Arm Our Un-ARMED Forces

Lunch is over! Grab your rifles!

Naval Air Station Pensacola shooter was Saudi aviation student, investigators eye potential terror link

The gunman who opened fire Friday morning at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, fatally shooting three people, has been identified as Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, an aviation student from Saudi Arabia, and investigators are looking into whether the attack is terrorism-related, a U.S. official told Fox News.

Suicide by any person is a sadness brought about by stressors out of control. We  here at SCI, grieve the loss of life this week at the Hawaii Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

The killings at Pensacola Naval Air Station reek of a possibly heinous and criminal motive which federal authorities are investigating.

However, what must not be missed is the speed at which both shootings occurred and how, at least in the second, if the U.S. would follow the lead of the IDF, casualties could be avoided. 

One of the ways average, otherwise loyal Americans give aid to our enemies comes through complacency. America has been at war with extremist Islamic terrorists since before 2001. Americans grow weary of war. Americans become complacent fearing that vigilance morphs into hyper-vigilance and we somehow become crazy extremists from the other side.  However, appropriate vigilance, situational awareness and the ability to act in the event of a crisis is not wrong, it is every American’s duty. 

What lesson should we learn from our Israeli allies who have been under attack since 1947, surrounded by enemies at every border?

A soldier in the IDF in uniform is armed. A soldier in the IDF not in uniform is armed. Why are the vast majority of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines living and working on and around U.S.military bases not armed? If the answer is lack of proficiency due to MOS, then make them proficient.

In the movie, The Battle of the Bulge, a 1965 Hollywood retelling of the events of December 1944 in WWII, Major Wolenski, a tired, battle weary American commander confronted a group of cooks as the city was being overrun. U.S. forces were scrambling between retreat and holding their positions. Wolenski, played by Charles Bronson:

Maj. Wolenski: Where do you think you’re going?

1st Cook: To the shelter.

Maj. Wolenski: No you’re not. Grab your rifles and come with me.

1st Cook: But we’re cooks!

Maj. Wolenski: [pauses] Lunch is over! Grab your rifles!

Well, America, lunch is over!

A U.S. serviceman regardless of age, sex or MOS is a walking target in uniform. They are also sworn to protect this country from all enemies foreign and domestic. It’s time we gave them the tools to fulfill their duty. Arm our troops at home and abroad and give them the authority to use those arms in the defense of their lives, the lives of their families, friends co- workers and  fellow Americans.

Whether the actions at Pensacola are learned to be a terrorist act or the results of a broken soul, the point remains that persons employed as members of the ARMED SERVICES should be ARMED.