Fire Away

I got to do M-16 firing again today. This time, however, I had the privilege of donning my 80 lbs of body armor while I was doing it. And occasionally, I had to put on my gas mask.

Now, I've fired the M-16 several times since I joined the military. Let's see... once in Basic, once at Andrews AFB before I went to England, once at Shaw AFB while I was at Ft. Gordon, and twice at Langley AFB. That adds up to about every 3 years, and I've grown accustomed to the process: resting your cheek against the butt of the gun, taking aim, steadying the weapon, focusing on the front site, holding your breath, and squeezing the trigger. But once that gas mask goes on, it's next to impossible to get a good aim. I couldn't really get my eye on the site and the target was blurry and my gas mask got a little foggy, which it shouldn't have done. Oh well, it was a loaner, and a little small.



M-16

As usual, the process took all day long. I had my hopes up that it would only be half a day, since qualifying on the M-9, last week, only took until lunch. No such luck, this time around. Three to four hours of that body armor starts to get a little painful. Susan suggested while I'm in training in El Paso, next month, I take up weight lifting as a hobby. I reminded her that I intended to spend my free time studying for my promotion test. She has to make her choice: an in-shape husband or more money per pay check. She can't have both... or can she?



M-9


So long for now. It's been a long day,
Eric