The Day that Didn't Want to End

Lt Minnick is happy we finally get to roll in Humvees

This is what happens when you have boredom set in on the weekend

Not your average Wal-Mart purchase.

Yesterday was a marathon day, but a great day for the Air Force of Camp Funston. It was a range day and the Air Force team had the most qualifiers out of all teams including the Army and Navy. The 1st Sgt had no problem telling the Army and Navy they were getting their butts kicked. It was nice to put them in their place. They waste no time razing us because we are the blue and not the green.
We started by convoying out to the range at 0530. Once we got there we had the mandatory safety briefing, don’t shoot anyone or any of the wildlife, etc. We started with the 249 S.A.W. It shoots the same caliber as our M-4 just at a faster rate. The range was set up with Humvees parked sideways on the firing line. The guns were set up in the turret of the trucks and they would get changed as we progressed from weapon to weapon. Mother Nature stepped in for a while and halted firing with a lot of rain and some fancy lightening. The rain and lightening show subsided and we got back to business a little wetter than we started. After everyone got a chance to shoot the 249 we moved on to the qualifying weapons, the 240B and the 50 cal. The day qualifying consisted of targets from 400-800 meters. I love this weapon system. If I could buy one I would. I day qualified with ease after I did a barrel change. When I started my shooting table it would only shoot single action, so I had to do a barrel change and continue firing. All I can say is adrenaline is your friend.
After the 240B I moved on to the 50 cal better known as Ma Deuce. There are so many things I could say about this monster. It is by far the most intimidating, biggest, baddest, hand full of a weapon I have ever shot before. We got to shoot targets from 400-1000 meters. It was amazing how much it takes to shoot this thing! I was sweating by the time I got out of the turret. I qualified and headed to the truck to wait and enjoy a tasty MRE (they are actually A LOT better now than the first ones I had years ago).
Nightfall came and it was back to the line. We had 154 people shooting so the process was quite lengthy. The night shoot consisted of the 240B and the 50 cal with thermal scopes. They use heated targets so they show up a bright green. This was even better than day firing. I only missed one target with the 240B, at the same distance as day firing, and hit 70% of my targets with the 50 cal. So now I am an official qualified Army gunner. I guess I could put that on my resume.
The range was fun, but as I said earlier a very long day. We spent 23 hours there in full battle rattle. Adding an extra 40 pounds to your body weight for a day takes its toll on a body. By the end of the night people were falling asleep 15 feet from the 50 cal gunners while they were firing. It was good to get back to the dorms and get out of all of our gear. We turned in our weapons to the arms room for the weekend and made it to bed by 0500 Friday morning. Thank God it’s the weekend. I’ll need it to recover.