Every soldier qualified with an M-16, and he said (if I remember right), Infantry qualifies also with an M4. But nobody qualifies with a side arm at boot camp. He said that they may have in the past, but to his knowledge, not now.

His group was mostly Medics, and other combat support. He said, to his knowledge, (talking enlisted here) only a few soldiers qualify with a sidearm, and then at their AIT, not at boot camp. Mostly MP’s, etc.

That is surprising to me. I’m with Cosmic…and really with all commentors…I would allow ANY soldier to seek qualification, and to carry after passing a rigorous background check, etc.

Well, maybe not ANY…but say E-4’s & above, or after X number of years of service, etc.

Agreed. Everyone we meet who whines about how “harassed” he was(only a civilian would buy that a MAJOR could be “harassed” on the basis of his ethnicity or religion with impunity in the military….that would be a CAREER ENDER), or how it must have been difficult for him — a muslim who would be counseling servicemen who might be killing gasp members of his religion (ain’t no Christians never killed them some Christians during wartime, don’t ya know…), or any of that other crap needs to be roughly upbraided.

This was an Islamic fundamentalist who, as I will tell anyone who will hear, is definitively insane, who decided one day that he wanted his 72 virgins instead of this poor existence where he couldn’t find a suitable wife.

That’s pretty much all there is to it.

And, as to the Army, you’re correct, they take rifle training in bootcamp (and, unless I’m mistaken, few are issued sidearms for actual combat unless they are officers, perhaps only those in command positions…not sure).

But, I get your overall point. Civilians generally have an unrealistic view of the soldier’s life — in every respect.

Um, generally speaking. There are exceptions.

However, I never said, nor will I ever say that anyone in the military is a moron. What I am saying is that every little section within the military has their own priorities and when something horrible happens it’s easy to see how those priorities can get skewed.

I have been saying all along IF I RAN THE MILITARY. So I’ll say it again. If I ran the dang military EVERY member of the military would be qualified with a gun, rifle and shotgun, and all of them would wear their sidearms pretty much 24×7.

I don’t understand why we have military people running around unarmed. I’m having a major cognitive dissonance on this. They are SOLDIERS, they should be armed.

And if I ran things, they would be. Period.

Air Force members, at least for the past 15 years, only qualify with rifles in boot. Sailors can qualify with pistols, but it’s just as common that they do not. I work for the Navy now and, unless they are a combat rate, MAs or, like you said, officer of the watch, they don’t ever use sidearms.

I’m speaking of enlisted troops, though. Almost all officers use sidearms.

The above should read:

Well, as to sailors…. They have the Gunner’s mates who all are qualified, they have the Ship’s Self-Defense Force (I had to qualify on a .45, a Remmington 870 shotgun, M-14 (heh), and M-60), Masters at Arms (permanent SP’s), and…of course…

Petty Officers of the Watch, a rotating assignment which every petty officer stands in port, and which it is necessary to qualify with a sidearm (a .45 when I was in).

That puts pretty much every sea-going sailor above the paygrade of E-3 as qualified with a sidearm, at least to the degree necessary to know how use it competently. (We qualified both at the shooting range and at sea on the flight deck.)

At least we were qualified enough that we were issued a .45, two clips, and charged with the security of the ship (under the orders of the Officer of the Deck, who generally wasn’t armed, the security being left to the enlisted folk.)

I find it difficult to believe that people who have gone through this: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blbasicpolicies.htm in Army boot camp aren’t “qualified” unless you and I have a vastly different definition of “qualified.”

I’m not using it in the “military sense,” i.e., akin to an “expert,” but simply one who knows how to use and not use a sidearm.

I would have been happy to blow Mr. Hasan away.

Petty Officers of the Watch, a rotating assignment which every petty officer stands in port, and which it is necessary to qualify with a sidearm (a .45 when I was in).

I find it difficult to believe that people who have gone through this: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blbasicpolicies.htm in Army boot camp aren’t “qualified” unless you and I have a vastly different definition of “qualified.”

I’m not using it in the “military sense,” i.e., akin to an “expert,” but simply one who knows how to use and not use a sidearm.

That puts pretty much every sea-going sailor above the paygrade of E-3 as qualified with a sidearm, at least to the degree necessary to know how use it competently. (We qualified both at the shooting range and at sea on the flight deck.)

At least we were qualified enough that we were issued a .45, two clips, and charged with the security of the ship (under the orders of the Officer of the Deck, who generally wasn’t armed, the security being left to the enlisted folk.)

Some sailors and airmen, more than one would think.

But, it isn’t necessary for every service member to be armed. All that is necessary is for there to be a rating wherein those who CHOOSE to become qualified (with applicable background checks) to carry a sidearm. Then, let them do so on any military installation.

“Deputize” them, so to say…

There would be few places where there weren’t service members ready, willing, and able to render aid when necessary.

They should all have a loaded and working sidearm. That’s plenty.

And the bad guys will sneak them in…and mayhem will become commonplace. It sucks.

What I really wonder is how this guy got these weapons to these locations in the first place. You’re only allowed to carry civilian firearms on to military installations under very strict conditions. If he lived in military bachelor housing, he shouldn’t have had firearms at home. He should have had to check his firearms into his unit’s arms room. If bringing weapons onto the fort, he’d have to sign in through security. I’m not saying that it’s impossible for him to have brought the arms onto post, but it’s not the easiest thing to do.

It’s gotta be pretty emasculating for a heavy armor guy to be in that position. Used to throwing high explosive, anti tank rounds down range, probably a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan and can’t freaking respond to a single guy with a personal firearm.

What I believe is going to happen here is that all personal firearms will wind up being banned from all military installations.

There’s a wealth of reasons like that for the PVT Snuffy not to carry his rifle 24/7. However, should there be armed security posted in more places throughout the installation? Absofuckinglutely.