What is an effective and creative corrective action for a soldier left a weapon unattended?

Savanna, I have to be honest the ammo is not a huge deal in big picture. The weapon is the big deal. Get creative, but not necessarily nice. Get a rubber duck, aka rubber weapon make him/her keep it 24/7. The cant sign into the arms room lock it into a locker. They will have it with them all the time, at PT, *in the shower, in the latrine, at chow. Inform all the NCO's in the unit so they can help you keep taps on your incident waiting to happen. Savanna, I have slept with a rifle and pistol within hands reach in several counties. Anytime I showered I made sure someone was watching it and I knew where they would be as soon as I got out. It could be something as simple as an oversight, a temporary lapse. Weapon accountability is skill level 1. You be the one who fits this, you be the NCO who steps in and does whats right. You see a troop that needs some fixing, so fix 'em.

Get a 2x4 about the length of a rifle, stencil the words "I left my rifle unattended" and make him carry the 2x4 around for the week.

Tether the weapon to them. If you aren't going to be doing training with the weapons for a while, find yourself a rubber duck (fake rifle) and tether that to the Soldier. Maybe make them report every so often with the weapon. Make sure that you always do a counseling with the corrective action laid out that way they know exactly what to expect. This is for both you and the Soldier.

Losing a weapon or other sensitive item is a very serious infraction.

If this Troop was a soup sandwich this would be their last hurrah. If you’ve never been locked down because some knuckle head lost a weapon, NOD, SOI/CEOI, or a comm ‘fill’ then you have no idea the kind of shit stew that results from that persons stupidity. I might even hit up the CoC (starting with Top) to see what their pleasures were. Otherwise no need to hang ‘em from a flagpole.

So; what to do about it? Even if this Troop was your very best and had a brain fart I would give them the worst SAC (serious ass chewing) they could have ever imagined. Make you point, make it clear, make it stick, and be done with it. If something like that happened again I would have serious doubts about this persons ability to be promoted to given increased responsibility.

I’ve done some really stupid shit and made it through with the occasional shoe leather injection on my 6.

The army corrective action today takes the "nutless pussy" approach. Just put it on paper and be done with it. Anything else (Anything effective) will get you in trouble so it's not worth it. Gone are the days where Soldiers aren't absolute pansies so honestly you probably shouldn't even bother.

Tie everything down to their belt Weapon, wallet, dog tags, patrol cap and anything else you can think of. Make them all inspectable items. Full battle rattle can be worn for added effect.

Carrying this for a week should do the trick

I secured the weapon, removed the bolt carrier group. Soldier was in panic looking for M4. Returned M4, instructed solider to do function check ( kinda hard to do with out bolt carrier group). After that embarrassing moment bolt carrier was returned. Soldier also had the pleasure of cleaning one of sections weapons a day. A few weeks later solider left his loaded magazines when he went to chow ... but that's another story!

Let SM pack weapon 24/7 for a few days, with authority from Command and Armory. If he's a potential nut case or stress monster, put a trigger lock on it to prevent him from harming others.

I see a lot of rubber ducks.... We used a similar approach however they had to earn the right to a rubber duck as they were not responsible enough for a weapon real or fake. we made them carry a company gag gun made of plywood or PVC painted pink and neon orange labeled so everyone knew. they then had to lead Sgt.s time on the importance of security etc etc for a few weeks