Range Week

This week I spent Monday through Thursday at the range. I was part of the range cadre. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it actually turned out to be a great week! I qualified on the M16A2 rifle on Monday as a "sharpshooter" with 36 hits out of 40. Then on Thursday, I qualified on the M9 pistol as "expert" with a score of 26 hits out of 30. The rifle range was on stationary, paper targets and the pistol range was on pop up targets. Like the name implies, they pop up. There are about 7-8 different target locations and they pop up in a random order. They vary in distance too. I was very happy with the opportunity to qualify on the pistol. It's usually only officers and MPs who get to do that. I had the opportunity since I was part of the cadre for that range.

Here are some pictures from the internet to help you visualize what went on:

The M-9 pistol The M-16A2 rifle
A soldier firing the M-16 at a qualification range. (no, it's not me, but this is what I did) Do you see the ejected cartridge flying through the air? Those puppies are HOT when they land on you. I've had them go down the collar of my uniform before. They give you a nice burn. This happens at the range a lot since the firing positions are so close to each other. The soldier to your right always has to watch out.

This is a stationary paper target. It's similar to the one used for qualifying. The qualification target has ten different targets on it which vary in size to represent differing distances. This one is used to "zero" the weapon. That's where you adjust the rifle to the way you personally are aiming it. Everyone looks through the sights a little bit differently. This helps you "set your preferences" on your weapon. You have to fire 5 out of 6 consecutive rounds into the circle on the black part of the target.

This is an example of a pop-up target. Not all of them are this size, but most of them are. They range in distance from 50 meters to 300 meters on an M-16 range. The distances for the pistol range are, of course, much closer. No one can hit 300 meter targets with a pistol.

Well, I hope this gives you an idea of what I did.

Miss you all