Ashley Cole Shoots Student

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Rule no1...never point a weapon at anyone whether you believe it to be unloaded or otherwise.

That's the rule, is it? What if you're trying to shoot them? Well,at least that explains why the British continually find themselves in need of American infantry support.

In all seriousness though, firearms safety is paramount. I understand how easily such seemingly common-sense things can be overlooked. I spent most of my youth in rural North Texas, where there is a culture of firearms and marksmanship. Amongst those who own firearms there is an implicit understanding that anyone with one has been adequately trained in its proper employment. This is a place where even drunk casual hunters are expected to know everything about their weapon, including its current status and whereabouts. Guns are a part of the lifestyle here. Irresponsible handling of firearms is akin to walking into a Baptist Church whose members are your neighbours and publicly declaring yourself to be a satanist; you can do it, but you'll never live it down.

Having been raised in such a culture, I thought I knew more than enough to handle firearms safely. My time in the service showed me otherwise. The first revelation came during my basic training when, after the nightime infiltration course, a particularly observant officer found a round lodged in the firing chamber of a recruit's weapon. We hadn't fired live round in almost two weeks, so it stands to reason that the thing had been in there all that time. Given the extremely strict standards for weapons-clearing and weapons-cleaning that we were expected to adhere to, it should have been impossible for such a thing to occur. That weapon must have been checked two dozen times since the last time it chambered a live round, and yet the round was still there.

At the time, I attributed such misfortune to the sheer incompetence of the recruit and the drill instructors. Such a thing would never happen to me, and it never did, and it never has, but I had another lesson to learn.

My second revelation came during OIF-II when I was performing standard weapons-clearing procedures on my own M-249 SAW. It was a good weapon, if a little old and a lot heavy. Standard-issue CLP (Cleaner Lubricant Preservative) would keep it running if applied and cleaned-out often and not subjected to too much heat from infrequent barrel swaps. I found Remington dry lubricant (which I used on my firearms at home) to be a lot more effective than CLP, which apparently tends to attract fine particles and turn them into a gummy, carbonaceous paste that redifines the term "pain in the ass" when cleaning weapons. With all the time and effort I put into keeping that weapon functional and training with it, I thought I knew everything about it. I was to learn otherwise.

One day, after a standard post-patrol weapons-clearing, I firmly pulled the charging handle to the rear in order to lock the bolt and allow removal of the rounds from the ammo tray. The weapon was safely pointed at the sand bunker intended to absorb any accidentally discharged rounds. I evenheard the "click" sound that supposedly confirms that the bolt is locked. However, the sear pin (the thing that keeps the bolt from slamming into the next round) had been worn down and the bolt shot forward as I was moving my hand towards the release catch for the tray. Luckily, I caught the bolt in mid-traverse through sheer goddamn luck and a little adrenalin. It took me a second to realize that the weapon's barrel, carried downward by the momentum of the spring uncoiling, was pointed directly at my foot.

I was lucky enough that the damn thing didn't go off while I was bouncing around in the truck I was driving. Having automatic weapons go off uncontrollably in a semi-armored boxed-in cab is very bad, but shooting oneself in the foot is sheer idiocy no matter what the circumstances.

The moral of the story is that no matter how well you may think you know your weapon, there will always be circumstances that you could not anticipate, so it pays to be extra-cautious when deciding where you intend to point a firearm.

edit- It seems Schroeder has beaten me to the very point I was trying to make, and also included other anecdotal evidence to boot.