I'm curious about the actual experiences of people who have served in the military at posts in the US.
My own experience during Nixon, while serving on three installations in the US and one in Germany, was we only were issued ammunition for range practice. In Germany we were issued ammunition while guarding secret-top secret crypto gear.
Soldiers' weapons were locked in the armory. The exception was military police, who probably had ammunition.
I think the issue is/was allowing Hassan to continue serving, when his sympathies with terrorists were known. I believe the timeline of his service while his sympathies were known, spans both the GW Bush and Obama administrations, however it was the military leadership which failed to deal with his threat.
His case should be classified as terrorism, and he should be executed. And there should probably be more people on bases, with weapons and ammo beyond just military law enforcement.