"Fear breads a deadening caution, a holding back, a stagnant waiting until people no longer can recall what they are waiting for or saving themselves for. When we fear failure more than we love life; when we are dominated by thoughts of what we might have been rather than by thoughts of what we might become; when we are haunted by the disparity between our ideal self and our real self; when we are tormented by guilt, shame, remorse, and self-condemnation, we deny our faith in the God of love." Brennan Manning

Sunday, April 29, 2007

I'm back



Hello all. I'm back from my sabbatical. Is that right. I'm pretty sure I've never had one, so I don't know how to spell it. At any rate, Funston is booming. They're repaving the streets with asphalt and building an obstacle course, just in time for us to leave. I truly appreciate them doing this now because I have to get my JEEP aligned because of how crappy the roads have been. So, for all you peeps coming, enjoy. Moving on, enough bitchin. No internet yet. OK, sorry, done.
Alright, so last week we did big gun training. 50 cal, M240B, m249(SAW). Fun stuff. I'm out there trying to qualify on the 50 cal. Never fired one in my life. The safety is on my right telling me what to do. So I fire. "A little high, sir." Again, a little high. "Sir shoot short and walk it up. This thing sends rounds out to 5000 meters. There are ranges back there. Please shorten it up." "Roger. Will do Sergeant." I couldn't hit a single target. The sergeant told me I was all around the targets at 800 and 1000 meters but couldn't hit the damn thing. "Sir, if you were making paper cutouts you'd be doing great!" Smart ass. I got off the Hummer and got some coffee.
Live fire is coming up this week. HMMM! Hope all the training has worked. See, we have to patrol with live rounds through mock villages and sometimes you may cross your team on the opposite side. HMMMM! No coffee for anyone. No pseudophed. Nobody gets the jitters. I may even give everyone a xanax. The last thing I want is to be shot at Ft Riley by one of my own guys. That would be.......unsat! I'd much rather have an AK 47 round in my backside with at least a good story to boot.
A couple of pics. My First Sergeant is hording some better ones, the ones of us training on soviet type weapons. Good stuff. I'll snatch them for you veiwing pleasure sometime this week. One of these is our Sergeant Major taking a breather from his tough schedule and Latella on the 50 cal.

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