[LarryM]

When you are in a potentially hostile area you need to have ammo. Everyone remembers that the guards at the Beirut marine barracks didn't have ammo either.

[XJarhead]

When you are in a potentially hostile area you need to have ammo.

No. No. No. You do not issue live ammo to anyone who is participating in a non-live fire exercise. In 1985, two Korean civilians were accidentally killed during Team Spirit because two knucklehead Marines who thought they had blanks fired on them and killed them. I personally saw a knucklehead Lt. in training who thought he had blanks loaded in an M249 send a burst of live rounds over the heads of a group of his buddies, fortunately missing them all. And you don't issue them both blanks and live rounds "in case" something goes wrong, because that's exactly how accidents happen. A guy grabs a magazine that he thinks has blanks, it has live rounds instead, and someone dies.

Of course, you're still going to have armories and supply points that do have live ammo in case the balloon goes up when you're in theater. And ammunitions guards, etc., also are issued live rounds to guard the ammo dumps and trucks. If something happens, you issue people the live stuff. But troops that are training are not simultaneously on 30 second alert to repel attacks, and so you do not give them live ammo.

Everyone remembers that the guards at the Beirut marine barracks didn't have ammo either.

Ugh. Of course those guards should have had live ammo. But that's because they were GUARDS, not participants in a training exercise.

Lord, save us from the amateurs.

[Prodigal Son]

When you are in a potentially hostile area you need to have ammo. Everyone remembers that the guards at the Beirut marine barracks didn't have ammo either.

Uh, no. If I were in a rifle platoon and we were practicing Urban Warfare- kicking in doors, rushing into buildings from different entry points- I do NOT want the other guys to have live ammo. We did this type of training in my platoon and within four hours we had managed to shoot each other three times with blanks. You have to learn how to not shoot everything that moves when you're doing this type of thing and practicing with live ammo is a just asking to have training accidents that result in death. Not worth it.

If they are in a hostile area- they should be overwatched by guards with live ammo, but if they are doing the training itself- no ammo- UNLESS it is a live fire exercise.

[Cboldt]

Some of the sailors guarding the Cole at Aden, Yemen had arms w/o ammo as well -- and the rules of engagement were to not fire unless fired upon first. My Senator Snowe thinks this is excusable, i.e. she accepts the excuse given by Navy command.

[Terriergal]

I'm sure they have live ammo. Just those participating in the exercise weren't loaded with live ammo. Get it? Like Sonar said, you can't be pretending to shoot each other as an exercise, with live ammo. (Then we'll be crying 'stupid military' because of that.) And, like Sonar said, you would have to post a perimeter guard, locked and loaded, around the area where they intend to carry out the exercise.

[semaj]

"Everyone remembers that the guards at the Beirut marine barracks didn't have ammo either."

Actually it was even worse than you say. The Marines at Beirut had ammunition but were forbidden to have it locked and loaded in their weapons. Orders such as those need to be heartily disobeyed (for any active harheads listening).

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Everyone remembers that the guards at the Beirut marine barracks didn't have ammo either.

Wrong. They had ammo, they were not allowed to chamber any rounds.

[lepton]

Guards should have live ammo. People training by simulating shooting at other soldiers should not have live ammo.