Looting the Enemy

[crepesack]

This question goes out to all those military servicemen.
In a war, is it illegal to take enemy weapons and equipment and use it? Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices.

These questions come to me as i watch band of brothers btw.

 

[Snork Maiden]

This question goes out to all those military servicemen.
In a war, is it illegal to take enemy weapons and equipment and use it? Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices.

These questions come to me as i watch band of brothers btw.

Wait, wait. You're asking if the reason the insurgents don't pick up enemies M4s is because it's illegal?

 

[Amnestic]

When it comes down to dropping your empty rifle and snatching a dropped weapon off that guy you just killed to keep yourself alive, I don't think "Is this legal?" is going through your head.

Probably something more along the lines of "Gee, I hope none of those bullets fly through my skull. That'd be a real downer on my day."

 

[Zacharine]

I would say that it's pretty much okay, as long as you still have your own equipment at the end of the day. As in, no throwing away that rifle which was given to you. But if you run out of ammo and the enemy bodies have guns (and ammo that go in them), it's only basic wisdom that if it keeps you killing the enemy then it's okay. But don't lose than gun of yours or your commanding officer will get pissed....

Which is why the AK-derivatives have an advantage in the world: 7.62x39mm ammo is available pretty much everywhere. Last clip is empty? Take one from the enemy, slide it in and keep rocking.

 

[wooty]

Most probably the reason insurgents dont use "western" weapons is because the munitions are harder to come by. Or harder to operate and maintain.

Most common I can think of is that there are never really many insurgents left around after a firefight with western armies to go looting, turns into self preservation after that.

 

[crepesack]

I mean not in a dire situation, Like you're just walking by and think to yourself "Gee, this is a shiny pistol, wait...this is MY shiny pistol"

 

[Sebenko]

Modern militaries will not make use of enemy weapons in most situations- You don't know what condition the weapon is in, if it's left lying around it could be a trap, weapons have a distinctive sound, so if one of your buddies hears you firing and can't see you, they could think that you're one of the enemy and you usually have enough ammo anyway.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Well, looting off the bad guys in a video game is always okay =D So I'd assume you could get away with it some of the time. Except I'm just guessing here

 

[Raven's Nest]

This question goes out to all those military servicemen.
In a war, is it illegal to take enemy weapons and equipment and use it? Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices.

These questions come to me as i watch band of brothers btw.

I can assure you in the British Army, looting a dead body is an offense. Although it happen, It is greatly frowned upon by other soldiers and rightly so. They aren't pirates, they are primarily a peace-keeping force (following the deterrent logic anyway), so resorting to stealing wrist-watches or money etc is considered very low indeed.

As fo picking up an AK47 in a firefight. It's purely a tactical decison. You can leave one of those things in a swamp for a week, pull it out and it'll fire straight away. It'll even be reasonably accurate too. The same can't be said for M4's or SA80A2's. It is however frowned upon to leave your weapon behind. Troops even get training to use other weapons, it's simply illogical not to use them.

EDIT: It has been traditional to claim certain weapons in the past. Such as German officer's Luger pistols and Japanese officer's katanas. In fact, most of these swords were cheap, mass porduced models but some were the genuine hand crafted master swords. They are worth well into the 100,000 dollar territory. It is estimated that more than 50 swords claimed by GI's during the war are such swords and they have no idea of their true value...

Modern wars have been fought in shit-holes though, so nobody wants a thirty year old, bent AK-47 regardless of the fact it still works...

 

[Instant K4rma]

I would say when it comes down to the point where you have no ammo left in your rife, picking up an AK off a dead enemy is the best course of action. Id rather use an inferior weapon (as compared to an M4) than have no weapon at all. As to if its legal or not, I think in the middle of a firefight, soldiers have bigger things to worry about.

 

[CLG]

The standard is that all enemy equipment must be turned in or destroyed. With that being said, it all depends on what your unit thinks. I was informed by one of my Drill Sergeants who was special forces that survival is key, and if your out of ammo and need a weapon, by all means grab the dead mans rifle. Then again, he was special forces.

And you DO search dead bodies after combat, to see if they are still living, or have a bomb on them or something. I believe any equipment that is found on them is destroyed, or on special occasions, turned in.

EDIT: Insurgents do not have our rules of war/engagement. They will take whatever they need after combat, attack supply trucks and ect.

 

[Spitfire175]

This question goes out to all those military servicemen.
In a war, is it illegal to take enemy weapons and equipment and use it? Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices.

These questions come to me as i watch band of brothers btw.

Finnish army trained armoured brigadier sergeant reporting for duty. *atteen-chun!*

We were told to take everything we could possibly carry, anything from weapons to food rations. The guns aren't taken into use, but taken in order to prevent the enemy from recovering them. The geneva convention says somethnig on the matter, but it's largely ignored.

The reason the insurgents are carrying AKs is simple: It's a reliable weapon they know how to use and they have plentyful ammunition available. An M4 is 1)much harder to operate 2)much less reliable without a proper cleaning kit 3) requires ammo they don't have available.

I know of US snipers who have picked up SVD rifles for fun, but regularly it's very convenient to keep every soldier's ammo type the same.

On the matter of band of brothers, ignore whatever you have learnt from video games: you ARE NOT ABLE TO OPERATE EVERY GUN YOU PICK UP RIGHT AWAY. In WW2, each man was trained to use only one weapon: riflemen, submachinegunners, carbiners and macine gunners were separate. This created a problem: one squad required 5 types of ammo. This is why the US decided to move to a single calibre system, first with the M14, later with the AR-15 family and the 5,56x45 intermediate cartridge. (something the soviets had done in 1947 with the AK) Ammo supplies are much easier to manage when everyone has the same ammo.

In WW2, it was stupid to pick up enemy weapons rigt away, at least. Limited presentation training, limited ammo and danger of being mistaken for an enemy: gun sounds are distinctive. Also, in a hectic situation one recognises a gun much faster than a uniform.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

You do what you must to stay alive. That includes stealing shit from enemy corpses, or even yoinking the occasional magazine off a dead comrade.

Because let's face it - No one pays respects to the dead in a war, much less in any gunfight.

 

[Connosaurus Rex]

I would guess it is case by case.
I would suspect after a difficult fight a soldier would take something for a memento, maybe just a pistol or something

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

This question goes out to all those military servicemen.
In a war, is it illegal to take enemy weapons and equipment and use it? Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices.

These questions come to me as i watch band of brothers btw.

American here(NOT a servicemember though).
No, not as far as I know.

My father was stationed in Kirkuk, Iraq a little less than a year after we invaded. At one point in Kirkuk, he was sitting outside, bullshitting/conversing with his fellow soldiers because they could see an ammo depot inside a US base in the distance getting mortared and RPG'd. They basically watched it like fireworks. Anyways, the ammo depot was half pre-stored weapons cache and half confiscated insurgent weaponry.

All dead bodies are checked, but they're not supposed to be looted in the sense of general possessions.(I'm sure it happens though) First off, the body/weapon is checked for traps or to see if it is bait in a trap. Second, if it's personal items, they either try to give it back to any known relatives they can find, or they destroy it after a period of time. The weapons are sometimes destroyed sometimes confiscated and kept in storage.

However, in war, it wouldn't be good to use an enemy's weapon anyway. Soldiers become very keen to the distinctions between different types of gunfire, and they may think that that ally firing an enemy gun is an enemy. If it's a drawn out gunfight where you need ammo though, it would be perfectly fine.Added edit:Not to mention the trouble of learning how to work a type of gun you've never used before.

Insurgents OTOH usually don't loot because they're the small minority rebel force. They hit and run. No time to steal shit when you're committing suicide or trying to hide in the crowd.

 

[curty129]

This question goes out to all those military servicemen.
In a war, is it illegal to take enemy weapons and equipment and use it? Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices.

These questions come to me as i watch band of brothers btw.

Wait, wait. You're asking if the reason the insurgents don't pick up enemies M4s is because it's illegal?

Well yeah. They have some dignity. Killing is fine, but to take someone's weapon is just plain insulting D:

OT: They likely aren't used to using such a gun and might fuck it up when attempting to operate it - Wouldn't that be a funny sight - They'd have limited ammo too, only what was in the gun.

Someone's probably said this but I ain't scrolling >:l

 

[fix-the-spade]

Can you just lift a gun off a dead body and keep it instead of your standard issue rifle? I mean, you always see those insurgents using AK47's instead of M4's when, with all that special equipment on the M4's, seem like better choices

In Band of Brothers they do it because it's the practical thing to do, a german rifle is better than no rifle, but they go back to US weapons when they can because that's what they're trained in and what has the most constant supply of ammunition.

As for the insurgents, why would they take a NATO rifle? Things like M4's and L85's need lots of maintantence to work properly and fire expensive ss109 ammunition that's extremely hard to get hold of. Russian rifles are much simpler to maintain, 7.62 and 5.45 ammunition is everywhere, literally billions of rounds of that are made by just about every country that can make it so there's no embargos to get round. ss109 is quite carefully controlled, you'll struggle to get it in any large amounts outside of western (or western allied) military and law enforcement

They also have the advantage that you don't have to get up in the face of a Marine with body armour, air support and marksmanship training to get your hands on one...

If it's the best thing to do most soldiers would do it without thinking twice, but in the real world it's usually just not practical.