HOM: Basic Flashback. - Live Fire

I overlooked the trips to the range for live firing with the 1911 Colt pistol and the M1 .30-06 rifle. Shooting skill wasn't considered to be too important for USN recruits at the time. As long as we knew how to disassemble, load & fire the weapons, they buzzed us through. We fired a few rounds to get the basics of operation, a couple of more rounds to sight in, and a few more for qualification. I don't know how they scored the ratings back then, but now, I guess an expert must score a 220 out of a possible 250, a Sharpshooter must score a 210, and a marksman a 200. Don't quote me on this. A grand total of one of us got a sharpshooter badge. I didn't quite make marksman, though my score might have been better if I hadn't gotten sidetracked and popped off a round into the target of the guy beside me - the guy that made sharpshooter ... Later on, I ran through some training up at Fort Lewis, WA, with the M16. They stuck me in a chest-deep foxhole facing life-size pop-up silhouette targets that ranged from 50 feet to 600 meters away. When you hit the pop-ups, they dropped out of sight. It was like having a bench rest. I dug my elbows into the dirt and settled in to have fun. Once I figured out the hold over, the only target I couldn't knock down at every shot was that 50 foot pop-up. It was so ragged that there were no solid places left on it for a bullet to hit. This target isn't exactly like what we used at Fort Lewis, but it gives you the idea. This Washington episode didn't count for anything, but I sure enjoyed it. TBC (Me) (Home)