That's be a little scary with the rifle in his hands, Dave!
Kat, the incident with his rifle was in basic training. They don't (or didn't, in '53) issue ammunition to you in basic unless you're out on the rifle range for practice firing. Actually AT the range, not even in the morning before you march the (in this case) seven miles to the range. Otherwise, your "piece" is empty during basic. Even for guard duty.
The first and only time I ever had rounds in my rifle other than "on the range" was when I had been shipped to Germany, and was on guard duty there. In THAT case, the first sentry on a particular post at night was issued three (3) rounds in a clip, which would be passed to the next sentry when he relieved you, and then passed to the NEXT sentry after that, and so on around the clock. They were checked back in (and counted) when the guard contingent was relieved by the next day's crew.