Some of my Desert Storm Bring Backs

[bryang]

Since I've recently joined this forum, I've found renewed interest in some of my old militaria and personal souvenirs.

 

As a result, I moved junk around in my garage and came across one of my boxes full of items I picked up off the battle field during Desert Storm. I went into western Kuwait during the ground offensive (was with 5th Special Forces Group, as we accompanied the Arab Coalition forces during their drive towards Kuwait City).

 

Opened the footlocker and found:

 

[bryang]

These are PSYOP leaflets I gathered on the ground as well as from some Iraqi bunkers

 

 

[doyler]

NIce

 

Thanks for sharing.

[bryang]

Kuwaiti Resistance stuff as well as several Saudi military patches I found (while still in Saudi Arabia)

 

 

[bryang]

Some shrapnel I collected after Iraqi artillery attack in our vicinity:

 

 

 

This is barbed wire I had to cut off the axle of our vehicle while trying to make our way through Iraqi obstacles ... was an inconvenience at the time

 

[bryang]

A couple different variation of tank helmets

 

 

 

A piece of camouflage material, different pattern on each side

 

[bryang]

Iraqi field gear

 

[bryang]

Some more field gear

 

 

 

 

 

Iraqi duffel bag I found and used to haul some of my swag

 

[bryang]

A tanker uniform - one-piece coverall, with some repair stitching on the legs:

 

 

 

Plain khaki fatigues:

 

 

 

[bryang]

This appears to be part of a mirrored prism used to look out armored vehicle

 

 

[SergeantMajorGray]

Wow awesome bring backs. Is there a stamp under the flap on the canvas tank helmet? It's probably Soviet.

[bryang]

A plain green two-piece Iraqi uniform:

 

 

 

 

 

This is a 5th Special Forces Group Christmas card printed and distributed to members of the unit to send home to family and friends. There were two different cards printed (I'll look for the other one).

 

I have the original hand-drawn renderings used to make these cards (I was the 'artist' who drew them)

 

 

 

 

 

I have another foot locker full of Iraqi trophies, which I'll have to look for, and will post photos of when I do.

[bryang]

Wow awesome bring backs. Is there a stamp under the flap on the canvas tank helmet? It's probably Soviet.

Some hand-written Arabic script on the inner ear phones. I'd imagine that there might be Soviet script somewhere on these. I have a couple cloth, and found one mesh - I suppose "hot weather" version.

[badash5946]

Great personal grouping! Thanks for sharing your bringbacks.

[RedLegGI]

Great stuff, glad we get to enjoy seeing what you brought back. I wasn't able to bring much back from OIF so seeing all of this is impressive!

[Nkomo]

Awesome stuff there. Thanks for sharing!

[m1ashooter]

Thanks for showing us your loot, but where is the tank shipped back one piece at a time.

[Rakkasan187]

Very nice looking items..

 

Leigh

[bryang]

I have another box of crap somewhere in storage, which I intend to seek the next day or so. A week after the ceasefire we were redeployed from Kuwait into Saudi Arabia to prep for return to the U.S.

 

The day we returned, several of our guys were told that they were departing the very next day - the 101st Airborne Division had some extra seats on one of their charter flights back to Fort Campbell.

 

We brought the guys to the airfield and learned that the Military Police who were performing customs duty were giving many of the guys difficulty: Several guys who had several empty AK magazines were told that they could only take fewer ... couple guys who had tanker helmets were told that they couldn't take them, etc .....

 

We believed that what it boiled down to was the likelihood that some MPs didn't get any swag, as they didn't deploy onto the battlefields - the prizes in the 'amnesty box' were most likely retrieved and kept. Seven months in the desert and your freedom bird is just 100 feet away ... who's going to raise too much fuss when you really want to go home.

 

 

We learned from this and simply took our stuff to the Army Post Office. I shipped four boxes of captured stuff home. Funny thing: the young female Soldier digging through my boxes (to ensure no weapons/explosives/etc were present) got halfway through my second box, when she asked me: "None of this stuff came off dead people did it?" I simply smirked and told her: "Not all of it."

 

She pulled her hands out of the box, looked at me, then gave the remaining two boxes a cursory glance before marking them 'ok' and taping them shut!

 

Once I find the other stuff I'll get some photos posted.

[RedLegGI]

I have another box of crap somewhere in storage, which I intend to seek the next day or so. A week after the ceasefire we were redeployed from Kuwait into Saudi Arabia to prep for return to the U.S.

 

The day we returned, several of our guys were told that they were departing the very next day - the 101st Airborne Division had some extra seats on one of their charter flights back to Fort Campbell.

 

We brought the guys to the airfield and learned that the Military Police who were performing customs duty were giving many of the guys difficulty: Several guys who had several empty AK magazines were told that they could only take fewer ... couple guys who had tanker helmets were told that they couldn't take them, etc .....

 

We believed that what it boiled down to was the likelihood that some MPs didn't get any swag, as they didn't deploy onto the battlefields - the prizes in the 'amnesty box' were most likely retrieved and kept. Seven months in the desert and your freedom bird is just 100 feet away ... who's going to raise too much fuss when you really want to go home.

 

 

We learned from this and simply took our stuff to the Army Post Office. I shipped four boxes of captured stuff home. Funny thing: the young female Soldier digging through my boxes (to ensure no weapons/explosives/etc were present) got halfway through my second box, when she asked me: "None of this stuff came off dead people did it?" I simply smirked and told her: "Not all of it."

 

She pulled her hands out of the box, looked at me, then gave the remaining two boxes a cursory glance before marking them 'ok' and taping them shut!

 

Once I find the other stuff I'll get some photos posted.

 

Not surprising lol.

 

 

When I was redeploying home, we had to go through customs. I emptied all my dufflebags, my back pack, pockets in order. Everything in my duffles cleared just fine, but when we got to my backpack I had an issue.

 

Earlier in the day I had bought a big bag of starburst candy to enjoy on the flight home and share with my buddies should they ask. I had opened it just before customs and had popped one in my mouth before putting it back in my bag. When that opened back came out of my backpack, it was immediately confiscated and I said "um I just opened that" the customs lady was like "Well you can't have it because its opened." So instead of arguing, I asked her if I could take a handful, she obliged and I got to enjoy my starburst none the less lol.

 

 

 

[Herbf]

Kuwaiti Resistance stuff as well as several Saudi military patches I found (while still in Saudi Arabia)

 

 

Desert Storm Bring-Back Stuff (7).JPGDesert Storm Bring-Back Stuff (14).JPG

The leaflets look like they got caught in the oil fires. There are about 100 leaflets for Desert Storm in all. Most of the EUCOM ones dropped from up north in Turkey got grabbed for souvenirs. Whole trucks full. That is why you see them so often up for sale. They had better security in Saudi. There are few you can only find oil covered. I really like that Kuwaiti peace. I had a few Kuwaiti friends, especially a photographer who did a book about Iraqi terrorist acts. We found a lot of stuff used by the Kuwaiti resistance or prepared to support them; buttons, T-shirts, labels, etc. If I could get a nice shot of the front and back of that piece showing all the Kuwaiti flags it would be a nice addition. Maybe you could send it as a jpeg to Sgmbert@hotmail.com. If not, a nice clear picture here that I can steal is OK.

[bryang]

And so I found yet another Iraqi Desert Storm bring-back (rucksack)

[lytec]

WOW thats some great stuff. Love the psyops leaflets

[1st Sgt CES]

Nice bring back. I like the tank helmets a lot. Blue Skies Mark

[automatic]

Thanks for your service! Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing!