Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Range Fire AAR


Last weekend's range fire was interesting for a few different reasons. First, it was one week after my optometrist told me I could now wear bifocals. Which would probably explain why the front sight was fuzzy pretty much the whole time I fired. Not good.
Secondly, I had a little time to kill, so I wandered over to what's apparently some kind of bone yard for old vehicles. Most of the following vehicles I've at least seen before, even if it was in a museum. But the only rocket launcher truck I've encountered before was a Chinese manufactured model at Camp Anaconda, parked in a unit motorpool destined for a display pad back in the States. And the tracked vehicles with soft covers I haven't seen anywhere else.

Last, an example of why commanders like to keep their troops busy: When you're waiting to have the barracks inspected for permission to leave the post, and you have a couple hours of down time, a platoons worth of bored young males and and a fully charged taser are a bad combination. And after a good twenty of them have voluntarily submitted to a demonstration, not be willing to do so will lower your standing in their eyes. So, I now know what a taser feels like. Twice.
If anyone would like to experience that sensation, but doesn't have access to the real thing, I'd suggest mounting a steak knife blade on a electric reciprocating saw set to high, and having it held firmly against the soft tissue of your choice. I managed to make it about two seconds, although two troops actually made it the full five seconds to the automatic shut off.
I hope like hell these guys don't get too bored during the Sinai deployment, or it could be a long, painful year.

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