Why don't all members of the Air Force have to be fully qualified to be a rifleman in case of hostile events?

Its funny I was stationed at a nuke base as SF when the base went into excersise to upload b52s the entire base was mobilized and used wd had a HUMV with a cook in it who decided to play with his m14 like a toy a round was fired next to the drivers ear, there is no simple answer here because every base has a different mission and different needs all i know is weapons training in basic is not dnough

I was qualified with rifle and pistal when I was in the US Air Force. Since 1969 to 1991. My primary AFSC was Aircraft Structural repair. I was also a crew chief on A-10A 77-0270 for four years at RAF Wood bridge, Egland. I was part of bas e security with a rifle several times and at differant bases. This was only a very few job assignments I had when I was in the Air Force. I don't know what people do these days. I guess they might just do a 9 to 5 job schedule now for all I know. We worked 72 hours at a time many times.

My units was very strict on weapons qualifications because we deployed a lot. if you failed after the third try, you could kiss your career good buy even if you were a outstanding Airmen. This was around the time like last year when the military was cutting back on the needed soldiers to save on cost, so if you failed in a certain area they would find away to get rid of you and my fate was failure of weapons qualification.

Many units are starting to get stricter, and if you can't shoot you become useless. I enlisted in 2012 and was honorable discharge around November of 2015. I passed PT and CDC'S but Failed CBT'S and Weapons Training with M4 Rifle so a decision was made to cut the rest of my contract short. I should have took extra lessons outside of my unit after my failures their were no excuses because the area Lived around had plenty of shooting ranges including some with m4 rentals. I guess the moral to the story is you live and you learn .

Sorry to Say my fellow veterans, but Airmen now into today's Airforce must qualify at least in the Airguard unit I was in. I know for fact. I fail qualifications three times due to my own fault and was one of the main reasons why I got the boot besides not getting the CBT'S done on time. I was discharge under honorable all because I didn't take weapons qualifications seriously by practicing at the local range after failing.

I think it's because of the role the Air Force is expected to play. The whole point of aircraft is to launch them from safe areas and fly them into combat. If the enemy is "knocking at your door", then your aircraft are already at risk. For combat vehicles, they're much more fragile than your average Abrams tank or MRAP. It doesn't take much to put an aircraft out of commission.

Bottom line, if your average Air Force personnelist or comm guy has become part of your front line force, you have more problems than whether or not they are qualified to shoot.

Ya know, I wondered that myself! We only had to qualify in basic in 1995, and never again.

I remember back in my early days in the AF I had to shoot again when I got to my base. I had got expert but they said I was lucky. Even though the guy next to me got pulled out of the line in the last half of the firing. And I was last guy on the line. I got in good with some M.P.s via some Army Cook candidates at Fort Lee, The Quartermaster School. I got invited to go to the range to fire as they had some open slots. I fired expert again.. a Lt Col was there who verified it,
Nope doesn't count, it wasn't a AF group. I kept the target though for keepsake purpose.. that was back in '71. I had join AF Reserve in '70 and that was when I first got expert.. I was scheduled to go to range at Wright-Pat I think or am Army camp not far from there. Had some nasty weather that weekend.. firing cancelled, so I missed out. The next spring I got opportunity to go Active AF. I took it, got to my base and I talked to some Security Specialists..they said let us talk to our Supervisor, maybe he can find a slot on the firing line.. one of them hinted at a bribe(not money but coffee and pastries..). I said I'm just an A1C like you guys, I have no control over that .. I did talk to Sarge at D.H. And he got me a half can coffee and some pastries for the training staff.. I got my slot.. I fired and got expert again.. great firing weather, clear day .. when we were done I got asked to step out and away for a few minutes.. I could see the timbers shake on that building.. the Instructor gave me my paper to take back. It was in a envelope.. I didn't find out until I got back to Squadron.. a few days later, i thought it was bad news.. Tng Sgt. Came by D.H. and gave me the word and gave me a pkg. it had the AF Ribbon for shooting. He said save it for Cmdr.'s call, we'll award it there.. They
Handed me one, not knowing I already had one. The 1Sgt. Asked me how I got
A slot to fire.. I told him.. he just nodded and walked away.. it seemed they had been trying to get slots for 3 months and here comes a Cook and he gets to fire 2 weeks after he gets on base.. S'thing not right.. the matter got dropped, Cmdr. said no use in brooding over it.. it's done !..

As a retired Air Force member, I prefer the M-249. Yes, I know how to use it. If one isn't available, I'll take an M-60..

Hey! Sorry not all of us in the navy know any of that either.

Mike Christ married my daughter. But to respond to the comment about weaponry, I was deemed an expert in the field and won the Florida marksmanship challenge in 1969.