spousal safety... on post?

CCW on a federal installation is a no-go. For spouses, keep a registered weapon in your home IAW applicable storage policies and the rules of common sense.

Not being able to carry a concealed weapon doesn't deprive a person of many other self defense assets - situational awareness being the primary one. None of us should consider ourselves defenseless simply because we are unable to carry concealed. There are alternatives to a holstered pistol for NPEs (non-permissive environments) that can be successfully employed if necessary under many circumstances. Granted, not ALL circumstances, but many. There's a complete forum here devoted to non-firearms weapons, for example- see http://www.thehighroad.org/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=13 .

Regulations as to what is permitted for carry generally differ from installation to installation, and are usually issued by the Provost Marshall's Office or the equivalent. Check with the installation in question to see what the local regulations cover.

hth,

lpl

Classes depend on your location.

Two things. One, a Kimber Pepper Blaster may be OK where you are stationed. Get two and shoot one to see how it works.

Second:

www.corneredcat.com

The best starting point I know if is http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/ . The things a person needs to be aware of can be learned, but it isn't necessary to take a class to learn them. The 'awareness game' is a good teaching point if someone is really interested in increasing their own observation of the world around them. Simply count how many times a day someone surprises you by getting close enough to touch you without you knowing that person is there, how many times a day you get startled when someone speaks to you, etc.

Crime is a process, not an event, and being able to identify the early stages of that process before it moves any further is one of the keys to not being victimized. See http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/five_stages.html for an introduction to recognizing the stages in the process.

hth,

lpl

Whenever the circumstances allow, I live off-post for this reason exactly.

Don't live on base, and you and the Mrs. should stay away from base as much as humanly possible! It amazes me that bases are anti-ccw. Just amazes me. The most "highly" trained military in the history of the world, frequently deployed to combat zones, and with nearly a decade of combat experience, trusted to make life and death decisions all the time. Yet, once they come home they aren't allowed to carry to and from base, which basically disarms all Soldiers (and families with CCWs) on their commute... astounding!

I had a conversation with my C.O. about finding a way to enhance safety on post and still let the commander keep control of the personnel on post. I had an idea that we agreed would work, but commanders won't sign off on it, because it's really not the policy of individual base commanders, it's DOD-wide.

1. Allow select soldiers to carry. If they want to set criteria, such as only NCOs, that might be reasonable.

2. Require a plan of action coordinated with the post P.D. for protocol to follow in the event of a crisis on post to prevent duplicate effort and reduce the likelihood of an accidental friendly shoot. Soldiers who elect to participate must do this training and coordination on their own time.

3. All participating must be in compliance with all other state, federal, and local laws as well.

4. The commander may set guidelines for what kinds of weapons will be allowed. Meaning, if they want to make sure that they are using the same cartridge or ammo type as the post P.D., or to say that weapons must fit guidelines similar to the requirements for a police service pistol, this would be reasonable.

But what the heck to I know?

mljdeckard: My unit is not on-base, so I rarely have to worry about it, but one of the first things my new boss told me was that if I had to go on main base, and I carried, to come find someone to keep it for me while I was gone. I have a feeling every squadron commander where I am has quite the collection.

And yes, the blanket restriction on carrying on base is one of the oddest ones when I do think about it.

::EDIT:: One of the commanders was the one to give me the name of someone who did cheap concealed carry classes for military members, after he found out I didn't carry.

I thought it was funny, they trusted me to handle nuclear weapons while in the army, yet I could not carry a pistol or rifle on post once I left the facility!!

I wish I knew the origins of the .mil's seemingly odd attitudes toward weapons. I have heard stories from some of the civilians I work with, some of whom were LTs back in the 70s, of the days when things were so bad they carried sidearms as the duty officer, because the barracks weren't safe.

On the positive side, violent crime, on every military post I've been stationed at, is extremely low on the post itself. If you remove drunken fights amongst the barracks dwellers and domestics, it's almost non-existant. (That being said, we had an on post shooting here at Bragg last weekend, and a soldier arrested for multiple break-in/sexual assaults last fall.)

I live on post, and I don't carry when I'm at work. There are loaded guns in my house, however.

The policy exists because of the weakest link in the chain philosophy. For every fool-proof system, there is a fool out there who wants to make a name for himself. When you recall some of the Darwin Award candidates in the lower enlisted ranks in particular, the command views them as am alcohol-related incident waiting to happen.

Just remember- there's the right way, the wrong way and the Army way. If you try and make sense of it, it'll drive you nutz. Inertia is not a law of physics, it's the main waste product of the Department of Defense.

The regs re. weapons on military installations are about as likely to change as I am to wake up young, healthy, good looking and rich tomorrow morning. If anything they are going to get more and more restrictive. Military installations are what are sometimes referred to as "non-permissive environments" and those of us who are subjected to them have to learn to improvise, adapt and overcome. That means learning a wider variety of skills and tools to supplement the all-important winning mindset. We cannot afford to become so tool-centric that we cannot help ourselves in an emergency if we don't have our favorite tools at hand. And most importantly we need to hone our situational awareness to the sharpest point possible- because avoiding an incident in the first place is better than having to get out of it if our awareness fails.

lpl
===

Managing Unknown Contacts - http://www.safeism.com/pdfs/SNContacts.pdf

Small Impact Tools - http://www.ammoland.com/2011/01/12/small-impact-tool-self-defense-options/

Empty Hand Strikes - http://www.personaldefensenetwork.com/articles/non-firearms-defensive-tools/defensive-striking/

Forever Armed/Michael Janich - http://wn.com/Forever_Armed_A_Combative_Guide_To_The_Use_Of_Improvised_Weapons

etc.