Shooting on the High Seas...

The highlight of my day today was getting re-qualified on the M-14. For those not in the know, that's the standard Navy issue rifle. Apart from it's weight, it is a very accurate and easy to operate weapon. Every time you report to a new command, and every year thereafter, you are required to basically take a Shooting Test to verify that you remember how to operate it and to demonstrate that you have at least half a chance of hitting your target if you were ever attacked. This is one of the things in the Navy that I really enjoy, and regret that we don't get to do it more often... sometimes I wonder if maybe I was made to be a Marine, but then I think of all the running they do and the much higher risk they put their families through, and I remember to count my blessings that I am a Sailor. Anyways, I had a lot of fun out there watching people shoot, watching new guys trying to figure it out (I never laugh at them, it's just interesting to watch first-time shooters and how they react). An interesting thing about how the Navy does their gun qualifications is that because we have such a small area to shoot in (generally we shoot on the flight-deck... it's just big enough to land one small helicopter at a time) that they can't use standard targets at standard distances... so they have to move the targets in pretty close to us and then they use these targets that are SUPER SMALL in order to simulate shooting at a distance. I have shot enough with the M-14 that I feel plenty comfortable operating it... my only worry is it's weight... sometimes I have a hard time keeping the barrel steady and I have to really focus on proper technique in order to shoot well. Unfortunately I screwed up on the first set... our targets weren't lined up with us, they were off-center almost by a whole person... so if you shot at the target directly in front of you, you would be shooting at the wrong one... you had to actually shoot at the target that was lined up with the guy on your right... so my first 8 shots were all on some other guy's target... gee, I hope that wasn't an "innocent bystander!" :) They never told us beforehand about the targets being off though and when the Line Coach finally realized what I was doing and told me, I had already "failed"... they told me to continue on with the other sets though b/c it looked to them like I was "on target", just on the wrong target... so I shot the rest of my shots in the kneeling and sitting positions... I thought for sure I'd have to "requal" but when they stepped up to the targets to grade them a couple of the Gunner's Mates were pointing my target out and commenting at how tight of a pattern I had... and then the guy grading the targets got to mine and said "dang! Somebody got surgical with this one! Who's is this???" Naturally I knew that not only did I pass with flying colors, but I had made a very good impression... 'course, this is the Navy, so their shooting standards aren't exactly very high... but I have to admit, even I was impressed with how tight my shooting pattern was... I remember back in the day my shots were EVERYWHERE... :)