Well better late than never. My father was a SAC sky cop back in the mid sixties (63-66). He wore a blue beret here in the states. He was issued a Smith & Wesson Model 15 4" and at first carried an M2 carbine. They were the first branch to get AR-15 rifles. He does not recall blue paint on the furniture.
When he was stationed at Bien Hoa Air Force Base (South Vietnam) in 65 he carried a Winchester 1897 "Trench Gun", a Smith & Wesson Model 15 snubbie in a shoulder holster (yes he was issued a snub-nosed revolver in a combat zone gents) and a 1911A1 on his belt. His last couple of months in Vietnam the Air Force took away the shotgun and issued him an M16. He continued to carry the Model 15 and the 1911A1. In Vietnam he either wore a steel pot or a style of fatigue cap known as a Ridgeway.
The lieutenant in charge of his ......... well I was Army so I don't know what his immediate unit would have been. I would call it a platoon.....carried an M2 carbine and a 4" S&W Model 15 when he was in Vietnam. My father said that things were a little looser in the early days, but by the time he rotated back to the states early in 66 they were tightening up and (at least for the Air Force sky cops) the M16 rifle was becoming commonplace and the hodgepodge of firearms was being reduced.
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