Russia Seizes Arsenal Of US Weapons In Georgia - Military MOSCOW (AFP)--Russian forces have seized a "large arsenal" of U.S.-made weapons in the western Georgian city of Senaki including hundreds of assault rifles, a military spokesman said Friday.
"In Senaki, we seized a large arsenal of weapons including 664 U.S.-made M-16 rifles" and a number of M-40 sniper rifles, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told a news conference in Moscow. "There were 1,728 weapons total."
Guns are an international currency.
Every country that has completed a revolution/civil war finds itself awash in guns and the next thing you know, that large pile of slightly used AK’s or G3’s is being shipped to Lower Slobtnia as part of an aid shipment.
So, when the the Soviets Commies Russians whine about American M16’s being found in Georgia, I’m not terribly excited. While they could be part of a military aid package, they could also be part of a foreign aid package we shipped to Country A, who slipped them to Country B who then trans-shipped to Georgia. More likely, they’re from Viet Nam.
Viet Nam? Oh yes, that ghost is going to be around for a bit.
Here’s some perspective. In 1995, my M16A2 had the serial number 6554475. That’s 6.5 million. Figure total production to date 8-9 million.
Anyone want to guess how many M16’s the US left behind in Viet Nam? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Almost 900,000. Almost 1/5th of the total production to that time. The numbers of M60’s, M79’s, etc is likewise staggering.
So it’s really not surprising when we see Palestinians, Nicaraguans, Checneyans or anyone else packing an M16.
The M40’s, however, are a little harder to explain.