Range Time

Yesterday was a range day.  We sent guys to a bunch of different firing ranges....I went to the M4 range to re-zero and test.  Zeroing is a slightly complicated process by which we set our weapon to ourselves, this way when we qualify and go out overseas, we can just aim and squeeze.  It was a pretty cold day out that morning so we all bundled up....multiple layers...hand warmers...extra water...oh and our body armor and weapons (can't forget those).


We got there pretty early (0730) and proceeded to start a fire in the barrel next to the bleachers to keep warm.

We ended up with a nice warm fire....and 30 soldiers all trying to crowd around it.  They grabbed the first group of us to head out a little later and we got to our firing points, got our ammo and magazines for the day, and settled in for a very monotonous day.  When you zero a weapon, you start by taking the weapon as is and firing 3 or 6 rounds (depends on the preference of the NCO in charge) downrange at a target 25 meters away.  This is the target you're shooting at

 

You look at where those rounds hit, and the paper tells you how to change your sights to get closer to the center of the paper where you're aiming.  Once you make adjustments you continue to fire in 3 round groups, each time making adjustments as needed until you get 5 CONSECUTIVE (thats important) rounds into that circle.  You have to do that for your iron sights (built onto the weapon) and your optics (fancy red dot sight).  Once you do that for both sights, your weapon is set...usually after you zero you qualify....we didn't all get a chance to do that.  There were 60 of us in the first round of zeroing...and another 60 in the second.  Firing 3 rounds every 5-10 minutes, checking your target, making adjustments to your weapon, and firing again takes a LOT of time to zero both sights.

A few of us had medical appointments, so we didn't get a chance to do much other than zero, test it quickly, and then stand around waiting to see if we could get back on the range before we had to leave.  After that I spent the afternoon doing the doctor visits and cleaning my weapon.  Today was more time on the heavy weapons for those who didn't get a chance to the other day, so my day was spent packing my things for our few days in the field and watching movies.

Time for another example of the Army and their "interesting" ways of doing things.  We aren't going to be overseas for another few months, yet we still had to pack away about half of our stuff today into our footlockers and put it into a connex box (metal shipping container) to meet us overseas....a month after we get there.  Go figure.