Daddy, What’s A Bed-Win?

Even while we are here in Iraq doing the mission we still have to conduct training on various subjects. EO, common skills, annual certifications in various subject areas and weapons training. In the military, as in most civilian jobs, you never stop training. Today was range day for me. A chance for me to refresh my skills on the M240B machine gun.

The Army has some very sophisticated shooting ranges in the states to develop and hone our marksmanship skills. We shoot pop-up targets, shoot indoors, shoot outdoors using electronic scoring, speakers, lights, thermal targets and various daytime targets. We have ranges you can walk up to, run up to, drive on, drive through, fly above, shoot and scoot…all kinds of ranges.
Near COB Adder we have Bardia range. It is equipped with…..sand. Yup, that’s about it. Sand. Bardia range is an open-desert area near Adder that is not too far away and it allows us to shoot our weapons safely but there isn’t much in the way of training aids.

CPT* Forrest Tuckett and SGM* Doug Pettit were in charge of the range. They have the most difficult job which is planning all aspects of the shooting event. Rotation of troops, ammo requirements, safety, communications, range ‘throughput’ or how we move troops onto and off of the range, everything to do with the range is what they plan. Forrest and Doug are two of the best soldiers I’ve ever known and I’ve known them both for years. They are real pros. They know infantry tactics, soldier skills and they are both real good friends. Sherrie and I know their families and have been with them on many occasions. One other quality Doug and Forrest have in common….they are both former Marines and both veterans of the first Gulf War.

So, according to plan, we drug some old pieces of metal and wood and put them at various distances away from a road. That at least allows us to have something to shoot at. And really, that’s all we need at this point. If a soldier arrives in the combat zone lacking shooting skills he’s kinda screwed. We develop those skills before we ever get here. Today is just what we call ‘trigger time.’

The M240 machine gun, the MK19 automatic grenade launcher and the M2 .50cal machine gun are my Squadron’s weapons of choice. Those are what we fired at Bardia. We shoot them all from the turret on our vehicles while driving down Bardia road. Its pretty simple really. Load the gun…drive the truck….aim the gun….shoot the gun….hit a target.

One reason we don’t have fancy targets at the range is they will be stolen if we leave them there. Anything of value is stripped from the desert by the Bedouins. Yes, Virginia, there are Bedouins, they exist in the desert, and they are a pain in the ass when you are trying to shoot in the open desert.

Our Army has a lot of stuff and the Bedouins know it. If you leave something unsecure it will be taken. If you leave an old car for a target they will drag it off. If you leave a piece of plywood for a target it will be taken. If you leave an MRE or a bottle of water on the ground it will be snatched in a heartbeat. Like I said they are a pain in the ass.

They are also a concern for safety. It is not unheard of them to come out on the range while we are firing and take things off of the firing lane. We post security at the edges of the range and we use interpreters to help keep them away. Like a child, they will mind if they are being watched but when you look the other way they steal your stuff. It’s what Bedouins do.

One good thing about the Bedouins is as soon as we leave they pick up all the expended brass casings. They can have it…it’s trash to us. They sell it somewhere. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…literally. I’m okay with that.

So I braved the blowing dust, shot my hundred rounds and didn’t drop any Bedouins then I went back to Adder. That was my day. It was a good day. Hopefully it will be the last time I pull a trigger in Iraq.

SABER 02,
Out.

*CPT is a Captain *SGM is a Sergeant Major