When I was on LSA Anaconda back in '04-'05, the EOD unit adjacent to my motorpool had one wall in their day-room damn near covered in captured small-arms and anti-tank weapons. There was a gold-plated AK folder, a chrome-plated PSL, Combloc pistols & AK variants, an MP5 and PPSH (IIRC), RPG-7 launcher, another man-port anti-tank missle launcher (USSR Spigot, or French maybe?), and other various bolt-actions.
I asked a guy over there what they were going to do with them when they redeployed. He said "We're gonna have a Thermite cook-out." I felt like puking.
Before we redeployed, I had taken a .50 (plain ball) cartridge off my M2's belt, on my last gun-truck mission, and pulled the round out. I then drilled a hole through the base, buffed it to a high shine, and ran my silver necklace through it.
Upon reaching Kuwait, and having gone through 5 customs searches by that point, not one customs guy had said anything about my .50 pendant. I had even pulled it out and asked several screeners if it was OK. They told me aside from it not being AR670-1 compliant, it was fine.
But at the final customs screen in Kuwait, one of the screeners passed his detecto-wand over my chest and had me pull out my chain & tags. Upon seeing the .50 round, I thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head. Instead of quietly telling me that I couldn't maintain possession of my single war-trophy, he yelled at full volume; "UXO! Got a guy here trying to sneak UXOs!"
The NCOIC & OIC came running over at full tilt, probably expecting a mortar shell or grenade. They saw the .50 round, and while the OIC was trying to hold back laughter as he walked away, the NCOIC proceeded to tear me a new one about smuggling UXOs, and violation of GO1A & AR670-1. Afterwards the NCOIC started congradulating the snotty-nosed reservist private who discovered my crime for doing a good job.... I thought they were going to have a circle **** over it.
So I handed over my .50cal pendant, and then was sequentially torn several more new ones (along with being threatened with an Article-15) by several of my own unit NCOs..... none of them my own sqd. ldr, whom I had asked before putting the .50 round on my chain in Iraq, had seen me ask the prior customs guys about it, and took no steps to stick up for me.
However.... I do know of several guys who smuggled back broken-down firearms and/or parts and empty Iraqi mortar shells by handing them off to KBR personel, and then having the KBR guys bring the stuff back in their own personal goods connexes. KBR didn't have to go through nearly as stringent of a customs shakedown when packing their connexes, and a few of them would smuggle in or out of country, anything you wanted for $100.
In Iraq, where there's a will..... especially if you've got connections with the civilian contractors.