NationStates Jolt Archive

War trophies are items that you can collect of a fallen enemy or stonghold, say a flag, knife, weapon, etc. Is that still allowed? What conditions must be met before you can do that? Is it considered stealing?

Officially, the only things I know of that count as legitimate war prizes are captured weapons (including ships) and unit banners. But legally I believe they are supposed to be prizes of the nation, not individuals.

Wouldn't surprise me if officers turned a blind eye to a little 'souveniring' though.

War trophies are items that you can collect of a fallen enemy or stonghold, say a flag, knife, weapon, etc. Is that still allowed? What conditions must be met before you can do that? Is it considered stealing?

It's been forbidden for US soldiers to bring back stuff for some time now (not like it was during WW II).

When I was in the first Gulf War, they searched you for stuff like that. Quite a few went to jail for trying to bring back weapons, etc.

They warn you. That doesn't mean that some people try (and some, especially high ranking officers, may get away with it).

Officially, the only things I know of that count as legitimate war prizes are captured weapons (including ships) and unit banners. But legally I believe they are supposed to be prizes of the nation, not individuals.

Wouldn't surprise me if officers turned a blind eye to a little 'souveniring' though.
So you could pick up a weapon of an enemy and bring it home?

War trophies are items that you can collect of a fallen enemy or stonghold, say a flag, knife, weapon, etc. Is that still allowed? What conditions must be met before you can do that? Is it considered stealing?

I was in the US Army in Iraq 2 years ago, so this is what their policies are.

You can collect certain things. You aren't allowed to take personal items like ID cards, dogtags, photos, or anything else of a non-military nature.

You can't take firearms because they won't let you take them to the States.

We had to fill out several forms and get the commander to sign them in order to take knives home, and they had to be shipped with the armsroom.

The only flags you're technically allowed to have are ones that were given or sold to you.

You aren't allowed to take them off of a building and keep them. You're also not allowed to take any clothing items from a dead person.

Of course, that last one is rather hard to enforce, unless that particular item of clothing was damaged in making that person dead.

We were also only allowed to take a certain number of things home, I think 10 or 12. I forget.

A prized trophy of the pacific war: skulls. Nice gift.

So you could pick up a weapon of an enemy and bring it home?

If you want to go to prison at Ft. Leavenworth, sure.

If you want to go to prison at Ft. Leavenworth, sure.

There was a 1SG in my Regiment (the 3d ACR) who got caught mailng AKMSs home. As soon as he got off of the plane CID was standing there waiting for him.

A prized trophy of the pacific war: skulls. Nice gift.

Erm...the Pacific war? Thats a sort of contradiction in terms isnt it? Who fought that one?

Anyway back to skulls.

With a hole drilled in the top they make excellent candle holders.

Erm...the Pacific war? Thats a sort of contradiction in terms isnt it? Who fought that one?

Anyway back to skulls.

With a hole drilled in the top they make excellent candle holders.

Japan and America. I should probably have said the war in the Pacific.

The WWII Pacific War...

Skulls, Zero Parts (specially from the wing or emblem), caps, helmets, flags and some other bones too.

I was in the US Army in Iraq 2 years ago, so this is what their policies are.

You can collect certain things. You aren't allowed to take personal items like ID cards, dogtags, photos, or anything else of a non-military nature.

You can't take firearms because they won't let you take them to the States.

We had to fill out several forms and get the commander to sign them in order to take knives home, and they had to be shipped with the armsroom.

The only flags you're technically allowed to have are ones that were given or sold to you.

You aren't allowed to take them off of a building and keep them. You're also not allowed to take any clothing items from a dead person.

Of course, that last one is rather hard to enforce, unless that particular item of clothing was damaged in making that person dead.

We were also only allowed to take a certain number of things home, I think 10 or 12. I forget.
What about BDU's?

The enemy doesnt wear BDU's, only we do. And I have no clue why someone would want to take a BDU home?

There was a 1SG in my Regiment (the 3d ACR) who got caught mailng AKMSs home. As soon as he got off of the plane CID was standing there waiting for him.

What I love is the major misconceptions that civilians have about the rules in the military.

We're not allowed to loot bodies or take stuff home like the movies. The US military has CID, which lives to bust people for being stupid.

We're not brainwashed in boot camp. Unless cleaning toilets is brainwashing somehow.

We're not "trained to be killers", as though mere rifle instruction were not enough - somehow, the military is turning peaceable civilians into savages.

All of this talk of looting is just more of the smear. And when the occasional soldier does do something stupid, the first thing out of someone's mouth is "well, they train them to do that sort of stuff" and "civilians would never do any of that in a million years".

Look at any population of several hundred thousand young civilians, and see how many crimes they commit. Including murder, robbery, rape, etc.

Then compare that to several hundred thousand soldiers.

Recently two young men and a woman robbed a couple here in Georgetown. At knifepoint. Civilian perpetrators.

To demonstrate that they were serious, the men slit the man's throat, took his money, and then demanded sex from the woman.

I suppose I should hear people post about "how badly trained/schooled the civilians are" or "it's just something that 'those' kind of people do".

No?

The enemy doesnt wear BDU's, only we do. And I have no clue why someone would want to take a BDU home?
I mean your own.

What about BDU's?

Only if they weren't stripped from a dead man. I've got several pairs of Iraqi BDUs that I bought from a guy outside the front gate. I imagine he had gone into the military base on the other side of town and grabbed the things the Iraqi soldiers had left in their haste to deploy to the front or to run the hell home.

I also bought a few dress uniforms that looked as though the guy had just slapped every decoration he could find on it, regardless of what it was. I was going to take pictures, but all of that is in storage and I don't feel like making the 20 mile round trip to the storage unit to get it out.

What about BDU's?

Nope. Essentially, if you didn't buy it, and it's not part of your kit, (enemy insignia, uniforms, equipment), you can't bring it home.

You're more than welcome to try, where you can join the other idiots at Ft. Leavenworth who tried.

There's a kid from Salisbury, Maryland, who tried to smuggle back a PK machinegun in pieces in separate milvans who is still in prison there (he was busted in the spring of 1991).

You can try, but there are many people watching.

What I love is the major misconceptions that civilians have about the rules in the military.

We're not allowed to loot bodies or take stuff home like the movies. The US military has CID, which lives to bust people for being stupid.

We're not brainwashed in boot camp. Unless cleaning toilets is brainwashing somehow.

We're not "trained to be killers", as though mere rifle instruction were not enough - somehow, the military is turning peaceable civilians into savages.

All of this talk of looting is just more of the smear. And when the occasional soldier does do something stupid, the first thing out of someone's mouth is "well, they train them to do that sort of stuff" and "civilians would never do any of that in a million years".

Look at any population of several hundred thousand young civilians, and see how many crimes they commit. Including murder, robbery, rape, etc.

Then compare that to several hundred thousand soldiers.

Recently two young men and a woman robbed a couple here in Georgetown. At knifepoint. Civilian perpetrators.

To demonstrate that they were serious, the men slit the man's throat, took his money, and then demanded sex from the woman.

I suppose I should hear people post about "how badly trained/schooled the civilians are" or "it's just something that 'those' kind of people do".

No?
Not what I meant. I was wondering if say a cache of weapons were found, could a soldier take one for themselves.

Not what I meant. I was wondering if say a cache of weapons were found, could a soldier take one for themselves.
Not unless you like living in prison.

War trophies are items that you can collect of a fallen enemy or stonghold, say a flag, knife, weapon, etc. Is that still allowed? What conditions must be met before you can do that? Is it considered stealing?
It's not considered stealing unless you take something from a dead or wounded civilian. The Army regulations on "War trophies" indicate that only items of nominal value may be retained, such as flags, knives, uniform decorations, etc. Guns are a definite no-no.

Not what I meant. I was wondering if say a cache of weapons were found, could a soldier take one for themselves.

You were able to until about September of '03. At the beginning of the war the things people were issued were proven to be less than adequate. A tank crew has only 2 rifles between the 4 men, and many civil affairs troops only have pistols. So until that situation was fixed and enough M16/M4 rifles could be issued they allowed peopl to use captured enemy weapons.

As for taking your own BDUs home, yes you can. I was issued 4 pairs of DCUs (Desert Combat Uniforms) and I had to return two of them. I really wanted to keep the DCU field jacket, but they took that back too :(

@Deep Kimchi

Yeah, people watch far too many movies and imagine that it has anything to do with reality.

edit: Of course you couldn't actually keep the enemy weapons. They had to be turned in in either September of '03 or whenever you left country, whichever came first.

What I love is the major misconceptions that civilians have about the rules in the military.

We're not allowed to loot bodies or take stuff home like the movies. The US military has CID, which lives to bust people for being stupid.

We're not brainwashed in boot camp. Unless cleaning toilets is brainwashing somehow.

We're not "trained to be killers", as though mere rifle instruction were not enough - somehow, the military is turning peaceable civilians into savages.

All of this talk of looting is just more of the smear. And when the occasional soldier does do something stupid, the first thing out of someone's mouth is "well, they train them to do that sort of stuff" and "civilians would never do any of that in a million years".

Look at any population of several hundred thousand young civilians, and see how many crimes they commit. Including murder, robbery, rape, etc.

Then compare that to several hundred thousand soldiers.

Recently two young men and a woman robbed a couple here in Georgetown. At knifepoint. Civilian perpetrators.

To demonstrate that they were serious, the men slit the man's throat, took his money, and then demanded sex from the woman.

I suppose I should hear people post about "how badly trained/schooled the civilians are" or "it's just something that 'those' kind of people do".

No?
Excellent post, and most heartily seconded.

I was in the US Army in Iraq 2 years ago, so this is what their policies are.

You can collect certain things. You aren't allowed to take personal items like ID cards, dogtags, photos, or anything else of a non-military nature.

You can't take firearms because they won't let you take them to the States.

We had to fill out several forms and get the commander to sign them in order to take knives home, and they had to be shipped with the armsroom.

The only flags you're technically allowed to have are ones that were given or sold to you.

You aren't allowed to take them off of a building and keep them. You're also not allowed to take any clothing items from a dead person.

Of course, that last one is rather hard to enforce, unless that particular item of clothing was damaged in making that person dead.

We were also only allowed to take a certain number of things home, I think 10 or 12. I forget.


Aye, was pretty much the same for the British Army in Telic when I was there in 04-05. I have an Iraqi flag that was taken (not by me) from the Basrah Central Police station. I also have three empty AK-47 cases and a magazine from same weapon. I was allowed to keep the Ceramic body armoyr when I was shot in the back, but actually it has since been proven that it was a Yank who fired the shot- or at least an M-16 round.

And about the above post, strongly thirded.

My friend brought back a soviet night vision set from Desert Storm. He claims to have gotten it after his squad eliminated some type of bunker.

Is that something that would have been allowed or did he luck out?

My friend brought back a soviet night vision set from Desert Storm. He claims to have gotten it after his squad eliminated some type of bunker.

Is that something that would have been allowed or did he luck out?

Lucky. Either that, or his commander signed for it (unlikely).

Lucky. Either that, or his commander signed for it (unlikely).


And looking back, not worth it,really. He was decorated and I guess this could have jeapordized that.

Now, much better quality night vision is cheaply and widely available.

It was seriously cool at the time.