>  CS> Probably basic safety.  After 9/11, all ships and piers have multiple
 > armed
 >  CS> guards at all times.  Combination of rifles and 9mm. It's kinda rare to
 >  CS> find a person on sea duty who hasnt requalified with weapons annually n
 > 
 >   Quite a change from my day.
 >   There were times I had to pull SP.  Mostly it was with drunk sailors (I kn
 > that is hard to believe, but I actually saw a few) and we were only armed wi
 > what seemed like balsa wood night sticks.  I think one of the officers was
 > armed, but none of the EM's.  IIRC there was one officer (usually a ensign o
 > JG) with about 10 EM.

We generally still dont arm SP more than that.  But gate guards, OOD's at the
quarterdeck etc, yes.
                xxcarol
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