US Officer Jailed for Iraq Looting A US military judge today sentenced an Air Force officer to one year in prison and dismissed him from service for illegally shipping a small arsenal of automatic weapons and hundreds of other war souvenirs home from Iraq.

Major Gregory McMillion showed no emotion as Colonel Ronald Gregory imposed the sentence in the judge-only court-martial at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
Afterwards, McMillion, 44, and a group of supporters formed a circle and said a prayer. He was taken into custody before reporters could ask him questions.

Col Gregory found McMillion guilty of violating an order against taking, retaining, storing and transporting war trophies for non-official purposes.

The judge also convicted the maintenance officer of charges of failing to turn over captured or abandoned property and conduct unbecoming an officer.

He was acquitted on a charge of making false statements.

McMillion, who once served in the Army, is a gun and military paraphernalia enthusiast who tried to use his deployment to stock his personal collection, prosecutors said.

His booty included 29 Romanian, East German, Hungarian and Iraqi automatic rifles, a Chinese machine gun, four antique rifles, six rocket-propelled grenade launchers and dozens of magazines, scopes and sights.

There were also several dummy land mines and grenades, 1,183 Iraqi army berets, more than 600 pairs of socks and eight full uniforms.

Other items included a statue looted from an Iraqi museum, 253 bayonets, two anti-aircraft gun seats, several empty artillery shells, an Iraqi helmet, a ledger with Arabic writing, a pistol and a flare gun.

McMillion’s lawyer had contended that his client had made a “honest mistake” because he and others did not understand the rules governing war souvenirs.

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