Friday, January 07, 2005

ND 2

The first kid who had the negligent discharge is now pulling duty, checking to ensure that weapons are cleared.

I asked him about what he thought when it went off. He thought at first it had been a mortar round. The clearing barrels are just 55 gal ( or whatever size) drums cut in half with a few sandbags put inside to absorb the round. Standing right in front of the barrel, it reflected the "bang" right back at him and sounded louder than just a rifle shot.

He thought it was a mortar round, and thought "Well, that was close but I'm still alive.", which explains why he just stood there for a moment; he was savoring life. Then people around him started reacting and he realized "I pulled a boner." He went from feeling great to feeling really lousy. Still, he was philosophical. And he had developed a new technique for clearing his weapon. Now he puts his fingers into the magazine well and ensures he does not have a magazine locked in place.

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