I have recently asked some old timers about the ability of our military to have access or carry firearms on a domestic peacetime bases. A couple of WWII era guys told me that it was quite normal to see officers on and off duty with their side arms. Enlisted had their weapons in barracks armories or the like and did not have access to them unless required. Heavy weapons were always locked up and never available. Several 60 and 70's era vets have told me that officers were allowed to carry their side arms on base whenever they wanted in those times.
Does aybody know what happened to this policy, what was the real story back then and when did access to weapons become severly restricted to all excepect security on domestic bases.
Part 2 if this is why the hell shouldnt we allow officers to carry their side arms whenever they please ? I understand restricting an 18 year old boot under a lot of stress and training pressure BUT NOT officers !

I was at Fort Meade in 1997, and even though we had transitioned to single-person rooms in the barracks, I was required to keep my personal firearms in the post armory. If I wanted to check them out, I had to make an appointment to do so during normal duty hours, and upon receiving my weapons was escorted immediately off post by MPs. When returning to post with my weapons, I had to do so during duty hours and had to call in advance to arrange for a MP escort from the gate to the armory.

It was a HUGE pain in the ass, and meant that if I wanted to go out hunting or do some range firing on the weekend I had to rent a hotel room or stay with a buddy off post somewhere.

" understand restricting an 18 year old boot under a lot of stress and training pressure BUT NOT officers!" Three word answer Major Nadal Hasan.

If the obama controlled military was not totally infected by the disease of PC that mohammedean maniac would have been removed from duty as soon as it was discovered tha the was in direct contact with known terrorists. That tragedy is a DIRECT result of PC run amok in our military. There was massive warning signs WELL KNOWN about that monster well before the islamic terrorist attacked.
Before any sane weapons policy can be implemented the obama infection must be removed.

The regulation prohibiting carrying personaly owned weapons on base was put in place during the Clinton administration.

'Fraid not. It's a DoD directive from February 1992.

GHWB, not Clinton.

quote:

---

If the obama controlled military was not totally infected by the disease of PC that mohammedean maniac would have been removed from duty as soon as it was discovered tha the was in direct contact with known terrorists. That tragedy is a DIRECT result of PC run amok in our military. There was massive warning signs WELL KNOWN about that monster well before the islamic terrorist attacked.
Before any sane weapons policy can be implemented the obama infection must be removed.

---

Not to dispell this delicious attempt at turning this into the politics board, but Hasan's counseling, poor evaluations, and inflammatory comments about the US involvement in Iraq/AFG started as early as 2004... 5 years before Obama took office. The FBI intercepted emails between Hasan and al Alwaki as early as 2007... 2 years before Obama took office.

Was there an exception for skeet shooting because MacDill AFB had a nice skeet range that I know was operating after 1992.

I was mistaken in my belief that the Marine Corps' policy was the result of an EO by Clinton. Each of the services independently determine the policy. By coincidence the directive below was published yesterday.

http://www.marines.mil/News/Messages/MessagesDisplay/tabid/13286/Article/161976/interim-guidance-for-privately-owned-firearms-policy-aboard-marine-corps-instal.aspx

It's a bit disappointing because the policy gaps identified by the review have nothing to do with the factors that were at play in the Navy Yard shooting.

The Navy Yard shooting should not even have been mentioned in the message because it makes it blatantly obvious that any incident involving a firearm will be used as an excuse to impose tighter restrictions on ownership and possession of firearms by law abiding citizens. It would have been better to lead off the first sentence with "The Commandant directed the Marine Corps Staff to conduct a review..." The review is a non sequitur to the Navy Yard shooting or the Fort Hood shooting for that matter.

Navy bootcamp - we all carried rifles !

Only they were dummies weighing about 4 pounds - lots easier to march with than an M1 at 10 pounds !

I was an MP from '70-'76. Any post I was on did not allow weapons to be carried by enlisted personel, except on duty MP's. Exemptions were personel on training exercises.