[Icelander]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Officers, MPs and people with high security workstations (the kind where they are expected to shoot unauthorized personnel, like with nuclear weapon security).

Project Jade Serenity was extremely secret, but I figured that giving doctors, nurses and health techs there sidearms would not help security there in any way. Better to have the buildings, in an outlying part of Camp Mackall, be as boringly ordinary as possible. Sure, there was probably a detachment of trusted base security instructed to pay special attention to it and there was a small detail of TS-SCI cleared guards there to check IDs and secure those test subjects who happened to be accused of crimes and/or psychological risk factors, but I don't think shooting unauthorised base personnel who wandered close to Project HQ was in anyone's ROE.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Yeah it is some weird status thing now. Grant would probably hate it.

I doubt that any 19th century person used to officer's swords would consider sidearms as status signifiers weird.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The only warrants I am familiar with are Marine Gunners who absolutely are qualified for pistols, because they are experts on every infantry weapons as their entire raison d'être.

From what I can tell, special operators have a similar kind of deal. I've been assuming that the ODA of active-duty Special Forces connected to Project Jade Serenity had personal weapons available throughout, at least for range use, and that the prospective Green Berets in the modified version of SFQS that they were training with found it increasingly easy to draw any common weapon from stores and spend an afternoon shooting the **** (and more ammo than their unfortunate brethren in less exalted specialties get in a month) as they entered the language training phase of their training and had the occasional luxury of some free time.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Yes, American police are expected to be armed in general.

Everyone? Do all MPs get pistols or are the uniformed soldiers who act as base security expected to just carry a rifle, with pistols confined to those who are acting as detectives.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Not that I know of.

Well, that clears it up a bit. Sherilyn Bell was almost certainly never issued any kind of firearm. She did shoot the M16A2 in BCT and may have shot an M9 and/or some of the more common support weapons there, but if she was allowed to fire any kind of MG, it was familiarity at most, not points in the skill.

In any event, Taylor probably taught her more Guns (Pistol) for civilian self-protection* than she learned as a soldier. Aside from practicality, it seems like something they could have done for fun together if we assume security concerns minimised leave off the base for the trainees. White knight or not, I'm fairly confident that at age 20, Taylor was not above doing something solely to maximise the time he could spend with a pretty girl.

*She had a rough background and some pretty good reasons to be afraid around strangers who were stronger and bigger than her (i.e. almost any man). Improving her self-confidence and sense of safety by teaching her some basic concepts of self-defence, as well as the use of TASERs, Mace and CCW pistols as an equaliser in the size and strength department, probably seemed like a worthwhile thing to do. Hell, regardless of what she may have done, it was still wortwhile.