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Thread: Vintage weapons, US Embassy El Salvador

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    Vintage weapons, US Embassy El Salvador

    Back in my younger days I spent some time as a Marine Security Guard at the Embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador. I was there from Oct 1983-Jan 1985.

    Here are some pics of myself back then, along with some of the weapons we used.

    M16A1,




    XM177,


    M60 machinegun, there's also a S&W Model 10 in my holster.




    There's an UZI and MP5K,

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    Great pics! Thanks for sharing! I also spent some time in El Salvador when I was in the Army. (and much younger also) I did 3 short deployments there, of about 3-4 months each. (one was closer to 2 months) I was pretty much exclusively down on the southern part of the country. (Pacific side) We did some things. lol... That's about all I can say about that. lol.. I was mostly near a village called El Cuco. I don't have many pics, but I do have one of that little village.

    1240616_10200377877514428_1112618097_n.jpg
    U.S. Army Infantry/U.S. Navy Corpsman

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    That's pretty cool. El Salvador is a beautiful country, and mostly nice people. Too bad they can't seem to get the security situation under control. Maybe it's better these days I don't really know, but seems a lot of Salvadorans seem to be coming this way.

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    Interesting! I wasn't aware the US military ever used Thermold mags.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Circle_10 View Post
    Interesting! I wasn't aware the US military ever used Thermold mags.
    I was about to ask if those really were Thermolds or some freaky photo anomaly.

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    Yep, they were Thermold magazines.

    A lot of the stuff (including firearms/ammo) that Marines use at embassies is supplied by the State Department. So we tend to end up with stuff generally not seen in the FMF.
    Last edited by MontanaMarine; 11-07-19 at 11:45.

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    Quote Originally Posted by MontanaMarine View Post
    Yep, they were Thermold magazines.

    A lot of the stuff (including firearms/ammo) that Marines use at embassies is supplied by the State Department. So we tend to end up with stuff generally not seen in the FMF.
    I've been told that the Marines who guard embassy buildings take their orders from the Dept. of State, and not from the military chain of command?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Uni-Vibe View Post
    I've been told that the Marines who guard embassy buildings take their orders from the Dept. of State, and not from the military chain of command?
    That's how it was in my day. Actually a split chain of command.

    Operational chain of command went from the DetCmdr to the RSO, to the Ambassador.

    Administrative chain of command (promotion, disciplinary action, pay, transfers, etc.) went from DetCmdr to Co CO in Panama, to Bn CO in Quantico.

    That's why the Marines in Iran didn't start killing the embassy intruders. Ambo ordered them not to shoot and surrendered the embassy.

    While I was in El Sal, President Reagan sent out a State Department wide communication. The message was very clear. He didn't want any embassy to fall without a 'spirited defense'. Of course as Marines we loved that. Our Ambassador was on board with that line of thinking too.

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    I wasn't in El Salvador until about 13 years after you. I'm fairly certain the first time I was deployed there was 1998. We did a lot of watching, with some occasional engagements. Like you said... most of the people there were nice. However, there were a few nasties to deal with. I've got a few pictures somewhere, but nothing cool. Most of mine were confiscated. Most of the rolls that weren't, were heat damaged. I remember going to a mall one weekend in San Miguel and there was actually a gun store inside the mall. you could literally buy anything you wanted, including machine guns.
    U.S. Army Infantry/U.S. Navy Corpsman

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    Quote Originally Posted by MontanaMarine View Post
    Yep, they were Thermold magazines.

    A lot of the stuff (including firearms/ammo) that Marines use at embassies is supplied by the State Department. So we tend to end up with stuff generally not seen in the FMF.
    Did you get the Thermold stripper clips and guides too?

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