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Originally Posted by August
Extremely bad idea according to my old Sarge. He would often say that using an AK on the battlefield is a darn good way to get yourself killed by friendly fire. It looks different, sounds different and even the tracers are a different color than the ones used by our forces.
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I can confirm that especially for regular infantry not the best idea under normal circumstances.My understanding was in Vietnam the risk was that the distinctive sound that AK47 made was likely to attract friendly return fire.Now in a "rounds complete" situation sure you'd pick up an enemy weapon.So @mapuc under normal circumstances especially for regular infantry to as a regular practice to carry an AK in Vietnam bad idea.
Even elite units tended to prefer the M16/CAR15 to the AK/type56 which is mainly because units had better discipline and kept their weapons spotless eliminating most of the serious problems.
My father said the typical SOP for LRRP units was that if the troop preferred as a point man could they carry an AK a lot of guys just as soon carry a shotgun for that position.A much more popular chicom weapon was their version of the RPD they'd cut it down and use it as scatter gun it weighed a few pound less than a 60.
Another more important issue would be ammunition and spare parts harder to scrounge those up if the weapon is not in your inventory.
In Iraq I think it would be a different story for the aK was the primary rifle of the INA so friendly units usually with a few Americans attached where using AKs but different war and time all together.