The rest of the story

[SGTUSArmy]

No, this is not by Paul Harvey.

This is a continuation of a story that I hinted at. This is not funny, it is only for reference/anecdote.

I was registering my Taurus 24/7 with the post, and in the process, I had to have my Company Commander sign off on my registration cards. This he did without hesitation. Once I went to pick them up, he stopped me and asked how long I had been shooting, I explained that my dad started me when I was about 3 or 4.

He asked if I was any good with powerpoint. The rest is easy to determine. I was to give a quick 5-15 minute class on handgun safety to my unit, and then share the info with the other safety NCOs in the battalion so they could give the same class. I did the work, worked with the other NCOs to get everything on the same sheet of music. The day comes for me to give the class at Commander's Call, (monthly briefing for command information to be given out.) The BC shows up for my class. The company commander introduces the class, and tells why: Two NCOs had accidental discharges with their privately owned weapons. (they were in other companies) One was in the neck.

I was shocked to say the least. These are NCOs, these guys had been handling firearms in the Army for at least 4 years. (well 3 if they are good butt kissers)

The rest is the class was good, provided good info on safety, as well as some basic info on the laws of MD and FGGM. It was a basic class, and another positive, it actually drummed up some persons with an interest in the shooting sports. I have escorted three persons to the pistol range to shoot my Taurus, and take advantage of my half price range time (I get free as a member at On Target, Severn, MD, they are half if with me).

The moral, safety matters, but so does experience and knowledge of safety.

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

The more stories I hear from present Armed Forces members the more I am convinced that the all volunteer forces is waste of time, energy, and federal funding. This is not a knock on current service members but an observation on my part. Somewhere the "Brass" have forgot what the military is and what their reason for existence is. It's not a college frat.

It amazes me that service members are so untrained with their personnal weapons that to check out a pistol from the arms room you had to give a safety class to not only the NCO's & privates but to the BC and others. Firearms safety should have learned in Basic and be second nature to anyone who has been in the military for more than a year. During the years I was in the military, the military would give all the .45 ACP ammunition you wanted to fire up in privately owned M1911's. I guess they figured that was good training if a service member wanted to shoot on his own time.

Mamabear was flying into the Pittsburgh airport the day after the 9-11 commerical airplane attack and I drove to the airport to pick her up. Their were members of the Army Reserve and National Guard posted all around the airport dressed in their finest battlegear with M-16s. The only problem with this was that I noticed no one had a magazine in their M-16 and looking closer I also noticed that no one carried loaded magazines in their web gear, not a knock on the service member, but a knock on their Commanders. To me it was a great "dog and pony show."

I also have been told that if someone volunteers to join the military, goes through basic, job training and finds that he/she doesn't want to be in the military they send them home with a general discharge---another waste of federal funding and everyones tax dollars.

I've talked to military members that were stationed Germany on nuclear warhead storage sites that informed me that they had loaded magazines in their M-16s, but were not authorized to have one in the chamber. To me this is crazy on the part of the "Brass."

My son-in-law is now on his tour in Iraq and some of the things that military does there is not too bright in this old veterans way of thinking. It seems like the lawyers are running the show not the Generals.

RANT OFF...

I am a supporter of the military and not flaming any service member---I am flaming the people that are supposed to be in charge.

grizz

[SGTUSArmy]

Grizz:

The POWs are not checked out of the Armsroom. They are stored in residences if ranked SGT or higher. Me being a NCO, I am able to store my weapon as long as I meet the requirements of DPRM and the Base regs. If you live off post you only have to worry about DPRM.

I do not know what these persons experiences are with food prior to these incidents. I do know that I was tasked by the CO, who was tasked by the BC to give this class. I did it to the best of my ability, and emphasized the NRA Commandments of Safe Gun Handling.

I was only providing an example of how "trained" people have incidents too. Meaning without observing the rules, incidents can occur. For FYI, these two individuals are part of an Military Intel unit.


I do not call mishaps accidents in this case, because these are completely avoidable, and are usually followed by the excuses: I didn't know it was loaded or I was only playing around.

In the current state of the military, Soldiers only spend about 2 days a year on weapons training, in non "combat arms" MOSs. We spend more time on how to be PC. How do we treat each other, avoid Sexual Harrassment, don't discriminate, file an EO complaint, oh...and my new current favorit....Sexual Assault Prevention twice a year. Plus we get to have Geneva Conventions training at random periods. Ethics training, even though the majority of Soldiers are not in a position to violate those ethical principles. Then we get to have our last minute mandatory training, such as DUI standdowns, Safety Standdowns, and of course, the hey let's all have some MANDATORY fun days.

[Frenchy]

What im hearing from my Step Son is it seems more important for him to run 5 miles then to actually know how to shoot, In his words, he feels they are being trained to retreat!

In a 6 month period, he drove strikers, punched holes in the air with artillary, was sent to gerrmany to spend 30 days in lockdown because 2 NCO riped up some ones lawn while drunk in a jeep, and fire his rifle one afternoon....

The highlight of his German tour so far is that he almost flipped a striker trying to avoid an other one in the same area... And Beer. When he comes home he drools over the few guns i have and waits patiently (almost) till i say lets go shooting!