CSM
Senior Member
Anyone that thinks these "morons" couldn't have gotten on a base are ignorant of basic knowledge. It is a pretty straight forward process to access any military installation that is not on high alert or designated as high security ( the airbases of the Old SAC come to mind)
One of these "morons" already had access, via a permit to deliver Pizza aboard the base. He could easily have entered the base with a passenger ( though 5 would have drawn attention) and done so numerous times ( getting all 5 accomplices aboard) bringing in any amount of material he needed. More importantly he could have done so after dark easily.
State side soldiers do not have ( generally) access to their weapons after normal working hours and they do not have access to ammunition except for specific mission requirements, state side that would be firing range, training exersize or being on an alert or reaction or guard force. I am unaware of Army practice on Alert forces, but there would be at least one if an ammunition dump were aboard base, there would also be armed guards at critical positions, like armorys and security positions that required such. The MPs would be armed and would have some sort of reserve.
6 determined men could have caused a lot of damage before brought to a halt by available assets on most bases. If they knew what they were doing they could have timed it in a way to possibly escape unmolested.
In the Marine Corps Battalions tended to maintain a small reaction force for assigned guard forces. Depending on sites to guard and number of sites this could be as small as a fire team ( 4 marines to as big as what ever the command felt was appropriate) These groups would be armed with pistols and service rifles. Any Ammo storage site would have a reaction force on alert and dedicated to that dump 24 hours a day. Again the size and make up would depend on size of dump and what was stored at dump as well as Command preferences.
Organizing and deploying these "forces" outside their assigned mission areas would require some work and would take some time to accomplish. Basicly unless the Base had a generic reaction force for the entire base, first responders would be MPs and local reaction forces for specific area hit. MPS are police, they are armed with pistols and possibly shotguns, they have rifles and other weapons but normal patrol cars wont have such issued.
Units aboard the base would be unable to access ammunition even if they could arm themselves unless someone up the chain of command ordered a general alert and specifically authorized ammunition distribution. State side ammunition is tightly controlled with a heavy paper trail.
Very good assessment. The MP's would have been outgunned too. Such an attack, had it been carried out successfully, would have been more akin to the recent shootings in Virginia.