We don’t have enough Marines to guard half the schools. Total personnel in all the Services is less than 1% of the population and 90% of those are not in combat skill areas.
Just so. But the Marines in combat roles- and every Marine is still trained as a rifleman first, are taught to think of the four-Marine fire team as the basis for tactical operations and movement. And a single Marine working at each school, augmented with a fellow Marine reservist and a couple of veteran Former Marines, would likely be available in most communities. I would expect that would be a much higher level of real security than a $60,000-$8o,000 per year off duty cop, (the going rate in my county 3-school district) still alone and unavailable during dental/medical appointments, court appearances, vacation time, etc.
Our local sheriff's answer? Hire a ex-felon convicted narcotics smuggler as a deputy and assign him to one of the local high schools. Personally, I'd rather have the real deal if my kid or grandkids was going to that school.