Live Fire

[TCBF]

Things Not to Do on a Live Fire Exercise:

1.  Do not try to engage - out of arcs - the Tower on Range __, especially if a Safety Staff WO is in it.

2.  Do not - after the "STOPSTOPSTOP' caused by number 1 (above)  then try to engage - out of arcs - the Signals facillity on _____Hill, especially if the Sigs MCpl and his det are manning it.

3.  Do not, using a coaxial machine gun, bring a Safety Staff WO under effective fire to the point where he has to dive to the ground.

4. Do not do 1 to 3 (above) while being observed by your CO, your Brigade Commander, and the Commander of the center you are training at.

The next iteration will be a LOT better, I think.

 

[aesop081]

ouch.......

That reminds me of a certain CO and RSM of a certain engineer regiment at a certain army training center some time ago who were too close to an explosion at the demolition range. Damned those faulty measuring tapes, hard to ge the time fuze right  ;D

 

[SeaKingTacco]

TCBF,

I'm guessing that you had a rough day at the office?  ;D

 

[TCBF]

Nope.  But my peers eating with me are joking about incipient PTSD claims.  The gist being they actually came under fire THEMSELVES today, unlike some PTSD claimants!

;D

 

[Fusaki]

Hmmm... I wonder If I know anyone involved...

 

[medicineman]

Sounds a little like the day the Brigade commander showed up on our grenade range - 85 grenades went over without a hitch, he shows up, number 86 goes blind.  Show stopper for the rest of his visit.  Well, nobody got shot at, but we did stay at a Holiday Inn Express...

MM

 

[Canadian Sig]

Things Not to Do on a Live Fire Exercise:

1.  Do not try to engage - out of arcs - the Tower on Range __, especially if a Safety Staff WO is in it.

2.  Do not - after the "STOPSTOPSTOP' caused by number 1 (above)  then try to engage - out of arcs - the Signals facillity on _____Hill, especially if the Sigs MCpl and his det are manning it.

3.  Do not, using a coaxial machine gun, bring a Safety Staff WO under effective fire to the point where he has to dive to the ground.

4. Do not do 1 to 3 (above) while being observed by your CO, your Brigade Commander, and the Commander of the center you are training at.

The next iteration will be a LOT better, I think.

Should those blanks be filled in with "16" and "tower" ?

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Train as you would fight, and you will fight as you trained.  Maybe someone was just taking some initiative to inject some realism into an otherwise boring range weekend.  Hate the game, not the player!  :

 

[UberCree]

Gotta love live fires.  It only PROVES that they are necessary, more of them needed.  How would you like to have had this happen in Afghanistan for instance?

At least no one got hit ... right?

 

[TCBF]

Right.

And the above points about not doing this often enough are bang (no pun intended) on the mark.  Having had Coyote 25mm fly past me from the rear (plus a few other incidents) on previous live fire Ex's,  I know too well the difference between a PWT 2 and a dynamic mounted/dismounted range over 'interesting' terrain. 

The troops are ours and are as good as the rest.

Better to learn it here.  That's why 'here' is here!

 

[foerestedwarrior]

I have had the pleasure(displeasure?) of learning first hand what round from a C7 travelling within a few feet of you sound like.....Scarred the crap outa me.....someone forgot to shift their fire when I was taking the trench on a live sction attack.

Scarry, but informative.

 

[043]

Just an update:  the same people who brought you the first post on this thread have just done a 're-iteration' and it was - I have been told - the slickest range yet. 

Practice does not make perfect - PERFECT practice makes perfect!

 

[Canadian Sig]

2.  Do not - after the "STOPSTOPSTOP' caused by number 1 (above)  then try to engage - out of arcs - the Signals facillity on _____Hill, especially if the Sigs MCpl and his det are manning it.

The sigs det was blissfully unaware until way after the fact. At least we wouldnt have seen it coming... ;D

 

[paracowboy]

I have had the pleasure(displeasure?) of learning first hand what round from a C7 travelling within a few feet of you sound like.....Scarred the crap outa me.....someone forgot to shift their fire when I was taking the trench on a live sction attack.

Scarry, but informative.

we used to fire our soldiers in when the grenadier was gonna post his grenade. That was SOP. Better that way.

 

[Armymedic]

I have had the pleasure(displeasure?) of learning first hand what round from a C7 travelling within a few feet of you sound like.....Scarred the crap outa me.....someone forgot to shift their fire when I was taking the trench on a live sction attack.

A few feet, like 3-8 ft above your head while you work the butts on the range? Nothing like the crack of a bullet to keep your mind clear. Too bad the emphisis on safety takes away realistic training from the cbt arms, and us medics  .

As pc said, they used to fire the grenadier in. Something about suppressing fire, I would suppose.

 

[Haggis]

we used to fire our soldiers in when the grenadier was gonna post his grenade. That was SOP. Better that way.

Yep.  Sure is.

We started doing that when PPCLI Guy was our Ops O, many snows ago. (I was his Ops WO.)

If you're trained not to fear your own rounds then you'll learn not to fear their rounds.

Too bad the emphisis on safety takes away realistic training from the cbt arms, and us medics  .

It doesn't have to, if the staff thinks things through.  It's better to be safety conscious than safety scared.

Besides, I like it when my medic is bored on the range.  I like it even more when s/he asks if they can fire.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Just to drag this away from reality, remember how they trained in the book Starship Troopers?  One in every 500 rounds of blank ammo was live.  Pretty good odds, but if you didn't take your training seriously, you potentially could get waxed.  Good training for the medics too!  ;D
Okay, I'll knock it off now.

 

[Zertz]

Starship Troopers needs to be required reading.

 

[Sig_Des]

If you're trained not to fear your own rounds then you'll learn not to fear their rounds.

It doesn't have to, if the staff thinks things through.  It's better to be safety conscious than safety scared.

One of the best experiences I've ever had in the military was the "Poor Man's" Range in Ft. Knox, KY.

Nothing like crawling a confidence course, with C4 blowing up in pits around you, paraflares going off above you, speakers blaring the sounds of screaming women, crying babies, men yelling in Arabic, and live 7.62 w/tracer flying over your head to heighten the senses!