Originally Posted By Jeff White:
That said, weapons handling training in the military is non-existant in many units. The FMs only pay lip service to it. NCOs and officers are often as bad about it as the soldiers they are in charge of. Ammunition is strictly controlled in training environments and rule 1 is routinely ignored because it's very rare for soldiers to ever have ammunition. Ranges are not usually hot, they are usually strictly run and the only times weapons are handled while loaded, there is plenty of supervision to make sure they are pointed downrange. Tactical live fire exercises are most often set up with so many safety procedures in place that they lack realism.
It's an institutional problem that won't be fixed until the chain of command at the top levels changes the mindset of the big Army.
Jeff