Arming All On Duty Marines At All Times

[William B.]

At a minimum why not allow at least some personnel or as suggested have a small contingent of armed Marines or personnel from all branches (on the perspective bases) for that matter?

At my last duty station we had something like this. There were several non-MP NCO's (many with combat experience) armed with with M16's on our part of base at all times. If there was some sort of significant event, ceremony, etc. they would be in the vicinity. If not they would be patrolling around base on foot.

[ABNAK]

What changed? In 1983 the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut Lebanon was truck bombed killing 241 Americans. The jihadists made it through the gate in part because the Marine guarding the perimeter were not permitted to have loaded weapons.

When Al Grey took over as Commandant in 1987 he required that all Marines on guard duty would perform that duty with loaded weapons. Whether it was guarding an armory, motor transport depot, or a supply warehouse in the U.S. or overseas we did it with at least a loaded magazines in the weapon and two spares in the pouch.

That sad anniversary is about to hit 30 in a few weeks. I was in Infantry OSUT at Ft. Benning when that happened.

The bad guys have tried (especially in the last 12 years of war) to repeat that one big "score" of U.S. miltary casualties. Every single time they try it is far less than they prayed to Allah for and that is when they have had any "success" at all. Our force protection guidelines were profoundly influenced by the tragic events of 30 years ago.

[Irish]

I've been in Boston for the past week and stumbled on this...

[dwhitehorne]

What changed? In 1983 the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut Lebanon was truck bombed killing 241 Americans. The jihadists made it through the gate in part because the Marine guarding the perimeter were not permitted to have loaded weapons.

When Al Grey took over as Commandant in 1987 he required that all Marines on guard duty would perform that duty with loaded weapons. Whether it was guarding an armory, motor transport depot, or a supply warehouse in the U.S. or overseas we did it with at least a loaded magazines in the weapon and two spares in the pouch.

This what I was wondering. When I was at Geiger and Schwab they use to lock us in the armory all night with a 45 and one mag of 7 rounds. We use to shoot pencils in the ceiling but we were armed. I also remember walking around the Disbursing at Geiger 4 hours at a time when the cash was in the building the night before payday. (before direct deposit) We had our M16's with 9 rounds in our mags. I remember the red painted wood block we had to put our rounds in for shift change.

We didn't have MP's at Geiger or Schwab. The duty company stood the gate and performed all the guard functions. Guard duty use to rotate between the different companies in the Regiment every few months. Do they not do this anymore? David

[Eurodriver]

We didn't have MP's at Geiger or Schwab. The duty company stood the gate and performed all the guard functions. Guard duty use to rotate between the different companies in the Regiment every few months. Do they not do this anymore? David

Civilian/DOD MPs guard the "main gate" that connects you to both Geiger and New River.

There are no guards at Geiger's gate anymore.

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

QRF. Bases are targets, so have a QRF. Make it a a duty for companies that have too many PFC's. Send the PFC's to QRF Company for a rotation just like they did with maintenance company on Pendleton. Have a few different platoons around different areas on the base. And allow responsible Marine's to attend mandated CCW courses and carry on base. This could solve a lot of this issue.

[dwhitehorne]

Civilian/DOD MPs guard the "main gate" that connects you to both Geiger and New River.

There are no guards at Geiger's gate anymore.

Well hell I guess you don't have to climb under the fence anymore to avoid the post standers when stumbling back from the "Brown Bagger" or the "Drift Wood" David

[SeriousStudent]

QRF. Bases are targets, so have a QRF. Make it a a duty for companies that have too many PFC's. Send the PFC's to QRF Company for a rotation just like they did with maintenance company on Pendleton. Have a few different platoons around different areas on the base. And allow responsible Marine's to attend mandated CCW courses and carry on base. This could solve a lot of this issue.

This I like.

And honestly, I much preferred guard over mess duty. Which the Gunny's pets never had to pull anyway.

[JSantoro]

To even come close to making it worthwhile, and not just TSA in Chucks....

Retool how/when baseline firearms quals are run, i.e., RUN THEM. Stop presuming that the power-point ninja who squatted on the FOB three times is okay "because he's been deployed a bunch." He's not automatically a jerkoff, but he's definitely NOT "okay" with a firearm based upon mere number of times he got a gov't-paid ride to another country and back.

Make it so that an individual Marine basically has to produce a corpse to get a waiver for NOT taking their annual quals. Regardless of rank and with particular emphasis on pistol in the interests of doing what can be done to ensure that the ones likely to have to do this little pipedream have something masquerading as competency with what they're likely gonna be armed with.

No more "qualified X times = doesn't have to qual any more," or anything like it, unless you're ready to do the same bloody thing with PFTs.

No more "gentleman's courses," be they official or otherwise.

And, since we're engaging in discussing what wishes we'd ask for when we discover and rub the lamp.....I want an extra .75" of girth for my Executive Branch, a perennial cash vine in by back yard and an eidetic memory.

[yellowfin]

Maybe I think of things too simply, but if you can't trust someone to be armed, WTF are they doing working for/with you in the first place? Can't trust the Marines to be armed, then what in the hell is the concept of discipline supposed to mean exactly? What happened to Robert E. Lee's rule that every man is expected to be a gentleman?