A reader sent me a fascinating photo taken by a friend of his who is a Malaysian defense journalist and photographer. The photo below was taken at a Malaysian counterinsurgency training exercise last year. The men pictured are members of VAT-69, the Royal Malaysian Police’s paramilitary commandos, and were playing the part of the terrorists during the exercise. The weapons they are armed with are fascinating. The firearms, with the obvious exception of the HK416, were confiscated from Communists terrorists during the 2nd Communist Insurgency (1968 – 1989).

The 1911 pistol (right) is mounted in a rifle stock with a trigger connected to the pistol’s trigger. The M16 (center back) has had the plastic handguard replaced with a nice-looking wooden handguard. The M1 Carbine (bottom right) has a nifty under-barrel grenade launcher mounted.

These guns were probably supplied by Vietnam who had captured large quantities of weapons, including M16 rifles and M1 Carbines, after the fall of Saigon.

[ Many thanks to Perajurit and Faisal for the photo. ]