The provision may be more based in a desire to have those with some "tactical" knowledge, than a emphasis on firearms proficiency. Officers make up the largest group of soldiers issued pistols, and having run many an M9 range, I can say without hesitation that said group is grossly lacking in the proficiency department. That said, even the enlisted ranks, outside the ranks of combat arms occupational specialties anyway, do not get in much trigger time. While I happen to be Infantry myself, I've spent my entire enlistment in a headquarters element. My section represents the only portion of the company that's actually combat arms - so we get to experience the ups and downs of support life. While my buddies in the line units spend the majority of their time in garrison shooting, moving, and communicating - we rearrange tables, and push next through monumentally long briefings. Any trigger time we get, has to be fought for - or taken on our own time. Fortunately, I'm one of the Brigade's marksmanship instructors, so I get more than enough time keeping myself up to speed - and fixing the problems we receive fresh out of basic training, and OCS.Liberty wrote:If I understand this correctly, every armed forces Veteran is assumed to have more training than a typical CHL holder. This is pretty funny. My ancient historical perspective just doesn't find this true. Most military personnel spend little time learning personal protection skills with a hand gun, Most will never even touch a handgun. Many CHLers will take thier handguns to the range on their own time. The Millitary usually discourages this. Some bases make it difficult for those living in barraks to even own their own guns.
One thing virtually all veterans have experience with now however, is dealing with life or death situations. In this fight, there is no difference between a command/personal security detatchment, and a cook. We've all faced death, and we've all had to make choices in the face of death to stay alive. More importantly, we've had to make those decisions on a larger scale than just our own personal safety - but as part of a unit. That could be of significant importance in a classroom. None of this is to say that people without such experience are unable to effectively protect themselves, or others - I encourage everyone to fight for their lives when pressed to do so.
As for the last bit, I'm not aware of a single military installation where it is permissible for soldiers living in the barracks to posses any weapon (often to include steak knives) in their rooms. It is not hard, at all, to own weapons - it is however a supremely large pain in the backside to legally keep them on post. Having to sign your own personal weapon in and out of the Arms Room is pretty much impossible at times. A good deal of us store them off post, where we can access them when we please. Largely, this is due to the high risk of suicide among soldiers, particularly now as virtually the entire force has seen war at least once.
