Wow, we had terrorist attacks at our airfield in Schweinfurt in 1984 and we had live ammo and were locked and loaded. I'm not sure the threat for us was any less real...

When I was in a couple of Latin American countries in the late 80s and early 90s (just before Desert Storm) we carried a 9mm with the magazine loaded and one in the chamber. I attended many cock fights that way. No roosters ever attacked me but on more than one occasion a few rebels did...


>>>This is true also for the military. When I joined the army, We had to stand in line and report to the Pay Master for our Monthly pay. And there were 2 guards present with weapons, at that room or area.
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>>>Today, there are no lines and the money is sent straight to our bank accounts.
>>>That change took less then 20 years.
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>>I remember that. In fact, the changeover happened when I was in Germany, probably in 1986. Being the commander's jeep driver, I was once assigned to ferry a lieutenant to get the pay. As per SOP I carried a .45, but also per SOP the bullets were duct-taped into the magazines, only to be loaded on orders. We'd a been in a world of hurt if someone with a LOADED weapon asked for the money bag!
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>I did my service from 1971 to 1974. We had "payday" in Basic and AIT and there was a payday while I was stationed in Germany. However, there was also a direct deposit option which virtually everybody used.
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>Regarding loaded weapons..........
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>1. My guard duty stint in Basic was around the "bank." We were the only post issued live ammunition. Each of us got two magazines and were told that it was a court-martial offense for them to be seen outside the ammo pouch unless someone had actually shot at us.
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>2. I was a Spec4 Acting Jack with division hq when the division went on its annual training mission in Grafenwoehr. This was in 1972 and the attack at the Munich Olympics had just taken place. I had to pull guard duty around the internal motor pool. Since security had been heightened, and there were concerns that the Bader-Meinhoff group might stage some sort of attack, all the guards were armed with ---------- baseball bats. I guess we could knock the bullets back at them if need be??????????