During the 1980's, and perhaps earlier, the military services bought .38 revolvers from both Smith & Wesson and Ruger on a low-bidder contract basis. Because the 1911A1 .45 pistol was still the standard sidearm until replaced by the Beretta M9, the revolvers were classified as "substitute standard." That said, they were still purchased on government contracts and marked as U.S. Government property. If you consider the World War Two era S&W Victory model (when marked as U.S. Govt. Property) to be a military weapon - as most do - then the revolvers under discussion are too.
The practice of arming gate guards with .38 revolvers is nothing recent within the military services. In 1941 the Navy ordered 3000 Smith & Wesson M&P .38 Special revolvers with 4" barrels, blued finish and lanyard rings. They were marked on the backstrap: U.S.N.C.P.C. (U.S. Navy Civilian Police Corps). Later these became the pattern on which the Victory Model was based.
As a side note: The government/Ruger relationship did not always go smoothly. Bill Ruger and I once had a conversation concerning a request form one of the arsenals to widen the ball on the cylinder latch to reduce rotational "wiggle." Bill strongly objected, and opined that it was clear that the engineers at the arsenal obviously had no knowledge of how revolvers worked, but simply wanted to do something to make it look like they were somehow useful. On this point we agreed.
Because of orders issued by President Lydon Johnson, which are still in force, military small arms that are classified as unserviceable must be destroyed rather then sold as surplus. After the Beretta M9 became common issue, all of the .38 revolvers were declared to be unserviceable, regardless of condition - and with few exceptions were melted or cut up.
:banghead:
