A day late and a dollar short,as usual.
I want to know why they were denied sidearms as policy.
They are not. FedGov controlled military are.
I bet the TN state-controlled National Guard didn’t have a policy before this.
Because unless the sidearms are issued by the unit, they are not uniform. A small number of any unit (e.g. officers, senior NCOs, machine gunners, etc.) are issued sidearms instead of rifles, and can wear them in uniform. Having a "wear your own" policy makes a mockery of uniformity and military training, and reduces a cohesive unit to a cat and dog rabble. If we want a unit under arms, then have its members draw the issue weapons they've been trained to employ, and wear/carry them while on duty - like a military unit.