SwiftVets.com

[greasepaint]

are people in today's US military taught how to
fire a gun?

[LewWaters]

When I was in, gun was a word you had better not use. It was rifle or weapon.

Perhaps you could expand on your question a little.
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Clark County Conservative

[zinfella]

[greasepaint]

[JN173]

[LewWaters]

No stateside Military Post of any of the branches allows Soldiers, Airmen or Sailors and Marines to carry loaded weapons around. If you see a parade with weapons shouldered, they are empty.

Weapons are locked up in Armories except for security people, such as MPs or such.

Privately owned weapons are also regulated on post.

When I was in Basic, we would march to the rifle range with M-16's shouldered, but no ammunition was issued until we got there and on the firing line. All brass had to be accounted for and weapons double checked to ensure they were empty before we left.

I even recall after Viet Nam, in Germany, I was assigned payroll guard, back when they paid in cash every month and carried my issued weapon, a S&W 38 revolver, but no ammunition. Neither I nor the payroll officer were allowed to have ammunition, just carry the revolvers for show, I guess, even though we were carrying the entire companies payroll, in cash.
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Clark County Conservative

[Schadow]

In the Civil War, Union General Don Carlos Buell dispatched General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel down here to Huntsville in March, 1862 from Murfreesboro, TN to seize the Memphis & Charleston Railroad from the Confederates. Mitchel arrived at the depot with a small force, expecting minor resistance from the station master and found an entire troop train at the depot. The train contained a superior contingent of Confederate troops and it could have been Mitchel's undoing except that all the Confederates' arms were locked in an armory car at the end of the train. An early example of bad Union intel and of bad contingent planning on the part of the Confederates.

BTW, in Korea, paymasters went by Jeep to the forward units with cash (well, actually Military Payment Certificates - greenbacks were forbidden) armed with .45 Colts and/or carbines AND ammunition. Bandits were as active as the Norks.
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54

[TEWSPilot]

The real culprit in this debacle is "Political Correctness" run amok. It is already killing our troops in Afghanistan by imposing absurd "rules of engagement" to minimize "collateral damage", and now it is allowing the enemy to infiltrate our military and have access to unarmed troops in their safe havens and strongholds. Don't look for any improvement any time soon. We are "racists" if we take reasonable precautions to screen Muslims or Muslim-sympathetic applicants from entry into the military -- or law enforcement -- and we are fools if we don't. Turn the clock back to WWII and ask yourself if a pro-Nazi German-American would have been allowed to be in this man's position, even counseling deploying troops NOT to kill Nazis.

The unasked but pondered question is, why didn't at least some of the closest ones rush the shooter? Maybe some did; maybe we will never know. Hopefully, we will never have to face a similar situation, but I believe we will be facing more, not less, of these scenarios based on how this one went off and how poorly our leadership is reacting. They even refuse to call it what it is: the WORST TERRORIST ATTACK ON AMERICAN SOIL since 9/11. You can't solve a problem if you refuse to acknowledge there is a problem and define it correctly so you can design a proper solution for it.

[TEWSPilot]

I had another afterthought. What if the SWAT team that responded had been comprised of Muslims or at least had a few members who were Muslims of the same stripe as the shooter?

[baldeagle]

It is my belief that the "War on Terror" has been mislabeled from the start. Terrorist acts are a tactic, not an enemy.
Radical Islam has declared war on Christianity and Judaism.
We are engaged in a religeous war against Islam, and the sooner we (our government) gets off the PC wagon and recognizes this fact and relaxes the ROE to WIN, the sooner the carnage will stop.
PC in the Army allowed Hasan to remain on active duty in spite of radical statements made, radical behaviours exhibited, and more than enough justification to expel him from the Army. PC dictated they not "pick on" this minority and no superior officer had the courage to try, even though they had more than sufficient cause.
Until attitudes change we will continue to have these periodic episodes of "terrorism".
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"In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves and not for others; this, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home." --George Washington

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Political correctness has made us blind.

It's been as plain as the noses on our faces since the time of Muhammad.

People have this goofy idea that only the "radical" Muslims like Al Qaeda are a problem for us. But Islam consists of thousands of sub-groups that find agreement in only ONE point - and that is that the world must be brought to Allah - peacefully when it's possible, forcibly when it's necessary. This is their code, from their own sacred writ.

When this shooting was happening, I was horrified and very upset, like most people. But, I didn't really lose it until Shepard Smith said to SEN Hutchison, "We won't release his name yet, but his name tells us a lot, does it not, Senator?" and she replied that "Yes, it does tell us a lot."

That's when I realized that it was Muslim-related. And I knew too that this is going to go on and on and on - through generations of our grandchildren. Our descendants will still be fighting the same damn thing until the end of the world - or until we can bear to hear and speak the truth.

This guy repeatedly rails against the US Government to his superiors, praises suicide bombers, "defends" the right of Muslims (not Iraqi's, not Afghani's - MUSLIMS) to protect themselves and lists his citizenship as PALESTINIAN at his mosque.

Where the hell were the flags on the field?

Thirteen more people have died because the umps had been blindfolded.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[LewWaters]

I don't think anyone has framed it any better than Lt. Col. Allen West in Florida.

“Tragedy at Ft Hood”
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Clark County Conservative

[TEWSPilot]

"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." - From Barack Obama's book, "Audacity of Hope" (which, like all his books, was actually ghost-written by unrepentent Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers)

Can we jump to conclusions NOW, Mr. President?

[LewWaters]

As much as I do not care for Obama's politics, we do strive for accuracy here. That particular statement does not appear as it has been quoted in the book. What is actually written, on page 153 is,

[TEWSPilot]

Thanks, Lew, I'll try to find the original source from which I copied and pasted that quote and advise the author that it is in error.

Too bad President Obama doesn't project that attitude toward the rest of the American population and the military. He has chosen to be President and advocate for a narrow band of "citizens" whose contributions to our greatness as he touts them are questionable at best and outright distortions and frauds at worst; meanwhile, he makes world apology tours for the millions of others whom he mis-characterizes, insults, ridicules, sets his thugs on, and wants to crush with his Marxist policies. Given his actions during his entire lifetime, especially during his political career, and most notably his reaction to this clear case of Islamic Terrorism at Ft Hood, is the misquote really that far off base, or am I "jumping to conclusions?"