Week 6 Musician Keeping 01 October - 07 October 2001
Monday
Monday morning and with our newly acquired weapon skills, Troop 1/01 went
off to battle… Well off to the ranges at Longmoor actually. Still we all
felt pretty nervous and excited knowing we were to be firing LIVE rounds all
week. Yes the time had come for us to open our eyes to the art of shooting,
and for the training team to close their eyes, run and take cover as the Troop
clumsily go through our weapons drills and firing with live ammunition for the
first time.
So after grabbing an hour's sleep on the journey up to Longmoor, we unloaded
our bergens and the rest of the kit we required before we got our hands on a
loaded weapon. Firstly we were given a feel of what it should be like to fire
the rifle on a simulator. It was a realistic simulator and was great fun as
we shot at the targets on a huge screen that could only be described like an
arcade machine.
Late afternoon and STILL no live rounds action! The Troop all communed under
some shelter to stay out of the rain, and as we waited we all realised what
we were about to do. The first detail went up to the firing points and waited
nervously for the drills. The rest of us listened in and watched as the orders
were given, "Load!"… "Ready!"… "Prone position
down!"… "GO ON!" As the firing began we were really impressed.
The noise and the recoil was so amazing, it gave everyone a real surprise on
our first 5 rounds, but we really enjoyed it, a great first day.
Tuesday
Tuesday morning saw the whole Troop up at "0 crack sparrow" to
start another days shooting on the ranges. After setting up the figure 11 targets,
the training team briefed us on the layout of the range we were to shoot on.
We were told everything we needed to know, such as the position of the ammunition
post, where to lay out our weapons and of course where the first aid point was
positioned… just in case something should go wrong… GULP!!
After a revision period covering the different firing positions, butt placement,
spot world, positioning of the elbows, positioning of the left hand, breathing
and so on! The Troop took up the sixteen firing points and waited for command's
"Load"… "Ready"… "Prone position down"…
"GO ON!"… After running down to our targets from the 100meter
point, we discovered that none of us were going to be the next Sgt
Higgins, but we were reliably informed that our poor shooting at this stage
was normal.
After lunch we had another session of shooting, although many of us did not
need to go again as we had already zeroed our weapons.
After everybody had finished the day's shooting, we packed everything back
on to the coach, AAAH! Another day done with no worries… or so we thought!
The team thought it would be nice if the Troop "cooled off a bit"
with some revision of moving with a weapon, so we crawled through a stretch
of boggy marshland on our stomachs before changing and getting on the coach,
mmm lovely!
Wednesday
Wednesday and its off again to Longmoor, hopefully everyone would get a good
grouping so we could move on to our APWT (Annual Personal Weapons Test). After
setting up the figure 11 targets we took up our positions on the range and carried
out all the preparatory drills needed before firing. On looking down at our
targets we saw that things were beginning to look up for a few of us, as myself
Bug Lowe and one or two others found we had a great grouping of rounds on the
centre of the target, we felt really pleased and proud of ourselves. For five
or six of us the shooting for the day had finished as we had achieved good results,
so we were allowed to carry on and eat our scran. We were asked by Cpl
Simpson, no ordered by Cpl Simpson to tell some jokes to keep moral high.
The majority of the "good jokes" went to Musn Cleverly, but for obvious
reasons cannot be repeated here! Unfortunately and not surprisingly some of
our jokes "were just not good enough" and we were awarded a prize
of… some press-ups!
After the days firing, not only of live rounds but also some cheesy jokes,
the Troop packed up for the day and set off back to HMS Nelson on the coach
in high spirits, having had a good day's shooting, roll on Thursday!.
Thursday
Thursday morning and yes you guessed it, off to the ranges. When we got there
we were told that we were going to be firing from 200 and 300 metres points…
Yikes!
Having been briefed on where our point of aim should be from that distance,
we took up our positions at the 200 metre firing points. We had been told to
aim into the wind, so as to swerve the round into the centre of the figure 11
target. On looking at our results we found that our rounds had spread everywhere
on the target and some had even missed the target altogether! Except myself
of course, I hit the target everytime... well I was aiming for a grassy hole!
After lunch another session of shooting, and this time from 300 metres, we
had to aim right away from the target to compensate for the wind, Mmmmm; this
wasn't going to be a very accurate shoot. After we had fired we went down and
looked at our targets, my predictions were correct, not brilliant results but
it was our first time from 300 metres.
Oh, special congratulations though to Bug Lowe who managed to get all 5 of
his rounds through the same hole in the target! Well done NOT!
Friday
Friday morning and our last day on the ranges. Many of us were disappointed
because we had really enjoyed the week and wanted to do more shooting. But what
we had to concentrate on was passing the test with good marks today so we could
finish on a high.
The first thing we did was charge our magazines, one magazine with 15 rounds,
one with 20 rounds and one with 25 rounds.
Then we carefully listened to Sgt Connelly as he gave us the briefing for the
shoot. Firing on his word of command we had to shoot in firstly the prone position,
then the sitting position, then the squatting position and finally the standing
position. It was really hard firing under the pressure we had put on us, because
it was all timed i.e. firing 5 rounds accurately in 10 seconds and 15 rounds
in 60 seconds, all in different positions!
On looking at the targets, we really surprised ourselves! Well done to Musn
"Foggy" Fothergill and Musn Shaw particularly for getting 51 out of
52 and 49 out of 52!
On the second time round myself, and a number of others, passed with 44 out
of 52. We were quite pleased and very relieved to have passed the test!
After waiting for the rest of the Troop to pass the APWT we all gathered round
the training team for the weeks de-briefing. We were really hyped up to hear
that we were going to have an acquaint with firing the weapons on AUTOMATIC!
After we were briefed on how to fire the weapon in automatic mode, Sgt
Henderson and Sgt Connolly
gave us a practical demonstration on how we were to conduct ourselves whilst
firing; we were all very impressed with the demonstration! We stepped up to
the firing point, with our weapons switched to automatic, looking at the figure
11 targets with insane grins on our faces, the adrenalin was pumping and we
squeezed the trigger! Blap, blap, blap, blap, blap, blap, blap. We all agreed
that was the highlight of the week and couldn't wait for next week when we will
be Adventure Training Jersey… roll on Saturday!
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The day's shooting begins...
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... using many of the different firing positions
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...coaching...
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...and encouragement
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Patching out the target
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After a day live firing comes the weapon cleaning...
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...the most enjoyable part of the day !
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Reflecting on a good day's shooting members of the troop
relax...
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...over a can of coke and a snack
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After all the shooting, cleaning, tidying and daily
admin...
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... the day's toils take their toll on some!
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Musn Keeping
