DMK, the CAR 15 was an issue item for all FAC's in-country. Don't know what the Ravens carried in Laos. The S&W M15 was also an issue item along with the web belt and some sort of black holster. Most of us had a custom holster and belt made by the parachute shop or downtown in Bien Hoa. I don't recall any "dump box" of the police type being issued...but it's been close to 50 years now and bits and pieces of my memory are slipping away.
Odd weapons were common where I was stationed as the Special Forces could and did appropriate any type they felt useful to their mission. I saw 57mm recoiless rifles, Swedish "K"s, Russian sniper rifles, AK's and SKS's by the dozen, and no one thought anything of it. I was careful, for the most part, whenever I had to fly down to the squadron headquarters at Bien Hoa to have only my issue gear on. The REMF's that infested the base would call you on uniform violations at the drop of a hat.
The Hi-Power I had was not issued; my predecessor brought it along with him when he reported in-country. Getting weapons in wasn't a problem, getting them out could be a very big hassle...Article 15 at the least and maybe a court marshal offense. The jerks that rummaged through our return to CONUS "hold" baggage would steal or report most anything they found.
I bought a Luger from one of our Berets found in a cashe during the Cambodian incursion that had German, Russian, N. Korean & N. Vietnamese markings on the small crate it was stored in. That gun, with that provenance, would have paid for one of my son's college education. I played around with it during my last month, about October of '70, but didn't want to risk trying to smuggle it back in my hold baggage. I left it & the Hi Power behind. The squadron's theft and pillage crew that inspected our go-home baggage relieved me of boots, cammies, a survival knife, and a cpl other items...never seen again.
USNret, Gaskin rings a faint bell...can't say where from but maybe over towards Tay Ninh with the Vietnamese Airborne Division...they all wore dark red berets...and thx too for your service...the only Navy I worked with while there was gun fire off one of the battleships...New Jersey or North Carolina...I was 25 k's in from the coast, down in the delta and needed some help blowing up bunkers....the DASC controller said he could get me gun fire but was coy about what kind. I pushed saying that it was a deep bunker complex and he said that they could penetrate anything...the first round of seven was within 75 meters of the complex and collapsed the entire place. I had a list of places needed to be blown up and got 6 more rounds before they called it a day...big stuff...2000 lb. shells as I recall, and I could distinctly hear it pass while holding just off the gun line through the open cockpit windows.
Ratshooter, I had a Model 15 as well, didn't like the puny grips on it so kept it in my bunker while there. I had an Army .45 1911A1 for quite awhile as well as that 9mm Hi-Power previously mentioned. I carried both of the latter in a tanker Army issue type of holster. The Birddog was fun to fly, cruised at 100 kts, carried 8 rockets and had hard shackle points for flares outboard. These latter, were used only once while I was there as night time flying without any sort of cockpit instrumentation was strictly an emergency operation. The flare shackles, however, were very useful for dropping things like ammo, med supplies, LRP's meals and, my personal favorite, cases of beer. I'd climb to 5-6000 feet, to cool it off and then drop it to our patrols in a stand of tall bamboo...some broke, but those guys worshiped the ground I walked on on those days...LOL.
Hope this helps on weapons...and sorry for the diversion back to 1970 and some long lost friends.
Best Regards, Rod24...my old call sign.
