Lucky Shot

I was one of the weird guys that actually enjoyed the Army basic training. Camping outside, field trips through the woods, hanging out with the fellas, competitive exercises, it was all fun and games. My favorite part was the weapons training where we were allowed to fire off hundreds of rounds.

I grew up in a house that always had firearms so I was really comfortable handling the various weapons. Most of the time in basic training we fired the M16 and I found it to be a fairly accurate rifle. Of course, the real fun came when we were allowed to switch the selector to full auto to empty the clip.

The drill instructors wanted us to fire the M16 in bursts of three rounds but I found that it was just as easy to let off the trigger a little early to consistently fire two round bursts. I could still hit the targets and then I would have left over ammo after the training. I would pick off targets that others had missed using the extra rounds. At times, the entire firing range would be quiet except for me dispensing of the targets at different ranges while some of the other trainees were calling on the drill instructors to watch me.

My favorite training event was when I was handed an M203 to fire. The M203 was a M16 with a 40mm grenade launcher mounted underneath. The grenade launcher did not really add much weight to the weapon, but it did add some firepower.

The M203 has a separate vernier sight and trigger for firing the single shot grenade launcher which made it a little awkward at first, but I got the hang of it by the end of the day.

There I was prone at the end of training session picking off the pesky targets with the M16 rounds when one of the drill instructors walked over to stand behind me. He started calling out which target I needed to dispatch which I did with a single round each time. These targets varied from 50 to 200 yards, well within the effective range of the 5.56mm M16 rounds.

Then the drill instructor handed me an extra grenade for the launcher. He picked out a derelict tank on the firing range about 200 meters away, which is near the maximum effective range of the 40mm grenade. I assume that he wanted the target out that far because the 40mm practice round has an injury radius of 65 meters. The entire firing range was silent as I adjusted the vernier sight and settled in to make the shot. I squeezed the trigger and the M203 responded with its distinctive fhump. Everyone, including the drill instructor and and myself, tried to follow the flight path of that grenade.

Then it hit. The grenade landed exactly on top of the turret of the tank. The firing range erupted into cheers and shouts of "Did you see that?" Of course, I had a huge grin on my face as I looked back at the drill instructor.

He kept a stoic face and as he turned to walk off, all he said was, "Lucky shot."