I have been retired for just over 2 years and the vast people that I have come in contact with as a whole are good people with some commune sense about them with a fairly level head, But the few that doesn’t fit in the circle of the others would be the problem. It would only take one instance of some hot head to get ticked off at some one for what ever reason and we would have a force on force shoot out.
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welcome to the family @Bradley32 thanks for your insight!
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Active Duty and Retired with CCW
Edit: @Bradley32 Welcome to the USCCA community. You have a good point, I wish the military offered a federal CCW permit for active duty and Retired that would be like the one for law enforcement. You could go to any state and it would be recognized for what ever firearm you were carrying. The Law enforcement carry applies to all police, sheriffs, FBI, Border patrol, Home land security, and I’m sure a few others qualify. Why cant there be a federal CCW for active duty and Retired Military to be allowed to carry in all 50 states and on military installations. Regs and qualifications requirements for all branches approved by DOD.
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My USAF (retired) father said that this was AF policy when he was in Vietnam. Go figure.
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The base CO has no choice. DOD regulations prohibit private carry on base.
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I like your idea about AD and Ret’d having some sort of national carry permit. My brother is ret’d LE and has his LEOSA permit. In regards to AD and Ret’d carrying on base, now I’m wondering if LEOSA permit carriers can carry on military installations also? I guess I need to ask him next time I talk to him. 
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That would be great, Please to let me know what he says. I wonder if Military Police qualify for the LEOSA when they get out.
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I don’t understand why they do not carry at all. I mean, look you have a bunch of service personel that are some of the best trained marksmen in the world and you don’t let them carry a side arm. That is ludicrous and beyond understanding. The Fort Hood shooti8ns should have been a wake up call to the Pentagon and they have basically ignored it and said oh well stuff happens. It shouldn’t on a military base.
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Absolutely they should. They protect our people.
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I say yes but on one account. I am not sure if many others are aware of some of the things that are going on in the service of today. Thing’s have changed so since I got out in 84. So for the good but some for the worst. Some will not believe this but there are some which know this to be true. In today’s service you could be an officer of many troops but doing off duty hours, one of those troops could be telling you what to do. Gangs has somehow managed to affect the service of today believe it or not. I have family that are in today, they hear of it in different places. If they can get a hold of this problem, I would be wholeheartedly for our young men and women’s to carry on and off duty.
I don’t think the regulations envisioned military bases turning into giant prison camps, or at least camps of people with really bad manners.
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Sarg, anyone (ANYONE) that qualifies for a civilian concealed carry permit should be allowed to carry, military or not.
Certainly mistakes will be made. So what. Our Lord gives us the right of self-defense, fully supported by the Constitution. So Bush made a dumb ass mistake! Don’t support it.
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Some bases don’t give you the option of checking it at the gate.
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Let me first say THANK YOU to all the veterans. If you are in the military you should be carrying a firearm all the time
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Absolutely they fight for our freedom and liberty so they deserve to be allowed the right to carry. Considering all the threats we face in the world today they should always be armed.
God bless all branches of our military.
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We had our issued weapons on base but only we’re issued amo while on guard duty or in the field. What’s issued and what you can get is something else.
PS: long time ago.
If uniformed police can carry, why not uniformed military? If someone blows up the armory an entire Division could be rendered useless and defenseless.
I don’t think uniformed (civilian) police can carry on military bases, generally.
One difference I see is that military bases are fairly strictly controlled in regards to access, public spaces (where LE go) are not.
It’s definitely different, I having not been in the military don’t believe I have the knowledge or experience to offer an informed opinion
You said:. “Active duty in uniform should be required to open carry duty weapon.”
I am retired military and respectfully disagree. You must be thinking that all military are issued sidearms. I can assure you, that is far from the truth. For the most part, only officers and certain enlisted like LE (law enforcement) are issued sidearms. Most rank and file soldiers are issued M-16s which are a hinderince in many work environments and contrary to popular belief most military arms are maintained in the Armory most of the time, not maintained 24/7 by the individual soldier, sailor, airman, or marine. On Post they have regular day to day jobs. If they were in the work place you would then need a secure place and a person to maintain security of the weapons during the workday. It is not easy to do maintenance on a tank or change a fighter jet engine with a M-16 strapped to your back. I understand your sentiment and whole heatedly agree that military should be allowed to carry (open or concealed) their privately owned weapons on base. But it goes even deeper than that. Unless policies have changed since I retired, single members who own private firearms are not allowed to keep them in the barracks and must keep them at the Armory and sign them in and out for use as well. On the other hand military installations, for the most part, are safer environments than your average city street due to limited entrance. Notice I said “for the most part” so don’t flame me and remind me that tragedies and mass shootings happen on military installations, I know they do and have had the displeasure throughout my career to have to deal with some mentally unstable military members that I would not feel safe around if they had fork none the less a gun, difference being they got mental health care, either voluntarily or not. I spent 20 years and was assigned mostly overseas by choice and never felt unsafe at my duty location. After I retired and went to work in the civilian sector, the feeling of safety wasn’t there. I conceal carried for the last 10 years on the job and that was in a bldg shared with Law Enforcement.
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I am Retired U.S. Army and strongly object to service members carrying on post because not everyone demonstrates stability and order of good conduct. When on Staff Duty or CQ ( Charge of Quarters) duty it’s bad enough on weekends or holidays when service members are drinking and “carrying on.” Factor in gun play during one of these weekends. The military does what the civilian sector has continuously demonstrated failure on- severe prosecution to the fullest extent at the federal level for violations of regulations and committing crimes. If the civilian sector were to enforce law and order like the military does, there would be far less crimes in the civilian sector. On the other hand, there are problems for those traveling to their instillation from criminals outside the gates before. There really is no in between. Firearms will get in the way of several jobs and require additional safeties at all levels if carried on post. A service member can enter a base or post 24/7/365. The “in between” travel can put a service member at risk coming and going off instillation. Service members that live on or in the barracks must submit their firearms under a commander’s memorandum and store their firearms in the arms room with a specific sign in / out sheet. No firearms in the barracks, no knives over 6 inches. Yet the military has firearms in military arms rooms while the ammunition is stored on instillations far away from those arms rooms hindering ammo issue and distribution. A mountain of time consuming paperwork. This is why In the movies zombies always win- instillations can’t distribute ammo fast enough. Regulations forbids the storage of firearms and ammo in the same arms room.