Fort Moore in Georgia has lost 31 SIG-Sauer M17 pistols and is offering a $5,000 reward for info that helps them apprehend the thieves.
  • Fapper_McFapper@lemm.ee
    11·
    25 days ago

    I was stationed on Ft. Moore back when it was called Ft. Benning. During our yearly Victory Focus excersize one of our soldiers lost his M-16 rifle. The entire base went on lock down. No one was allowed in or out of the base and since it was a member of our unit that lost the rifle we were not allowed to return from the field until it was found. I can’t remember how many days went by before it was found buried in a foxhole. I just learned from a friend on Ft. Moore that the base is not on lock down at the moment. This leads me to believe they have a pretty good idea as to where those weapons are. What I cannot understand is how they got stolen in the first place. These weapons, when not in use, are kept in secure facilities. It’s not like anyone, including a soldier stationed on the base can just walk in and take them. Which is why I think CID already has some leads. Godspeed to the thieves, Uncle Sam will always get the last laugh.

    • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
      6·
      24 days ago

      Me too (basic, AIT, & stationed at Ft. Beginning :-( ).

      This does not surprise me at all. It’s a huge base, and full of unsavory types; all of the communities around Benning were full of businesses doing just barely legal activities designed to separate young males from their paychecks. And so. Much. Drugs.

      For anyone who hasn’t been in the Army, the infantry is where they put you when you’re too dumb to pass the ASFAB - a sort of SAT you take when you enlist. The higher your score, the more options available to you. The infantry are the jarheads of the Army, but with less discipline. Even smart infantry guys are dumb in that they had other options and voluntarily chose 11B. I was one of those, and there were far smarter guys than me in my unit; one guy had gone through seminary school, decided at the end -with the equivalent of a four-year degree - that he didn’t want to be a priest, and had joined the army and chose the infantry. People are messed up. Anyway, Benning is the home of the infantry, and it’s enormous, and full of a lot of guys who were there because they had few other options in life.

      IME, crime was pretty rife, maybe less so on the base, but certainly around the base. And while my experience matches your’s WRT the military-grade weapons, these are handguns any civilian could buy. Considering how many went missing, my guess is that there’s a supply sergeant somewhere who was accepting shipments of new weapons and “misplaced” a box, and recorded receiving one less box. Or, maybe it was indeed someone with access to a supply depot full of still-boxed handguns who just walked out with one.

      The security you described was absolutely spot-on for issued weapons; my guess is these were stolen from a supply shed somewhere, and that it was months or longer before an inventory turned it up as missing.