Chris' Deployment Journal

With a 100-round ammo pouch, a SAW weighs 21 pounds and it is bulky to carry, but even more so entering into/out of Humvees. However, soon after arrival in-country I heard of something that would help. A SAW can be outfitted with both a collapsible stock and a shorter barrel, which are usually only given to airborne units but were now available to all SAW gunners, if the parts were just ordered. With these two parts, my SAW could actually be shorter than the M-4 carbines (basically a shortened version of the M-16) that most of the guys here carry. I found this out ten months ago, while we were still at Camp Scunion.

At that time, one of our other platoons already had them, since they weren't stationed at Scunion and their host active-duty unit gave them all the stocks they needed, but no extra. I had to have them, not just for me but for all my similarly-suffering SAW brothers. At that time, I started badgering our supply guy to get the collapsible stocks for our platoon.

First they couldn't order them because we were only temporarily at Scunion. Then we had to move and get settled in here. And then the paperwork was finally submitted.

Six months after that, our supply guy found out why the parts were so delayed: someone at the KRAB had misplaced the order form. So new forms were submitted. I continued to jokingly badger our supply guys, here and there, while resolving myself that the parts would never come in and I would just finish out our tour with one long, bulky weapon. And then suddenly, like manna from Heaven, they arrived! I literally ran to the supply room to get one and install it immediately.