True - but NG soldiers bring their own.
:-)
True, but only if you fear death more than court-martial. We were given five rounds in Basic when we guarded the main ammo supply point, but that was because nuclear weapons were stored in some of the bunkers. Even then, it would take an officer to order "lock and load", although a senior NCO could order it, if he actually saw his troops taking fire.
See troops, or police, walking around with an empty magazine well, and no pouches for more magazines, you know it is just for show, to make someone "feel safer". That includes those in charge, who see their own armed troops as more of a threat to their future careers than to the disarmed civilians they are supposed to be protecting.
The pogues prefer armed rent-a-cops to protect the powerful over regular American military, who are woefully undertrained, especially in eras when the military cannot afford ammo, like now. With my permit, which will probably become extinct in the next administration, I carry enough concealed handgun and extra ammo to either get me out of danger, or to provide me with a more capable weapon that some enemy no longer needs. Even then, it takes me about 3000 rounds a year, paid out of my own pocket, to keep my skills current with anything I might come across, whether it's just punching holes in paper, or using the same type of computerized live-fire ranges available to SOME police and troops.