Save the Navy jokes. I am ex-Navy.
http://bearingarms.com/navy-recruiter-suffers-negligent-handgun-discharge-georgia/
http://bearingarms.com/navy-recruiter-suffers-negligent-handgun-discharge-georgia/
Navy Recruiter shoots himself with his own weapon. Negligent Discharge.
- Thread starter Honey Badger
- Start Date
Not everyone in the military (any branch) is comfortable with loaded weapons. Most of the combat arms guys are good since they shoot more than once a year to qualify. Once you leave the combat arms MOS's you never really know what you are going to get. Anything from the only time they have fire a weapon was at boot camp all the way to been shooting since before they could walk. In the Air Force and Navy (excluding PJ/SEALS and MP's) you don't even fire weapons at boot camp (if they do it is just for familiarization).
The military is made up of society. It has gun lovers and even some who do not like guns.
The military is made up of society. It has gun lovers and even some who do not like guns.
I was talking to one of the finance guys when I was in the army and he said he hadn't been to the range in 7 years, I told him I've been to the range twice that week already and was going to be hitting the MG range the next week.
A late friend of mine told me a little story about that. He was in the Navy in the '50s, and during boot camp, he was supposed to qual on the M1 Garand, the 1911, and the Thompson SMG. On the day they shot, they took them out to a range in a small valley, crossing a plowed field to get there. After the lectures, they started shooting. After he got to shoot the Garand but before he even got to handle the other two small arms, it started raining, and they loaded everybody back into the buses so they could un-ass before the buses got stuck (remember the plowed ground?).
Scheduling doesn't allow them to return to the range, but later he discovers that the Navy had declared him qualified on all three.
Fast forward a bit. He finds himself at Treasure Island (I think that's what he said), and his name is called for walking a high-security sentry beat. This, he said, meant you walked from one post to another, and if you didn't show up at the next post on time, they came looking for you with guns drawn.
So he shows up at the gun locker to draw the weapons he'll carry that night, and is issued a 1911 and a Thompson. At first, the Chief didn't believe him when he said he didn't know how to operate them ("the Navy says you're qualified"), but finally gave him some rudimentary instruction on how to operate them. Even with that, he said he'd have been in big trouble if the Russkies had tried to come ashore while he was on sentry duty, 'cause all he could've sent downrange with any effectiveness was harsh language...
Wrong. Every single person that goes through AF boot camp shoots. Whether they qualify or not is another story.
Bussed us to Camp Pendleton from the San Diego Navy training Center to qualify on the M1. Was a one day deal and the only time I fired a weapon. US Navy 62-66 mostly carrier duty , the Marines aboard had the little guns I loaded bombs and bigger guns on A4s.
I was in the Navy from '91-'96. We shot pistols one day in boot camp. When I got to the fleet I had to qualify with the 1911, M-14, and Mossberg 500. My service record claims I'm qualified on the M-60, which I never fired. We also had M-79's and MA-2's, which I also never fired. The entire time I was in, I never laid eyes on a single M-16 or M-9.
Well after a bit of research (aka google and such), the best I can tell is all Air Force recruits fire at least 80 rounds through an M-16. Yes it maybe Air Force qualification, however after 80 rounds you are no way remotely proficient with any weapon. I am not saying this to put down the Air Force. They have a specific job and that job does not involve small arms for the vast majority of Airmen. My whole point is that just because you are in the military does not mean you are proficient with small arms.
Everybody in the AF has different arming groups. The vast majority of us have to fire a few small % of hits to qualify. Simulated ranged targets, basically smaller targets to simulate 100-300 yards, plus closer range stuff. I'm arming group 'C' and we only qualify before we deploy for a contingency operation. When we qualify we also ahve to shoot in our chem mask. I'd prefer something more substantial, but it's common practice for us to zero and qualify and then deploy with a completely different rifle. Never understood what the purpose is if I'm having to walk rounds in on some prick shooting back at me because I can't take the damn rifle I qualified with.
Similar threads
