The Del Mar Area Armory, Camp Pendleton, January 16, 2003. I was arguing with the armorer, trying to finagle some long guns for the major and myself, and I was getting nowhere; my pleadings were falling on deaf ears. After about five minutes, an unnamed lieutenant colonel snarled, "Stafford, you and your buddy Coast are going to be advising in the rear, you don't need a damn long gun."

A Rescue by MPs
Those words will forever be seared into my mind. About two weeks later at Camp Commando in Kuwait, I was approached by Lt. Col. Pete Zarcone (a finer officer of Marines you could not find). He asked me in his own sweet way, "Hey, dumbass, where's your long gun?"

A Mossberg 590 with some items from the author's collection: The flag was captured from a military college.

I related the previous colonel's comments, to which he replied, "Well you better [expletive deleted] one up because you're going in with 3rd Tracs--welcome to the armored infantry." Luckily, I had been conducting quite a bit of training with the MPs, and a Lt. Hoffman took pity on me. I was provided with three very worn Mossberg model 590s and one "much loved" M16A2 for my team. It was decided that I would take one of the Mossbergs and Maj. Mark Coast (my boss, another fine officer) would take the M16. We came to this as a matter of practicality; I teach shotgun at my real job at the Los Angeles Police Department, and Coast is a federal agent who teaches the M16 to other feds. The other two shotguns would be held as less lethal munitions systems, but more on that later.

The author and his teammates on the way to Baghdad.
The chem suits are as hot and uncomfortable as they look. After a month in one, the smell was barely tolerable.

Getting Familiar
My small civil affairs team was attached to an Amtrac Battalion and tasked with keeping the main supply routes cleared and gathering what intelligence we could. I had become intimately familiar with the 590 and was very impressed with its inherent ruggedness. I also came to really appreciate the tang-mounted safety, which simplifies the manual of arms because it allows right- and left-handed shooters to access the safety while keeping all fingers clear of the triggerguard. Because the desert environment in Iraq is so unforgiving--think of brown talcum powder--I had my team cleaning their weapons every day. This gave me plenty of chances to appreciate the fact that the 590 seemed to collect less filth on its innards than the other weapons on my team, including my issue Beretta M9.

The 590 broke down easily for cleaning, and its rock-solid firing mechanism cleaned easily with a GP brush and an old sock (hey, you use what you got). Just as important, it went back together easily. The gun mounted easily even with my Interceptor vest in the way, and it balanced well while coming onto and tracking targets--eventually targets with AKs and bad intentions.

Various Loads
I had taken some of the LAPD duty ammunition with me to the sandbox just in case (yes, I am that paranoid), so the Mossberg was stoked with a mix of Winchester Ranger slugs and Federal Tactical 9 pellet 00 buckshot.

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