Your point about there needing to be more security in the area may be legitimate. Of course, I've been in plenty of places where locals have some access, and you can't guard against one of them whipping out weapons and blasting away. The fact that those guys were shot and killed indicates to me that there was security present, and probably reasonable security at that.
But the point the original poster made, as opposed to your point, had nothing to do with local security. He was flabbergasted that the Marines on the exercise were not issued live ammo, and THAT argument is indefensible.
Agreed. Marines don't train force on force with live ammo. I remember using that crappy MILES gear too, with blanks. Blanks were horrendous - bad carbon buildup to clean and jamming. Those BFAs didn't help matters either.
I've heard the MILES 2000 gear is a lot better.