Weapon Accountability

An old joke has it that you can blindfold and handcuff an Army Private and lock him in a darkened bank vault with two bowling balls; when you opened the vault the next morning, one of the bowling balls would be broken and the other would be missing.

Trust me, PVT Joe or Jane Snuffy can find a way.

Many of you will read this and think "Oh, come ON, gvi, give me a break! This is common sense stuff!" I’ll admit it’s something we all ought to know better about. Believe it or not, though, people leave their weapons unattended over here in Iraq, of all places, so I bring up the topic for the value of a lesson learned.

I work in a Post Office. One soldier came through today, sending her stuff home before she ships out. She mistakenly left her rifle, along with a backpack and other personal effects, in our Humvee, which looks almost exactly like hers. Don’t know why or how, but there they were.

PVT Snuffy will find a way.

It wasn’t until a couple hours after we closed that she discovered where it was. Fortunately, many of us stay after closing time, catching up on paperwork, or more often, goofing off on the computers. She ships out tomorrow, so you can imagine her relief upon recovering it.

All’s well that ends well, but the event raises some questions, the answers to which I believe are instructive to survivalists.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Why does it happen in the first place, and to a SOLDIER, of all people?

What can we learn from it?

How do we ensure that this never happens to us or those in our group?

We all know the worst that could happen-that’s easy. The worst that could happen is for a bad guy (here or at home) to take your weapon and use it against you or your buddies. Frankly, I don’t know which is worse; losing one’s life to one’s own weapon, or living with knowing that your buddies are dead through your carelessness.

But why did it happen? Weapon accountability is something I’ve almost never seen discussed as...