Changes will be made in the wake of the deadly shootings in Chattanooga over the summer, but the one many across this country were hoping for, will not be one of them.
Marine officials have ruled out arming recruiters, following the deadly rampage in Tennessee that killed four Marines and a sailor. However, other security measures to ‘better protect troops’ are in the works, the head of Marine Corps Recruiting Command told Marine Corps Times.
On July 16, a lone gunman opened fire on a Chattanooga Armed Forces recruiting office and a Navy Reserve center. Immediately following the tragedy, some politicians were quick to call for military recruiters to be armed. Many citizens in states with open carry laws, decided to stand guard in front of local recruiting facilities following the incident.
However, all the military services were reportedly in agreement about not arming recruiters.
“Whichever way you stand on the Second Amendment, recruiters showing up armed is not going to make either educators or parents comfortable,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Brilakis, commanding general, Marine Corps Recruiting Command.
Bullet-proof glass was also being considered in the wake of the attack, but has since been deemed too costly and has already been ruled out. Because most of the offices are located in strip malls, any modifications the Marine Corps makes to the facilities have to be removed when the leases are up.
Lt. Gen. Brilakis, says putting ballistic glass at every recruiting site would cost in excess of $100 million.
Some of the security measures that will be implemented include allowing Marines to take cover or evacuate in the event of an attack. Officials say things like movable shields or desk partitions could protect troops from bullets.
More security cameras, remote-locking doors, and better ballistic protection, are some of the other changes being considered, according to the MC Times article.
Marines will also continue conducting security training. Those who were involved in the Chattanooga attack, got out of the recruiting station in less than a minute, according to Brilakis.
“They did so because, one, they were trained, and two, they sat down and talked about it before. Every one of those Marines had been trained or had a conversation once they got to the recruiting substation about what happens in the event of ‘X’ — and when ‘X’ happened, they all executed perfectly,” he said.
The Marines’ quick reaction at the Chattanooga recruiting station prevented a bad situation from becoming worse, Brilakis believes.
Yeah, you can’t trust those military people with weapons, you know! They might shoot someone who is trying to shoot them!
What good would “remote locking doors” do if they are able to just shoot out the glass and step around the doors. At the very minimum they should be allowed to be armed when in the recruiting office.
I really felt that our so called “Commander-in-Chief” would bring some positive change to our country when he was elected but all I have seen of this mans actions are to destroy any of the forward progress our great country has made in the last 35 years. I can’t think of one single thing that this man has done to bring a positive impact to us, his employers. He let terrorists attack our consulate in Benghazi leaving our citizens working there to be totortured, mutilated, and slaughtered with their corpses to be paraded on Islamic TV. He made repeated assurances to the world that he would not tolerate or allow the Syrian government to use chemical weapons on their own people only to say that it wouldn’t include a military option to be used to enforce his statements after those chemical weapons were used on hundreds of women and children. He has allowed Russian aggression to go unchecked in the Crimea and the Ukraine, leading to the shootdown of a commercial airliner by Russian made and almost certainly commanded by Russian military personnel, killing hundreds of civilians and then denying the Ukrainian military the basic tools they need to defend themselves from this Russian invasion of their sovereign lands. He has literally allowed the Islamic State get away with the kidnapping, rape and murder of innocent men, women, and children in the most gruesome of methods throughout northern Africa and the middle east, letting them reclaim hard fought battlegrounds in Iraq such as Fallujah that my Marine Corps brothers and sisters fought SO hard for at great personal sacrifice to wrestle away from the former insurgecy. He has allowed our southern border to be inundated with illegal aliens, letting them to reap the benefits of our society while thousands of our nations veterans are left abandoned by the VA to die while on waiting lists for the medical care that was promised to them for protecting our freedoms. He has laid the ground work that is going to allow Iran to build nuclear facilities that will no doubt be churning out weapons grade nuclear material the moment they think they can get away with it and on the same day the deal was struck their president was chanting “DEATH TO AMERICA” in victory speeches celebrating their triumph over our dimwitted Secretary of State. He then tells Israel not to carry out military strikes on Iran, the primary backer of groups that want to wipe Israel off the face of the planet.
And now the people that are in charge of our military forces have not only ordered our servicemen working on recruitment duty to not wear their uniforms but we are now also punishing them for defending themselves when attacked by the same people they are supposed to be charged with destroying overseas.
What is our country coming to when this kind of thing can happen to a man that was only trying to keep that Islamic Radical lunatic from harming anymore of his people and protecting the installation he has been charged with commanding……This kind of thing must not be allowed to happen to our men and women in uniform that sign up with the knowledge that they could be put into harms way in far off lands, they don’t expected to be sheep to the slaughter in our own country by those same people that they are called upon to fight overseas!!!
Sincerely,
One Passed Off Marine Veteran