I don’t believe soldiers and marines have had ready access to private or even issued arms during CONUS duty since the Korean war; this is not a new thing. I was active duty from ‘83-’90, both CONUS and ROK, and at each installation, perosnal arms had to be secured at the unit armory, and our issued arms were also stored there, only drawn during training, range, or in Korea, during alerts. Talking to a number of vets, this was the case at least back to the 1950’s... maybe even longer, but I don’t have data to support that. I agree that this is dumb, I thought so then, but trying to blame Obama for it just doesn’t hold water.
I can confirm what you say during my service time. It really bothered me a lot later in my service when I had ccw but was not allowed to carry on base. Fort Hood and the Navy Yard withstanding, bases are normally very safe places where you don’t really need a gun. My biggest problem with the policy was the fact that I was disarmed going to and leaving the base. The base was in a bad area and having a firearm in your car would be a logical choice if the base policy did not prohibit it. So, I think the policy should change to allow servicemen to carry on base.
I think some officers were able to carry sidearms, at least some of the time.
I believe it was left up to base commanders until 1993.
The first Bush President also ended the time honored tradition of bringing back war trophy firearms during the first Gulf War. He was a progressive.