Saw a show about either Rangers or Green Berets being able to pick their own weapons.

I am not doubting you! What you say may be true; but can you imagine the logistics of up keep / maintenance of a dozen or more different platforms, manufacturers, and calibers of weapons. I some how doubt the validity of such a battle plan. Some where in a given unit there must be someone who is an armorur and he would by necessity be required to have every tool, jigs and fixtures, and every part for all arms being used in that unit. Costs and training for such a program would be high. I think standardization would rule out that kind of activity. Just my two cents.

nope, it is not personal weapons, that is against General Order #1. The military has a lot of hardware, but units are issued it.

I've heard more than once that the snipers of various elite units get to pick theirs, and the reasoning if I remember correctly was that these guys did most of their own work. Have no idea where i got that info but thats the way I remember it lol.

I saw a program on SEALs where they showed the various small arms the use. They might not be able to pick their own weapons from just anything, but they do appear to have a large variety of small arms available to choose from depending on the mission.

Some where in a given unit there must be someone who is an armorur and he would by necessity be required to have every tool, jigs and fixtures, and every part for all arms being used in that unit. Costs and training for such a program would be high.

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Cost and training for elite and special forces are much higher than regular units. But the number of units and the number of men per unit are fairly small.

I'm almost positive it was the Green Berets but hate not having confirmation.

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Are you sure you weren't seeing Delta Force? They are more similar to SEALs than Green Berets.

Rangers are highly trained and capable, but don't seem to have the leeway that "special forces" do. They seem to be somewhere in between Special forces and regular troops, with much of the specialized training, but more standard equipment.

This I know for a fact. Two special forces reservists, who were getting rather active deployments to Afghanistan (circa 2002-2004) purchased a left hand Remington 700 that was set up as a "pseudo sniper" by me. It was a rather stock, 700 VS lefty, .308, with barrel set back, rechambered, recrowned and threaded at the muzzle, M60E3 flashider (with ability to use a sound suppressor), parkerized, and carrying a Leupold 12X with mil dots. I painted the stock a woodland pattern theme, and it easily shot 3/4 minute. These guys contacted me off Sturmgewehr (one happened to be living in Kent, Ohio, about 25 miles from me. They stated they were allowed to bring their own weapons to Afghanistan, and that they were looking for something like a Remington PSS, but left hand. Since Remington doesn't make a lefty PSS, they wanted to test fire the gun. I said fine, let me know if you want the scope too. They shot it, and grabbed the package as it was, scope and all. I can only hope that rifle is doing some fine work in Afghanistan. They guys belonged to the SF Reserve unit in Youngstown, Ohio. You all can believe what you want, but the guy I was dealing with was who he said he was, and legit in every other detail I could confirm.

I was US Army Special Forces, 1966-1970.
Rvn "A" Camp Aug 68-March 70.
I belong to the association and keep up with events.
Use of the term SF is common, but incorrect for any other units.
They fall under the newer SOF umbrella.

Anyways. Under some circumstances we were indeed allowed to choose our own weapon.

Today there is more of a standard variety and modifications and variations continue.

You ain't gonna bring your Desert Eagle or something like that.

Conventional unitss need everybody with the same gear.
Mission, training, and supply mandates that.

SF is not like the old days with a variety of museum pieces being lugged about, but they do have a wider range of available gear.

I carried a silenced Sten on a few local operations. No good reason for it, actually.
I know some project guys that even had a few gyro jets laying around.
They were not considered useful and never were taken to the field.

This topic comes up fairly regularly here on at THR. There is some flexibility, but not much especially in the 75th Ranger, which is still considered "Big Army".

Rangers and SF (Green Berets) use the standard weapons (albeit with plenty of custom bells and whistles) like everyone else, with some other things in the mix for specialized duty (i.e. suppressed weapons, etc.)

I think there are a couple high-speed/low-drag guys on here. Maybe they'll chime in?

I'm not a Green Beret, but work with and for them and am in an SF unit and have deployed with an SF unit. I've carried an M4 and an M9, and a Browning High Power.

I can say for a fact, based on personal experience, that longtabbers (Green Berets) have more luxury in selecting their tools. Standard Soldiers who are issued a pistol receive an M9. GBs can select from either M9, Glock, Browning HP, 1911s, and Sig Sauer. For clarification these are NEVER personally owned weapons. They are from Government inventory.

We also have other choices of longarms, but I can't get into that on this forum.

Differentiate from small arms and personal arms. Small arms, they're either issued M-4's or MP-5's. Personal arms, that is, the pistol, they can choose to carry the 1911 instead of the Beretta.

My brother was in Iraq as Naval Intelligence and lots of the SF guys were carrying .45's.

I would imagine that what was meant in that instance was that they could select from a given range of military options, not just a "I'll take that Deagle wit da beams, yo!" type of selection.

I don't claim to be SF, or know anyone in it, but the above would be the option that makes the most sense, in that it'd achieve the same goals, and not cause the armorer to go postal.

Are you sure you weren't seeing Delta Force? They are more similar to SEALs than Green Berets.

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Army Special Forces Groups and Navy SEAL Teams are both Tier 2 units. The 1SFOD-D (aka "Delta") is a Tier 1 unit, and their Navy counterpart is Naval Special Warfare Command DEVGRU (aka "SEAL Team Six").

So far, I think we have a definite "maybe".

Quote:
"Are you sure you weren't seeing Delta Force? They are more similar to SEALs than Green Berets."

Army Special Forces Groups and Navy SEAL Teams are both Tier 2 units. The 1SFOD-D (aka "Delta") is a Tier 1 unit, and their Navy counterpart is Naval Special Warfare Command DEVGRU (aka "SEAL Team Six").

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Good point. I was thinking specifically of the Anti-terrorist SEAL team. I suppose the other teams are more like Green Berets?

I am not a long tabber but was assigned to 2/10SFG(A). All the weapons were bought on the government dime. We chose from the inventory which had many choices. If something was needed that was not in the inventory it was purchased either through contract or government credit card. Now there are exceptions to every rule so I am not saying it doesn't or won't happen but it is not the party line or the norm for soldiers (of any Army unit) to purchase their own small arms.

Former Green Beret

I was a "green beret" (SF) way back when. I served in Viet Nam in 68 and 69. We used a variety of weapons, from AK's, to M16's to Car15's to Springfields, to shotguns (can't remember the make). We used whatever Charlie was carrying. Ammo was never a problem because it was always available from Charlie (I capitalize Charlie because I respected the little bastard, he was a worthy opponent). It also confused him when we were in a fire fight. Hearing an AK fire usually stopped the return fire for a few minutes until he figured out what was happening. It bought some very valuable time!

A friend on mine has a son that is they SF and is in Afg. now. He does his personnel pistol but the "rule" was that it needed to use military ammo.
When I was in Iraq we asked and was told no but I know the SF have some privileges.

I know a close friend of mine, a Marine captain, was allowed to bring his personal sidearm with him to Iraq so he brought his SA XD 45. I've even seen some of the officers here on the Army FOB that I'm located at with personal weapons, although these are all 9mm.

So the answer is yes they are allowed, however the stipulations are that they need to be able to fire standard issue ammo and they need to qualify with it.

I haven't seen any long arms here, but then most of the soldiers here are regular GI's and not SF.




Kris

So the answer is yes they are allowed, however the stipulations are that they need to be able to fire standard issue ammo and they need to qualify with it.

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And that they need to either be of rank, or be friends with someone of rank, that has the ability to modify Gen. Order 1 for them.

Sorry I forgot to add that part. They have to be commissioned or warrant officers.



-K

green berets in vietnam were allowed to carry weapons of their choice (whithin reason of course) at the start of the war. they were standardized moreso torwrds the end (with exeptions of course).

from veterans i've talked to, i hear a lot of berets were carying 357 magnums pistols and ak47's

What about SFC Jerry 'Mad Dog' Shriver? Didn't he carry a Marlin levergun for a while?

I am not a long tabber but was assigned to 2/10SFG(A). All the weapons were bought on the government dime. We chose from the inventory which had many choices. If something was needed that was not in the inventory it was purchased either through contract or government credit card. Now there are exceptions to every rule so I am not saying it doesn't or won't happen but it is not the party line or the norm for soldiers (of any Army unit) to purchase their own small arms.

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From what I can gather, this is true of Green Berets too, at least some of the units. A friend's brother-in-law is currently a GB (don't recall the exact unit), on his last deployment to Iraq his sidearm of choice was a government-owned S&W Model 29. Even I thought that was a little odd, I asked about it but was told "don't".