Won't be posting for awhile.
 

Just wanted to give the heads up that I'm leaving for Afghanistan tommorow afternoon, so I won't be posting for awhile. There's internet over there, but it'll be awhile before I'm settled in and have time to mess around on here. Wish me luck!

Be safe and good luck.

Take care and good luck.

I wish you best of luck! Take care! And if there's anything we can do once you are over there, please don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck and be safe. Give those Taliban SOBs over there a few rounds for us.

Take care and come back alive

Well, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth, just haven't had internet access. I signed up with a local company - good thing I have decent virus software. I'm in Kandahar air field at the moment, and enjoying work. Just going to the mess here is fun for a firearms enthusiast - there's probably 30 different countries on the base, so you see quite a variety of arms.

Take notes. I know a couple guys who went to Kosovo and it was amazing to hear about some of the firearms they saw. Real classics in some cases. One of the guys confiscated an Artillery Luger. Unfortunately you know that either went into somebody's pocket (so to speak) or was destroyed. :mad:

Glads to hear you have made a safe landing.

Good to hear from you again! And yes, I imagine you must be seeing a lot of different troops from different countries right now.

Hopefully, our President will not let you down.

Captured weapons actually are supposed to come across my desk, none yet unfortunately. Nothing in the market anymore either - they stopped letting us bring back antiques in 08 and the Americans just had the door closed as well, so there's no longer any profit in it for them.

As a consolation prize, here's my mental list of weapons I saw just going about my day today:

C7A2 (mine)
Inglis Hi Power (ditto)
C8A2 carbine
C9A2 LMG
C6 GPMG (light, pintle AND coax configuration)
M203A1
M2HB .50
M242 25mm
Mk.19
M16A2
M16A4
M4A1
Beretta M9
M249
M240
Mk.48 Mod.1
Austeyr F88
FN Mk.III Hi Power
SA80A2
FAMAS F1
PAMAS G1
Beretta 92S
HK MP7A1
PKM
RPD (mounted on a Ford Ranger no less)
Some kind of .50 cal rifle I actually couldn't identify because I only saw the muzzle brake.

That's some list. Amazing.

Actually, I just realised that list doesn't include the ZPU-1 and ZU-23-S AA guns and 82mm mortar displayed outside my office.

I imagine that was an Afghan National Army truck?

ANP. ANA have humvees.

What rifles are they carrying?

My guess would be Romanian AKs, Russian AKMs and AK-47s, AK-74s,PKMs, RPKs and RPDs, Chinese AKs, M249s, M240 and M16A4s and M4s.

Pretty much a huge mixture of Western and Eastern gear.

ANP carry AK-47s. Not so many Russian, alot of Chinese, and with the ANA in particular you see alot of Hungarian AMD-65s. Also RPGs, RPDs, RPKs, the occasional PKM.

ANP, it depends on the Kandak (about equivlent to a battalion). Most carry AKs, some have been re-equipped with M16A2s or C7A1s.

AK74s are pretty uncommon in Afghanistan, and aren't normally used by government troops. No sense mucking up the logistics chain with another type of ammo, it's bad enough as it is. 74s, and espescially Krinkovs, tend to be prestige weapons in insurgent or militia groups.

Prestige weapon? Does that mean the weapon is common or uncommon?

It means it's prized, valued.

Bin Laden has one, I read somewhere that he got it off a dead Soviet Soldier back in the 80's.

You would think all those AK-74s the soviets left behind in the war would be useful for terrorists but it seems like they don't use them.

I've seen lots of AK-74s being used in Africa and Latin America though.

I'm sure they do, it's hard to tell where an AK came from when you pick it up on the field.

Of course the captured Ak-74s would have been useful, back in 1989 when the Soviets pulled out. They've had 20 years of constant warfare, poor maintenance and absolutely apalling storage conditions since. To say nothing of the fact that between the Soviets leaving and a few years ago when it started hitting the surplus markets, they had no source for 5.45mm ammo. Don't forget, most of the former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact states never switched over. I'm not saying they don't exist, but they are not common.

It's not hard to know where an AK came from if you know your variants and factory markings, not at all. Most infantry soldiers don't care, and rightly so - a 7.62 round has exactly the same effect coming out of Russian or Chinese AK. I, on the other hand, do know, and am required by my job to know.

Are you a small arms armorer or something?

No, and given as my internet runs through Pakistan I'd rather not go into details about what I do.

Hello, ISI analyst!

Absolutely. OP-SEC first and foremost. Is that cool abbreviation still in use? It's been many years since I was in.

Oh yeah, and believe me, I hear it alot. I'm using a fake name on Facebook and everything.

Just tell the curious guys that if they continue to ask you'll reach through their computer and kill them. :D

I don't get it. Is the Pakistani Government spying on ISAF soldiers or something? If they are doing that, why would they do that? It makes no sense!

The ISI is full of operatives who helped get the Taliban off the ground in the 90s and are still sympathetic to them. It's one of the many reasons why so many Americans can't stand the thought of calling Pakistan an "ally".

It doesn't make as much sense for them to use those because even though the Russians left plenty of AK-74s behind, the fact is that 7.62x39mm AKs and their ammunition are just a million times more common. As Nyles pointed out, the vast majority of the USSR's former allies and client states never adopted/manufactured the AK-74. So if you're a militia commander who needs to arm hundreds or thousands of gunmen in a hurry, you're going to want to buy what's most readily and reliably available.

Which are AK-47 or clones

I don't understand...

He means "AK-47 and clones" in reply to what you said militia commanders would equip their troops with (being "readily and reliable").

Ah, OK. Well, in that case, I meant any 7.62x39mm AKs, including clones, as opposed to AK-74s. The reason being, again, that there are probably 100x more of the former than the latter in the world.

I remember looking at news articles when I was doing research for South America in general, and I noticed a lot of M16s in the hands of locals.

So the problem is the corruption of the ISI, yes?

Worse. The agency is more-or-less a front-cum-support network for the Taliban. And it's fairly tough for the central government to keep them in line because they're almost a parallel government with their own agenda. In fact, I can't remember the stats, but I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of ISI operatives in those areas are Pashtun, the ethnic group from which the Taliban draws its membership.

Fortunately, the Pakistani government (both military and civilian elements) is finally getting serious about putting them in their place now that the Taliban are threatening to take over the country, but that will not be easy. Personally, I've always wondered if the ISI might ever stage a coup of its own, given that they are so much at odds with both the civilian and military leaders nowadays.

The U.S. government has shipped many M16s to friendly regimes down there over the years. Sadly, Venezuela received a large number, too (before Chavez took over), which are now likely getting passed on to the Marxist insurgents and narco-guerrillas down there.

Another spammer.^