Served from 1967 to 1969.
At Ft. Dix, Ft. Lewis and duty stations in Germany firearms were only carried while on guard duty (with ammo) and Field training exercises with blanks,qualification with live ammo, or checked out of the arms room for cleaning.
Privately owned firearms were kept locked in the arms room and only released to the owner with company commander’s approval for target shooting, hunting, change of duty station, or end of enlistment to take home.
There were 2 incidents at Ft. Lewis where soldiers on guard duty with live ammo 1). shot himself in the head either accidentally while playing with the pistol or committed suicide and 2). a round from an “unloaded” .45 was discharged inside the guard quarters passing through a bunk mattress and lodging in a trooper’s leg.
Not sure that everybody on post should be carrying firearms with live ammo when not in a combat zone is a good solution to on base shootings
While I generally agree with this. You must consider that firearms training is greatly improved, at least in the Army. Privates are issued their rifles early in basic training and blank ammo. They carry the rifles with them everywhere with a blank in the chamber. ND’s are frowned upon.
Then you take this 19 year old private and send him/her to Iraq/Afghanistan, issue them the basic load for their weapon(s) plus grenades, and make them carry the rifle or pistol every where they go (usually without a round in the chamber on the FOB). ND’s receive swift punishment.
After that you bring them back to the States and tell them it is not safe for them to have firearms in their possession.
“Not sure that everybody on post should be carrying firearms with live ammo when not in a combat zone is a good solution to on base shootings”
Many officers (active and retired) I know are fairly anti-gun and supportive of more govt control.
I think they’ve been trained to consider the average person as being incompetent.
“Not sure that everybody on post should be carrying firearms with live ammo when not in a combat zone is a good solution to on base shootings”
How is on-base different than any other neighborhood? We trust them to fight for our country but don’t trust them to own their own weapons?
Sounds like somebody else’s army to me. My 1960’s Marine Corps allowed us to take our weapons home with us if we wanted to practice, hunt, target compete, etc,. They wouldn’t let us draw extra ammo so we had to buy our own for non-duty shooting. Private firearms weren’t controlled in any way-—an extension of smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, I guess. We used to occasionally trade private guns on base and I still have a couple I bought from sailors.
And by the way, if I ever have to march to defend my rights I’ll be carrying the same kind of rifle I was carrying when I took the oath to defend——Semper Fi.