nomad_556 OP t1_jebwdlw wrote on March 30, 2023 at 9:54 PM

Reply to comment by IamMillwright in TIL that, during the Cold War, every infantry and armor battalion in the U.S Army had one officer trained to deploy the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM), commonly known as the backpack nuke by nomad_556

I know at least in the US some Korea/Vietnam vets managed to sneak weapons home and hide them in caches, some of which have never been found. I find it very hard to believe that the Soviet’s didn’t do the same, especially considering how much USSR equipment has been popping up in ukraine

themagicbong t1_jecscoi wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:48 AM

While not a nuke, had a girlfriend once who's dad kept his M4 from his service. I'd have never seen/held one otherwise. I was helping her with something and outta nowhere was like "Is that a fuckin m4 in your attic?" and no, he did not have any sort of licenses or anything to have it.

nomad_556 OP t1_ject3o3 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:53 AM

Standards were different back then. Heavy customs enforcement wasn’t a thing like it is now. Hell, even in the last 20 years it’s taken a while to heavily enforce them.

I knew a staff sergeant once who was deployed to the Middle East in the early 2000s. He told me a about how when he was on deployment they destroyed a hostile truck (believe it was a car bomb, don’t quite recall).

In the wreckage of that truck he found some prayer beads, perfectly unharmed. He took them and brought them home. Back then during customs the tape they’d use to signal baggage had been checked wasn’t permanent. All he did was wait for the inspectors to slap the tape on and turn their backs, then into his luggage went the beads.

Still has them hanging in his car to this day.

RingGiver t1_jeezohr wrote on March 31, 2023 at 3:08 PM

How did he manage to make it disappear? They're pretty strict about keeping track of those.

themagicbong t1_jega7mc wrote on March 31, 2023 at 8:13 PM

I wish I knew, honestly. I bet that it is "missing" from somewhere. Thats why I was so surprised to see it just laying around in the attic. It might have been damaged or missing pins or something, when I picked it up, the upper receiver basically just about came out. Hinged forward from the stock/lower and gave me a good look at the internals. I just kinda put it back down where I found it lol. Wasn't expecting it to be as heavy as it was.