They were armed when I was serving.
If you drew armory protection during guard duty they issued you a pump shotgun.
Well, all I know is they apparently weren’t armed when the shooting was going on at Ft. Hood. I was shocked and appalled. Who would have ever thought that an army base was a gun-free zone? Not even the MP’s were armed, and apparently the person in charge of their armory was not available at the time. At least that was what I heard.