Weapons week day 4

I was looking forward to today, not because of the block inspection but because we had our weapons handling test and electronic range shoot to look forward too. After yesterday's practice my confidence was high and I bounded off to breakfast.

The much anticipated Sergeant's inspection went really well, all due to the effort everyone put into the block last night. The place was spotless and after I'd run out of things to polish turned to deal with kit and boots which had been coated with mud from the outside range. So top marks in the inspection and we just have to do the same for the officer inspection next week and we should be done.
(see pic of my bed space :-) below)

We were tested in pairs for the weapons test and it went almost flawlessly for the pair of us. The Corporal seemed impressed and we got great feedback which is always welcome. After lunch the indoor electronic range was waiting and we had a chance to operate the rifles in a realistic setting with the rifles operating in single shot mode.

We had to fire 5 rounds to z
"zero" the sights. I took carefully aim and squeezed off my shots. At the end of the shots a computer image of the hits is shown. 9 targets showed different spreads of hits except mine where no hits were recorded.

"Where the hell were you aiming Beatley?" "At the center of the target Corporal". "let's hope it the sights that are out Beatley". Not a great start, let's hope it was the sights.

The weapons were then zeroed and we shot again. This time I was relieved to see a nice group of hits on the target. We then had several different drills to see if we could get good groupings in different positions, prone, seated, kneeling and standing. Now having done a bit of shooting before I couldn't see this would be that hard but my site seemed to be wandering like Crocodile Dundee on a walkabout. After a little bit of practice however I did manage some good groups of around 30mm and under in prone and around 80-90 mm in standing. So test passed and I seemed to have rediscovered some of my shooting skills.

As we didn't have an inspection tomorrow most people squared their kit away and hit the gym or road. I managed to squeeze in another 11k run with 5 other lads which has left the legs with a bit of recovering to do tonight. So a relaxed night with a DVD on downstairs, bit of revision more ironing and an early night as we are firing live rounds tomorrow on the range.

Weapons week is nearing and end and we now only have the respirator work and first aid to cover before the final exercise. Half way point in the course and we are all starting to switch on as a flight.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

Dave (AC Beatley)

P.S I haven't had time to proof read my posts so apologies for the spelling/ grammar. I was educated at one time in my life.