's no guarantee there either. He'll try hard but there is no guarantee some Customs pinhead won't snatch your custom 1911 "for quarantine". And if you screw up with your private toy and get busted overseas then all bets are off, you are on your own partner.

Naturally, all this melts away once you get into SpecOps. They already want to know absolutely everything you are hauling around deployed and aren't burdened by waiver requirements unless you think that briefcase nuke or botulism canister is cool to load up. Everything that goes is covered whether the service owns the gear or you do. All of it can come back too. Customs man just reads off the listed stuff and can only be a jerk about what's not on there. It can be illegal as heck to normally import into America, but if it's on the list that went out then it can come back. If the Seal team goes out with a big block of hashish on the list they can come back with it. But you can be sure the senior NCO and Old Man have thoroughly gone over your gear before you left. Surprise them with something as simple as an extra plastic spork in your gear and you will rue the day you thought that was a good idea. 75 squares of toilet paper authorized? Better not have 74 or 76. And when you return without some of those toilet paper squares you will account for them. They might even make you bring back your poo and urine in baggies to ensure you left none on the mission trail.

lol try accounting for missing NODs sometime, the fact they were damaged and sent home for replacement that never came as per an adjusted hand reciept didn't hold much water either