My first thought was “I hope they had a good reason to justify the act”.. No solder would complain if money went towards feeding a child… but then i saw video.. and at risk of sounding like a bigoted *******.. they look like pro. pick pockets from .. say Romania that region… Gypsies to be more precise. The slight of hand girl uses shows she did this before. The very large gold ring on the right hand of man tells me there is probably no starving child..

It’s really not necessary. In my time as an officer, I never felt threatened. I feel more exposed at my civilian job now…working with nutty members of the public.

Some people think everyone in the military is armed all the time (and we all drive Jeeps everywhere), but it’s not the case. The only time I touched a firearm is when I had to requalify on the 9mm Barretta.

Tragic event. My hearts go out to all the families.
Wonder how it will be presented to (and in) the media?
They’ll downplay any possible religious/political motivation, I’d suspect.
Try to explain it on stress alone and an unhappy childhood or something else PC.
Sorry to be cynical…

You have a point.. I would also like a sidearm considering nutters I deal with in civ work.
But these days when in uniform ( reserves) I do feel like a possible target.. something that did not happen only 5-10 years ago. And you are totally right on the second point.. people have impression if you enter the base its filled with soldiers in full battle kit and tanks and APCs are rolling with live ammo all over the place. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There’s an interesting irony here… A number of years ago it was the shooting incident in Killeen that really got the concealed handgun movement some serious momentum after the Luby’s incident where a lawmaker’s parents were both killed as her gun sat in the car a few dozen yards away for legal purposes.
Now, probably there are two spots in Killeen that a gunman like this could get away with a large massacre – the schools, and the army base of all places! Seems you can’t defend yourself on a US military base unless you’re officially on armed guard duty.

It’s kind of close to home as I have an uncle who’s a contractor on base, family property nearby, and have had family members there in recent years.

Ryan

Which is precisely why NCOs and Officers should be able to carry sidearm at all time while on base property.

As do nearly all Military bases around the globe

Not ours mate. Holsworthy has no Armed soldiers. Only private contractors. Same about RAAF Albatros… its very very stupid and dangerous.

I wonder would they turn away a sports star like Beckham or Bolt if they came in “trackie”.

Its ridiculous to demand “dress code” .. if they are not naked or barefoot.. or covered in grease .. who cares.

Barracks here in Sydney (Holsworthy) were subject of a apparent plot not dissimilar to what occured at ft.Hoot. While media kicked up a storm it appears military did not seem bothered too much. For example taxi cabs can still drive trough gates all the way to barracks.

Makes me wonder if this incident and what hapened in UK (Pizza delivery) will make some paper pushers at HQ rethink base security. For example there are no armed soldiers patroling base.. just hired private security.. and not many at that. Reality is that as in war time, soldiers should be allowed to carry sidearms when on base grounds.. alteast NCOs and Officers.

Best looking

Rafale

Worst looking

F35 and X32… both JSF contenders look like little fat pigs.. except X32 was trying to swallow something large 😀

At least they shot down their own planes?
Must have needed a change from unarmed Korean airliners.

Or Iranian…