HK with their backwards bullets...

[ragnar_d]

How does it work with marines assigned to a navy vessel- do they maintain their own arms room separate from the ships’s own armory? Given the vcog, I’m assuming the rifle in the photo-op was Marine in origin, and if so, would that insulate the armorer from some degree of NJP or at least reduce the severity?

If you look at the lower, it appears that it's engraved with something resembling the "MK 18 MOD [0/1] // CRANE, IN" markings on the magwell so that would align with it being a Navy rifle and not a Marine rifle.

The VCOG on the M4 on a Destroyer is by itself interesting to me... As there are normally no Marines on Destroyers, plus we do not mount that optic on the M4, only the M27 IAR. Every Navy M4 on a ship I've seen before is normally fitted with a Aimpoint or EoTech for the VBSS dudes unless its a M16A2 being used for topside security. So I guess the Navy bought some VCOGS, which was honestly a shit choice due to how they typically use rifles anyhow. Giving out new gear with no guidence on how to set it up or use it is a problem everywhere...

As for the CO of the ship, I'm way more interested in how he leads and fights his ship than how he shoots a rifle. And maybe don't let public affairs make decisions unsupervised...

Funny enough, I thought the same thing about the VCOG. I'd only seen them on IARs and not anywhere else in the Navy so I was a big perplexed how that piece of kit found it's way to a DDG's arms room.

And that last part, agreed. If it comes down to the CO picking up a rifle then things have gone very, very sideways. And the engineers on the civi side say the same thing about PAO/Sales & Marketing types.

[Crusader]

What I found more concerning about the pic then the backwards optic.

Was the firm gentle hand on the back of his shoulder.

[GearFondler]

This is even funnier when you learn the Navy had a previous similar guffaw just a few weeks ago so they are on a roll... [emoji23]

[TOTS]

How does it work with marines assigned to a navy vessel- do they maintain their own arms room separate from the ships’s own armory? Given the vcog, I’m assuming the rifle in the photo-op was Marine in origin, and if so, would that insulate the armorer from some degree of NJP or at least reduce the severity?

Absolutely separate weapons. The Marine's weapons are owned by the MC and the ship’s weapons are owned by the Navy. The ship has its own weapons locker where the MAs control them and the Marines bring their own issued weapons on board where they have assigned spaces. As @rbcusmc stated, the spaces can differ depending on the ship type. The larger ships (LHDs, LHAs…) even have dedicated armories for the Marines to keep their weapons. Again, these are USMC weapons brought on board by each individual Marine checked out from the armories on Marine bases. When the Marines debark, they take the weapons with them. Post deployment, one of the first things done is taking the weapons back to the bases armories.

[DpdG]

Thanks for the education- I have no experience to draw from. I gather DDGs like the McCain do not have them, but would the ships that warrant a permanent complement of Marines also have segregated arms storage?

[DrkBlue]

How does it work with marines assigned to a navy vessel- do they maintain their own arms room separate from the ships’s own armory? Given the vcog, I’m assuming the rifle in the photo-op was Marine in origin, and if so, would that insulate the armorer from some degree of NJP or at least reduce the severity?

Perhaps some Marine or Master at Arms will correct me, but I understand the days of Marine Detachments are over.
The Marines left US Navy nuclear capable large combatants with the end of the Cold War nuclear mission. Probably are a few Marine officers and warrants Serving in Navy billets, but formal ship-based Marine Detachments are gone.

At some point I served with prior service Marines who had been MSGs at the Embassies. Sounded like often boring duty carrying revolvers and Mini-14s owned by the Dept. Of State. That was all pre-9/11, so assume some of the assumptions have changed a lot.

[ccmdfd]

What I found more concerning about the pic then the backwards optic.

Was the firm gentle hand on the back of his shoulder.

Hope it wasn't;

"Thanks for supporting me with your hand"

"That's not my hand sir"

[TGS]

Thanks for the education- I have no experience to draw from. I gather DDGs like the McCain do not have them, but would the ships that warrant a permanent complement of Marines also have segregated arms storage?

Perhaps some Marine or Master at Arms will correct me, but I understand the days of Marine Detachments are over.
The Marines left US Navy nuclear capable large combatants with the end of the Cold War nuclear mission. Probably are a few Marine officers and warrants Serving in Navy billets, but formal ship-based Marine Detachments are gone.

At some point I served with prior service Marines who had been MSGs at the Embassies. Sounded like often boring duty carrying revolvers and Mini-14s owned by the Dept. Of State. That was all pre-9/11, so assume some of the assumptions have changed a lot.

@DrkBlue is correct....USN ships no longer feature a Marine Detachment as part of the ship's company.

MSG detachments, organized under the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group HQ'd in Quantico with worldwide regional administrative commands, are an entirely separate program with their own secondary MOS designator and school, and unrelated to marine detachments on ships.

FWIW (just because it's a gun forum and we are gun nerds), they indeed used S&W roundbutt 4" Model 19s until the turn of the century, though any Ruger AC556 present at that time wouldve been old leftover guns. Around that time they switched to using weapons TO&Ed by the Corps, such as Beretta M9s, M16A2 and later M4 carbines. A few years ago they switched back to using weapons supplied by the Diplomatic Security Service, so theyre using the Glock 19M and Daniel Defense Mk18.

[Trigger]

This is even funnier when you learn the Navy had a previous similar guffaw just a few weeks ago so they are on a roll... [emoji23]

Holy $hit! That guy wrote “I eat ass” on his gloves and the PAO published it? Sounds like PA needs to be kept on a very short and supervised leash.

[Redhat]

Holy $hit! That guy wrote “I eat ass” on his gloves and the PAO published it? Sounds like PA needs to be kept on a very short and supervised leash.

WTH...

Things have changed since I retired from the .mil