Air Force, Central Command set war trophy policy Published April 21, 2003 By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott Air Force Print News WASHINGTON -- Servicemembers deployed supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom may be tempted to bring home souvenirs of their war experience, but Air Force legal officials are urging them to think twice. Depending on the item, bringing home a "war trophy" could lead to court-martial, said Lt. Col. Karen L. Manos, legal staff officer in the Air Force's operations law division at the Pentagon. Air Force Joint Instruction 31-217, "Control and Registration of War Trophies and War Trophy Firearms," has been in effect since the Vietnam era, Manos said. The instruction specifies what a servicemember must do to legally bring home a war trophy, and lists items that are not allowed to be brought home. "(The instruction) lets you bring home certain things, but it requires written permission from the theater commander," Manos said. "If you don't get permission, it would be like theft -- it would actually violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice and (the perpetrator) could be court-martialed." Two airmen were prosecuted by court-martial for violating the instruction following Operation Desert Storm. According to the instruction, servicemembers are not allowed to claim the following as trophies: -- Property belonging to the United States or an allied nation. -- Nameplates pulled from any type of equipment. -- Live ammunition, flammables, explosives or any item containing explosives. -- Weapons that are defined as firearms by the National Firearms Act. -- Electronic equipment, such as radios or radar. -- Government-owned or privately owned equipment of the enemy that is not designed for individual issue. -- Government-owned or privately owned articles of a household nature that have intrinsic value, such as coin collections or jewelry. -- Religious items. -- Items that have military research, training or intelligence value. -- Items obtained in violation of international law. -- Weapons that emit gas. One potential gray area in the instruction is the collection of nonlethal items of vague military value, the colonel said. "A lot of people are collecting things like pictures of Saddam Hussein and Iraqi flags," she said. "A potential argument would be that it's government-owned equipment not designed to be issued to an individual. It would probably be OK, but you'd still need permission to bring it home." Besides the Air Force joint instruction, Central Command General Order 1A prohibits weapons, munitions and military articles and equipment from being brought home as souvenirs. Customs laws and postal regulations also prohibit shipment of certain items through the mail. According to the Air Force's chief of postal policy, sending hazardous material through the mail could endanger innocent bystanders because the military often uses commercial airlines to carry its mail. "Commercial airlines have a requirement to provide safe flights to their passengers," Bob Eichholz said. "We don't want the Federal Aviation Administration or commercial carriers to start putting restrictions on our mail." Manos said that, besides safety concerns, the instruction and general orders are intended to help the American military keep the moral high ground. "They were established for good order and discipline," she said. "We don't want to have U.S. servicemembers acting like those of some other nations, where they can be accused of pillaging and stealing everything in sight." The key thing to remember, Manos said, is that there is a right way to collect and bring home souvenirs -- servicemembers simply have to follow the rules. "The regulations recognize that servicemembers want to be able to bring something home to show they were part of a war and played an important part," she said. "The regulations are a way of controlling a natural human desire -- they're just making sure it doesn't get out of hand."