Side arm caliber for the Middle East

Willy P · Post by **Willy P** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:57 am

If you were headed to the Middle East ,as a private contractor, what caliber side arm would you take? I'm basically wanting input from any that know what ammo is readily available over there? I know a side arm sucks in a gunfight! I'm not talking primary weapon guns.

AkronGuy32 · Post by **AkronGuy32** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:15 pm

This is kind of a sensitive question, as most people are very territorial on their choice of caliber. I prefer .45 for stateside use, maybe .40 at the smallest. For what you are asking though, the choice may be easy. 9mm is by far the most common round worldwide, getting new ammo would be no problem. If you are authorized by the U.S. Military to carry a weapon, a local armorer would provide you with whatever ammo type you need, whenever you need it. But like alot of contractors, if your carry will be "unofficial", I would go with 9mm. Just my opinion though.

Willy P · Post by **Willy P** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:46 pm

I would expect "clearance" would be needed for the jobs but I have not looked far enough into it yet. All the jobs I have seen so far would be in Kuait or U.A.E. and I would expect them all to be sea side areas. It's going to be a little while before I have enough info to decide if it is "worth it" or not. I just want all the experienced info I can get till I have to crap or get off the pot, so to speak. Thanks for your input so far.

Post by **TunnelRat** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:49 pm

Willy P wrote:All the jobs I have seen so far would be in Kuait or U.A.E. and I would expect them all to be sea side areas. It's going to be a little while before I have enough info to decide if it is "worth it" or not.

My son advises me that if you want to know what Kuwait is like, try sticking your head in an oven.

Baghdad, of course, is much cooler -- it drops below 100 after midnight these days...

Willy P · Post by **Willy P** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:59 pm

Sounds sort of like working heat treating areas Tom

As far as anyplace as "hot" as Iraq, it's not worth the money they are offering . I'm looking at a 9 to 12 month thing with the family staying right here and me coming back.

Wayne · Post by **Wayne** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 1:22 am

Personally wild horses couldn't drag me over there. What to carry though is a no brainer, 9mm is the only choice in places like Iraq.It is the NATO standard side arm caliber and should be readily available most anywhere in the world.

Petrovich · Post by **Petrovich** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:11 am

My favorite caliber over there would be the one that makes the biggest hole in a raghead.

Striker · Post by **Striker** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 8:51 am

Willy,

Short answer is some flavor of 9mm for the reasons already discussed.

Other things to consider:

If the contract is security/LE related, weapons are provided by the company you work for. My experience is that most, but not all are Glock 17/19s.

If you are in a non-security/LE related contract, all companies that I am aware of have prohibitions on employees carrying any type of weapons (this has to do with maintaining a non-combatant status, though the insurgents don't care about your status at all. If you are an American, you are fair game!). You and your baggage will be inspected several times before you arrive, so you will not get one through. Some companies enforce the prohibition after you arrive to prevent locally procured weapons, while others do not if you are discreet.

Availability of privately procured weapons varies. If you are working in Saudi Arabia, you can forget it. If in Kuwait, you can go to any of the local gun shops and get anything you want, and I do mean anything. Afganistan, Dubai, and the UAE states in general are no problem.

BB62 · Post by **BB62** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:31 am

Willy P., (or anyone else with knowledge)

How does one go about checking on "opportunities" in the Middle East?

I am middle aged, with no construction experience, but have heard of similar type people getting various jobs for 6 months to 1 year, at quite high rates of pay.

If you can direct me to some resources where I can do some investigation I would be very appreciative.

BB62

Willy P · Post by **Willy P** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 3:20 pm

Striker thanks for the input. I would not be doing LE. The jobs involve liquid transfer and or changes of it's state. I would expect the facilities to be prime targets, unfortunately. There seem to be lots of jobs for folks with controls background and the IR cert. makes it all the better.

BB62 most of the jobs engines have an outside of the US feature you can select to look anywhere in the world your skill set will take you. You just word the search for what you can do or pick from a pulldown list some times.