Brr! M16 Range

Today's weather forecast.

Today was day 2 of the M16 range hosted by my company. I totally lucked out yesterday and got to sit in the tower and be the firing line announcer. The tower is heated and cozy. I was busy, but not freezing my ass off like all of the firers.

 

I was a firer freezing my ass off today.

 

Let's start out by pointing out Fort Campbell had a 2 hour late start because of the snow and ice we had gotten last night. Somehow this barely effected the time line for the range and the 2 hour late start did not apply to us. The sand at the zero range was frozen. I had to jump in place in between firing iterations to keep my blood flowing, and still my feet were blocks of ice in my boots. And OF COURSE, wear of the fleece cap was unauthorized. Why would something designed to keep your head and ears warm be allowed to be worn? Craziness, I say!

Kick ass, poncho! Thanks for keeping me dry!

I laid my poncho down on the sand so I wouldn't have to lay in the icy sand. People made fun of me when I took it out the range with me. But they looked at that poncho longingly when they were laying in cold wet sand. Suckers!

 

I qualified like garbage the first time I fired (only 27 out of 40!? I blame the cold weather). But then I got my act together and shot expert like I normally do (36 out of 40-- that's more like it!).

 

This was such a cold range, probably the coldest one we'll have all year. I sure am glad I got to make it a wonderful memory of my time spent on Fort Campbell. And I hope I never get stationed someplace that is actually much colder than this and have to do many more Army tasks in the freezing cold. I'm a cold weather wuss!