This i'll do
Recently I went to the firing range. It was an ad hoc shooting gallery that was used for training by the United States Army. This range wasn’t so much constructed as it was, well, a, “lets shoot here kind of thing.” There were plenty of locations available for this training exercise as every where you look there is nothing but flat desert. Infinite stretches of desolate tracts. Might as well be the surface area of Planet Zero, or so it seems to me.
This is the first time I have shot my weapon since I have been in country. This is a good thing. I won’t hesitate, I said I wouldn’t when I raised my hand, but nonetheless I would prefer not having to live with a decision like that.
The vast majority of our forces have issued to them what is known as an M16. It’s a nice weapon, a little picky and not as powerful as an AK-47, but it’s meant to mar and disable as opposed to kill. The thought process behind this is that two men will have to carry one man who is injured, thus removing more of the enemy from the battle field. I don’t see how this logic transfers accordingly to our enemy. Their M.O. is pretty much pull the trigger in the random vicinity of a U.S. Soldier (often times following an I.E.D.) and then run like hell. I don’t believe they wait for any of their wounded.
I have what is known as a M249 “Saw”’ machine gun. It’s twice the weight of an M16 and fires 600 rounds a minute. It comes with an extra barrel due to excessive heat and needs to be changed out when firing. It’s also what is known as a “crew serv” weapon meaning that it is sometimes operated in groups of two and is most often times used in a turret, or the weapon mount portion of a humvee. These are the guys you see half exposed from an Army vehicle operating the weapon. These are also the guys I eventually see, in half parts after an I.E.D. explodes next to them. The shrapnel and/or blast will separate themselves from their own torso.
Given my mission, it is highly unlikely I would ever be in a turret on a convoy, although I very much want too. Sounds ridiculous I know, but it is something I want to experience. I don’t want to kill anybody and I see what happens to these soldiers all the time, but I would still do it.
~Rolligun
posted by Rolligun at 11:40 PM
30 Comments:
Oh sweet boy, it took me a minute to get past seeing you hold a weapon let alone talk about them *is it hot in here or is it just me*.... It's a southern thing really, (most)men with guns are HOT and men that know their way around a weapon are even hotter**seriously, it's hot in here, right?**.. megs will back me up on this...
Call me selfish, but I am glad you are not on a convoy or involved in hand to hand combat or anything of that nature but I understand your desire to be part of it.
Megs is backing Beachgirl up.
Then she is staunchly refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of this post because the mere thought of someone else she cares about being near gunfire that may not be his own bothers her.
A lot.
A lot more than it should.
Since she doesn't even know you.
And she is using "she" to maintain distance.
And therefore she will say only this:
Imagine that. Rolligun has a big gun . . . wonder what bush he'll . .
I can't even finish that thought.
I mean, she can't finish that thought.
Hope everyone smiled a little.
yay the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. gotta love long ugly names that can be shortened into cool, mean/sexy sounding acronyms. so... question, when you go to the range... how exactly do you qualify with your weapon? or do you?
BG,
I'm probably wearing about fifty pounds of crap in that photo...and yes it gets unbelievably hot!!! Especially when this country gets back to it's usuall 120+.
Meg,
She can do whatever She likes.
Buggy,
Nothing to be afraid of...as long as you know, (and everyone else) knows what they're doing. No problem.
Chud,
Yes, I do have to qualify with the weapon, it's a military standard to be qualified on your designated weapon.
The way qualification works for a saw gunnar is a two step process, by which you are scored in each event and the total is summed.
The first test, is a paper target.
You can kind of see the outline of this in the top picture. The paper target is a relatiley short distance from the fighting position, however the targets themselves are roughly the size of your thumb. These "thumbs" are arranged in a sligthy inclined horizonal and a slanted veritcal. The idea is test your ability to accurately spread your shot group on a target.
Typically, with a "saw" you would shoot in 5-7 round bursts, which takes less than a second to produce. The sloped design is meant to test your ability to "transverse" (spread shot group horizontaly) and "Search" (Spread shot group vertically).
The second event is a series of pop-up targets. The targets are typically behind a manufactured burm with the furthest target located 800m out.
This is how qualification works.
How to shoot, is another subject.
that's kinda what i was wondering. i mean, i knew you had to qualify, but i wasn't sure if they just plopped you on a range with an m-16 and made you qualify like average joes, or how it worked. cuz i didn't think you couldn't really squeeze off just one round at a time with the saw to qualify hits. plus, that seemed like a really retarded idea to me. so thank you sir. now i know. and knowing is half the battle.
Stay safe.
Wait just a durn minute!! I'm fairly sure megs is using me or "she" as a shield.... and you dear rolli are going along with it... Y'all both need to stop it! This dance was made for two, I do not need to be brought in as your chaperone...
Rolli, you and chud need to stop talking about weapons!! Seriously, it's tantamount to a guy eating a whole plate of raw oysters for me... So stop it!!
BG,
I'm Lost???
Drunkin,
Nice work on the GI Joe reference, found that funny, I use to be a huge fan of GI Joe's when I was about two feet shorter than i am now, if fact i use get extemely pissed off that all the kids in my day care started playing with transformers when they came out instead GI Joes anymore. I hated transformers for that. Where was their loyalty?
Mommy,
Will do.
rolli, darling, check your email the explanation is there..
Uh . . . color me confused.
Especially about your response to me/she.
She can do whatever She wants . . but last week didn't you, uh huh, here it is:
"Also, don't question me. I am the ruler of this blog. Me. You may acheive the rank of Lieutenant one day, but even then, I am the ruler of this blog."
So She can do whatever she wants but question you??
...and how many different colors are you, you probably look like a spastic rainbow!
Umm, well, YEAH I'm spastic.
You didn't know that?
And the reason I'm so many colors is because you won't stop hitting me.
Once the damn black and purple are fading to green and yellow, you start in again. So then I got red, I got black, I got purple, I got green, Jayzus . . I'm SKITTLES.
Stop hitting me, please.
Please.
It feels good.
But it hurts.
Wait . . you're my LEADER now??
Eh, well, whatever . . if your ass is as cute as your profile, I'll let you lead. I'll just stare.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I think you should go buy me a drink...
Oh, that's rich!
He beats me and I'm supposed to buy him the drink.
Rolli - you're such the typical man. "Wash the dishes, do the moppin, they always keep her hoppin."
Well, okay, I'll get on my knees for you . . but I'm NOT scrubbing the floors! Do you hear me???
OUCH. Damnit FINE. I'll scrub the godforsaken floors just don't hit me in the face again.
Unless I'm on top. Then . . well, just not so hard next time.
(Chud, babe, how's that for your start?? I know sometimes you struggle with your writing - - start taking some shorthand notes from me for your letter to Penthouse)
There are no words...
Laurie,
I'm not sure why your comment of all others is the one I choose to comment on first, perhaps the pure confustion surronding it, I don't know...but what in all of creation are you talking about?
BG,
Sure there are, you just have to know how to arrange the letters in the right order. Good luck.
Meg,
You've seem to have introduced an element of violance to the situation, interesting, however I must tell you that if I was to be part of that kind of thing, I would more than likely be the one to be "tied up"
"eh, well, whatever..." I'll have you know that my leadership has been among the most popular durning this deployment. You should be a little more excited I would think.
Chud,
Get your tickets early, I somehow beleive that Meghan has more of a show to give. I don't even know what to expect any longer.
It is more than possible that I went way too far.
I could blame it on sleep deprivation and general craziness, but I will take the high road and take full responsibility.
My apologies to all.
Rolli - You like being "tied up"?
I think I read in earlier comments that you're not to question the blog ruler...But....
*scribbles furiously on his note pad* "not in the face... mmhmm, on top... check, on her knees... got it." thanks megs.
rolli, i think you may be right man. for the sake of all mankind, give it all you got. you could earn an oscar for the porn you two could make. at the very least a woody.
megs- no need for apologies... if you enjoyed it (and I know the guys enjoyed it), that's all that matters...We love you much!
Starting to get a bit worried.
Tell me not to get worried.
I'm with megs- are you alright darlin?
He's fine. I had an email this morning. He's off cleaning his "weapon" ;)
A boy and his . . .tools.
Um hm.
No comment.
Miss you Rolli , xxx.
The 5.56 NATO round was never meant to be used to disable/wound: It was designed to kill and it does so exceedingly well. It also has a much longer killing range than the 7.62x39mm round that the AK47 shoots. For example, US Marines qualify and hit their targets out to 500 meters (US Army goes out to 300, but they don't use slings for stability), whilst the AK round loses its combat usefulness after 200 meters. Much of this is due to the M16 platform being an incredibly accurate shooting system that leaves other combat weapons (with the exception of the dedicated precision/sniper rifles),in the dust--especially the AK47.
I'm sorry for the rant, but whenever I see these innacuracies it's like sand scratching my eyeballs (it's right up there with folks saying the 5.56mm bullet "tumbles" in flight)
Second photo spotted.
Third photo spotted.
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