From The Washington Times:

The Pentagon on Thursday said it will adopt a broad policy governing how privately owned guns can be carried or stored at military installations in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of 13 people last year at Fort Hood, Texas.

The disgruntled Army psychiatrist charged in the deaths, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, had little or no access to military firearms in his job as a psychologist, but was able to buy two handguns and bring them to the base.

As Congress launched its investigation into the shooting five months ago, Sens. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, and Susan Collins, Maine Republican, said they will send subpoenas to the Pentagon and Justice Department if the administration doesn't provide more information about the Fort Hood case by Monday.

Mr. Lieberman and Ms. Collins - the two top senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee - in a hearing Thursday said the administration is stonewalling their requests for access to FBI agents, documents and the personnel file of Maj. Hasan from the Defense Department.

The administration said it does not want to generate pretrial publicity that could taint a jury pool or make witnesses reluctant to cooperate, and wants to avoid a barrage of defense lawyer requests that could force the government to reveal information it wants to save for a criminal trial.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered a new comprehensive policy be developed to cover all branches of the military and its bases and offices. The standardized policy would replace or buttress a patchwork of regulations adopted by each service or individual military installation.

The weapons policy is among recommendations for security and administrative upgrades released by the Pentagon on Thursday. Mr. Gates ordered that an interim weapons policy be in force by June, and a permanent one is anticipated early next year.

The new policy is expected to mirror restrictions already in place at some military installations that, for example, require guns brought to a base to be registered with military police.

Mr. Gates also ordered changes in the way tips and information in criminal investigations are shared, and directed an internal review of personnel policies on health care records. An outside panel said those policies can prevent higher-ups from knowing about behavior or other problems that might be alarming.

I never, ever took any of my personal firearms on post while I was in the Army. Never. First of all, the policy then was you had to store whatever firearms you had in your unit armory, and were only allowed to withdraw it with prior notice, at the armorer's discretion.

I didn't like that, and I didn't abide by it. Hence, I never took any of my personal firearms on post. First of all, it's my gun. If I want to take it out and shoot it at my leisure, I will. I do not need anyone's damned permission to shoot my gun. Second, I resented the implication that I wasn't, somehow, responsible enough to keep my own firearm in my own possession without monitoring by "Uncle Sugar". Third, I wasn't about to even let them have any idea how many or what I had in relation to owning a personal firearm or registering it with them. None of their damned business. Period.

I kept all of my firearms off post in the possession of friends. Not one problem. Ever.

In regards to what happened at Ft. Hood and Maj. Nidal Hassan(?), no amount of new rules or changing of current rules would have changed what happened, the way it happened, because officers live by different rules than enlisted members do. They are deemed, somehow, more responsible by virtue of their rank and have a lot more freedom than lower enlisted members do. They live in different quarters(housing), and they do not have to put up with nearly as much bullshit as lower EM's do. Matter of fact, officers(and senior EM's) are the reason for most of the bullshit that occurs in the military. They're the one's running stuff, and when something isn't right, it's always the fault of the lower EM's and they're the ones who catch all the bullshit for it.

Now, if a soldier lives in the barracks, which I did, then I fully understand and agree with the rule. However, I had other options, and used them to my benefit. Lord knows there are a bunch of stupid troops who would be playing with loaded guns and of course, there would be an accident, and then all hell would break loose. Can't have that, especially with all of the visitors running in and out of the barracks after hours.

I enjoyed my time in the Army, and it was good for me. But I was also intelligent and independent enough to understand that I could only do it for so long, because in the end, it is just too restrictive in regards to personal life. I can't count the number of times I was awakened while living in the barracks and put on the "Hey you!" list, just because I was there. Or how mant times I would come in from work to find that someone had been in my room and moved stuff around, looking for God only knows what.

However this situation turns out, you can damned sure bet nothing much will change, but the lower EM's will end up bearing the brunt of the damage for what a crazy Muslim terrorist officer did to lower enlisted and civilian personnel on post during that shooting rampage.

Bishop... don't get offended, you are the exception that proves the rule... I don't know an Enlisted person that doesn't talk trash about officers and vice versa.... I hade a couple of really cool Lt.'s and Warrants that I worked for when I was in the Army, but they were the odd ducks, as they weren't assholes and they didn't think that they owned the key to all knowledge. As a matter of fact, the best Lt. I ever worked for figured out early on that the NCO's who were working for him had a vast majority of experience actually doing the job, over him, and he took advantage of that and pretty much left the NCO's to do their jobs without micro management. It helped too that he had a great sense of humor and never once thought that his rank made him better than those that were enlisted. As a result, we made him look like a rock star to the senior Officers... our repayment for this? He got promoted quickly and we got stuck with an arrogant SOB who wouldn't give us lowly enlisted the time of day.....

Sorry for the Hi-jack.... Back to the original topic...

"The administration said it does not want to generate pretrial publicity that could taint a jury pool or make witnesses reluctant to cooperate, and wants to avoid a barrage of defense lawyer requests that could force the government to reveal information it wants to save for a criminal trial. " -appearently the moron that made this comment has never heard of the court rule called "DISCLOSURE"... the prosecution is REQUIRED to inform the defense of what it plans to present at the trial as it relates to evidence, etc.

Suncat... I agree with your train of thought regarding the barracks. That was a big factor in my decision to get out as well. I got to the point where I would not answer my barracks room door without a beer in my hand, in order to keep from getting pulled for some stupid detail on my day off. I also agree that this "registration/storage" rule as it applies to those that live in the barracks... I saw enough stupid shit take place in the barracks that I would be concerned about someone getting shot as well. On base housing should be different though (in my opinion), as this is really no different than your home as a civilian, except it is owned by the military.... Why is it that the people who are defending our Bill of Rights with their lives and livelyhoods always seem to be the first to have those rights taken away from them?

-Tac

Exactly like Suncat and Tac sez......NEVER open your door without a beer in hand.(LOL)

When I first got the collecting/shooting bug was stationed in Germany for the 2nd time of all places, 1st "Real" gun I ever owned was a Colt Commander bought from another soldier, And of course living in the Barracks it had to be kept in the arms room, Kinda surreal really : Before the weekend I had to get the Commander's signature and authorization for the armorer to release the weapon for some weekend target practice, More likely than not I traveled the 1 1/2 hours to my girlfriends house and kept the pistol with me all weekend till Monday morning, Kinda strange to be in Germany of all places with my pistol being their gun laws are very strict, And it was fun to go to the range where it was a big hit with the locals...They were kinda scared of it at first because frankly they weren't allowed to own one, Or it's so cost prohibitive they can't afford it(Lots of rules and licenses), Mostly it's the older guys with .22 Target pistols that have to be secured at a club or range when not in use.

Well finally got married and lived offpost.

Now on the crazy side of things my first tour in Fulda Germany had 2 incidents take place, We had a "Dick Weed" of a 1st Sgt that managed to get his ass beat down in the ville by some locals one Saturday night....The sombich comes back drunk to the barracks and orders everyone there to "Mobilize" and draw weapons/ammo, Also a deuce to go downtown in , Well need to understand : 1) It was during the Cold War and HE WAS the 1st Sgt.....2) It's a small AAF up on a hill and no one there at the time to supercede him, Well someone on CQ duty called the MP's and it got stopped at the front gate, Dick Weed got a quiet transfer.

Another time we had a CSM go insane and start shooting up the Barracks with a shotgun, He was drunk and screaming "Gooks in the Wire", Have to understand we still had some Vietnam vets in service then.....They quietly "Retired him".

Good Times.....

One of the final straws that broke the re-enlistment back for me was what happened late one Saturday night/Sunday morning at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Ft Leavenworth, KS.

We had just gotten off work, finshed PT, and didn't have to be back at work until Tuesday morning. Those of us that headed into the barracks had a rude surprise waiting for us. But allow me to preface: each platoon, on the way out to work, was required to police up the barracks, especially the latrines, which the on-going platoon did. I know, because when I got in it was my job to check and be sure they had. The place was spotless. Except for one little thing, which one of my people did, because I saw him do it, and we had just come in from work. He had stopped at the soda machine and bought a Pepsi, drank it on the way upstairs, and when finished, he put it in the trash can like he's supposed to.

We all heard this loud 'crash', and most of us came out into the hallway. Upon entering the hallway, there is our USDB MP Battalion CSM(Command Sergeant Major)in the hallway, and now he's yelling for ALL of us to come out into the hallway. He runs into the latrine, starts cussing us out, and then comes out with that garbage can, which he then took and rolled down our hallway, all the while calling us everything he could lay his tongue on. Next, he tells us we're going to "G.I." the entire floor until he's satisfied or we'll be there all night. Well, guess what? We were there all night! And all the while we're getting treated like basic trainees at Ft. McClellan AL all over again. Finally, about 0700 hrs he had us form up outside in the parking lot and gave us some bullshit speech about how long he had been in the Army and how he couldn't stand seeing his Army ruined by maggots like us. This all being witnessed by the same platoon that had relieved us and our Air Force counterparts as one group departed and the other assumed their posts.

That incident, and the fact that the re-enlistment NCO did not want to give me one single thing that I wanted, which really pissed me off to no end because everyone I knew that was re-enlisting were getting the sun and the moon, in addition to nice bonuses too. So, at that point, I pretty much said "fuck the Army!" and got out while the getting was good.

Except for Ft. Campbell, every place I was stationed in the Army was a clusterfuck. Terrible officers who didn't know how to lead, NCO's that only looked out for themselves, and in addition, during that time, there was a promotion freeze on, so I couldn't even get promoted. I was even approached by an officer after the incident in the barracks and asked to give a sworn statement against the CSM. I asked the officer in question how long he had been in the Army, and he had been in less time than I had been. I asked him if he was really going to take on a CSM with over 30 years in and 3 tours in Vietnam, and he said yes. I told him you'll lose, and count me out. I'm short, and I just want to get out. Leave me alone!

The next weekend, at the post dining facility, the same CSM comes up to me, sits down with me(I was sitting alone, and I guess he felt like I was his newest, bestest buddy!)and starts talking to me about re-enlisting because he knew I was short. I finished my meal, in a hurry, thanked him for his words of wisdom and told him I'd take it into consideration. At that point, ETS just wasn't coming fucking fast enough! Re-enlist, my ass!

Now, don't get me wrong. the Army was good for me, and actually good to me as well. But I am a no-nonsense kinda guy, and I just decided that 20+ years in the Army was not for me. I am a halfway intelligent person, and I know shit when I see it and hear it, and the Army isn't for anyone that isn't just going to go along.

You know, I'm going to stop writing now. I'm getting pissed off all over again just thinking about that crap. I'm done!

It was a combo of all the above that did it for me.......If your single it's great, Once you get married it gets a little complicated.

My last duty station and straw was Ft. Bragg in an Air CAV unit on Simmons AAF, Promotion freeze as a 68D10 and points at 999 for quite some time, My wife was new to the country and barely understood the language, Couldn't drive, And 8 1/2 months pregnant. Both my platoon Sgt and Squad leader were black, My Commander was white but a hardcore wannabe Douchebag.......Long story short I was always getting picked for field duty, Etc. so the black guys could stay back at base and chase tail, Well this time I protested it with our 1st Sgt and Commander - Geez they threatened me with an Article 15 and found myself pulling extra duty as well.......That was a long week for me and my wife and they could have gave a shit we were getting ready to have a baby any day, The Army sez they take care of it's own, But being we were new, Living 30 minutes from post and really didn't know anybody, We had nobody to rely on - My wife would have had to just call 911 if she went into labor, But thankfully things worked out and we had our son after I came back form the field(Just Barely).......

I made up my mind then and there I was done, I only had about 5-6 months to go, Couldn't get promoted unless I switched my MOS to being a Cook or Supply Sgt where the promo points were like 499, You guys that know KNOW, You can max your PT/Rifle/Education plus whatever points awarded by your Commander and not get 999, They were offering a seperation bonus of almost 20K and a few years of base privileges, Plus at the time Somolia was getting hot and people were already getting put on standby to go, That would have been my second combat patch.

I ETS'd fast as possible and didn't look back......I do miss the bad O'days but that was before Clinton was President and there was a wall between East/West Germany.