If you never need that skill, then why is it fundamental? To take the point even further, why shouldn't the Navy take that ammunition that would have gone to you and give it to someone who does need it so that their proficiency is higher, thus increasing our combat effectiveness and that individual's survivability? As an officer, you should be promoting ideas that foster the efficient use of our taxpayer provided resources while also crushing those ideas that achieve the opposite.
Where do you draw the line as to what's fundamental to a particular rate or designator? I had to complete the swim qual, the damage control trainer, and the basic firefighting school when I went to ODS. While I enjoyed each of them, it is
highly unlikely that I will ever go on a ship. If I never need those skills, why are they fundamental?
And, as FLGUY eloquently points out, the "save money" part is hilarious: the amount of ammo I would consume to get qualified would be a rounding error on a rounding error on a rounding error.
Because your job in the armed forces doesn't require you to be armed. You're a POG. So am I. So stop thinking that you aren't.
You need to be brilliant in the basics of your job. Those basics don't include shooting and maneuvering.
In all seriousness, I am very aware that I am a POG. I don't think I'm special, and I don't think my designator is special either. However, I do think that
everyone in
every branch of the armed forces should be able to qualify with their branch's choice of firearms.
What could be more basic in the armed forces than knowing how to shoot?