I remember the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon. The guards had fifty caliber machine guns but no ammo.
I actually blamed Regan because he was head of the military and should have made sure there was no such nonsense going on. I know if I was president, that would be a priority order to all military and civilian guards.
The 50 cal. could have stopped that truck load of explosives too. Also he would have had to have permission to shoot. That would have been another one of president yard-dog’s orders.
Someone might shoot their eye out!
As an Army MP back in ‘89-’91, I was issued all of 10 rounds of 9mm ball for my M9 pistol. Against regs, I kept a personal magazine of 13 more rounds close by. The location of my posting will stay undisclosed.
This is an upgrade from Barney Fife who only got one.
Same here, 5 rounds in my 45
This had as much to do with ammo accountability as anything else. A lost round or AD resulted in reams of paperwork nobody wanted to do, possible adverse career-impacting actions for the NCOs and junior officers in the chain of the soldier who lost the round, and a report of survey, at the end of which the soldier losing the round would see a $0.18 deduction from his next paycheck to adjust the property books.
In the future they’ll get a billy club and a whistle.
LA Riots in 1992, I was issued 15 Rounds .45. Than they gave me a medic who was issued a .45 also. He got 7, I took 8. An LA Sheriff Deputy gave me about 20 hollow point .45’s, which I still have.
My troops had anywhere between 20 - 30, most brought their own as we turned in 200 more rounds than we drew. NCO’s had more than the troops, because I said so.
Petty Officer of the watch on a warship while in port was issued a .45 and a magazine with one round.
Easy enough answer: five rounds are easy to load and unload at the beginning and end of each watch. Five rounds are sufficient to stop an intruder or at least prevent anyone from taking your weapon from you. Guards aren’t supposed to engage in extended firefights, particularly since most of them are brand- new PFCs straight out of basic training.
Guards are supposed to be the tripwire who notifies the Corporal of the Guard that he has a problem and then the guard force turns out like gangbusters.
Back in the early days of my Marine Corps career, I was a guard for an ammunition depot in the hills of Camp Pendleton. At another post further in the ammo dump, a new lieutenant is the Officer of the Day and he decides that he’s going to sneak up on the guard at that post. The guard is surprised and opens fire on the lieutenant with his M-14. The lieutenant pulls his .45 and the fight is on. Luckily for all concerned, nobody was hit and they only had five rounds each, so the damage was limited.
Five rounds is just right, it turns out.
So...uh...with Social Security, HHS, IRS, EPA, and every other Fascist agency stocking up on JHP ammo, what’s their standard carry issue?
Full mag and a spare, I’ll bet.
In 1976-1977 base guards had one magazine of 5.56 but had to be in the magazine pouch and officers of the day kept a loaded magazine in their pistol.
In 1982 we participated in a parade in LA, CA, each squad leader had on magazine of 5.56 in the pouch. 1982-1984 officers of the day had one loaded magazine in their pistol and one in the pouch. Interior Base guards had no ammo. Gate guards had ammo but weapons were kept unloaded.
After the Beruit Bombing where they had ammo but were not allowed to have loaded magazines, the word went out that in all dangerous areas, magazines would be loaded and in the weapon, but a round would not be in the chamber unless you felt threatened.
In Liberia in 1991, everyone kept their weapons loaded and carried a combat load of ammunition.
In 2004-2005 I was a staff puke in Iraq, we all carried a combat load but our weapons were kept unloaded unless we went out of the base or were on guard. If we left base our weapons were loaded.
Right now gate guards keep their weapons loaded.
As a state employee (civilian) security policeman at an Air National Guard base we had a minimum of three men on a shift. Two carried loaded .38 Special pistols with 18 extra rounds loose in a belt pouch. The other man carried a select-fire Air Force version of the M-16 rifle with a 30 round magazine and three more magazines in a belt carrier.
Would it be possible this SOP was instituted back when 5 rounds was a full clip (for a 1903 Springfield)?
I pulled Divisional Guard one night at a large southern Army base back in the mid 70’s. We were issued a shotgun and 5 rounds of OO buck. They were to be kept in our pocket until a threat was perceived.
One thing I still remember about that night-I was guarding a large (20 acres?) motor park full of obsolete vehicles that were being disposed of. There must have been a couple hundred of those Jeep pickup looking things in there. 5/4 tons?
One of them had the turn signal on. Every 1/2 hr. circuit of the yard the interval increased by a bit ‘til morning it was a weak 8 seconds apart. Struck me as funny for some reason.
When 20 round mags were all that was available, prior to the 30 round mags issued, 3 x 18 rounds of ball , 54 rounds total was issued to USAF Security Police AFSC 811XO.......
When 30 round mags were issued 4x30 rounds, 120 total were issued. Same AFSC 811X0.
They guarded the nukes, alert priority A resources etc....
A round of ammo cost 7 cents at that time , the bureaucracy, associated manpower, paperwork, process etc ran around 100$ per lost round to take 7 cents from the SP Ramp Rat’s pay.
USAF Security Forces today an back when they were just Security Police are / were NEVER issued just 5 rounds.
Just what I observed as a EOD Tech (AFSC 464X0) for my 26 year career in the USAF.
Stay Safe !
Looking carefully at the pic, I think it’s one mag and three chocolate bars.
Air Force, 1981-1985. SP’s on base were said to carry 5 rounds each.