Accord
05-19-07, 12:20 PM
Wow. That's all i've got to say. Wow.
This week was spectacular. On Monday we went to the K-305 range and all the 0351's (about 20 of us) got to do our first live fire shoot with the SMAW(Shoulder Fired Multi-purpose Assault Weapon) rocket launcher, we each got to shoot 5 HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) rockets and each rocket costs around $7,000, so the US government spent well over a half million dollars on just that one exercise at the range.
We shot 3 rockets in the day and 2 of them at night. Happiness is not a belt fed weapon, happiness is an 83mm high explosive rocket. There is no recoil on them, but there is a very aggressive weight transfer.
The SMAW is the loudest weapon in the Marine Corps infantry at 180 decibles. We were on the range and I was about to shoot my first rocket, the instructor screams out "BACKBLAST AREA ALL SECURE" and then he screams "ROCKET" and that's when I was supposed to fire, my heart was pumping so fast and I had so much adrenaline flowing through my body.
I depressed the launch lever, then pulled the trigger and immediately felt this insane concussion which seemed like an earthquake. If you've ever seen a cheesy 80's movie that tries to simulate an earthquake by shaking the camera, that's what happens to your eyesight when you fire the SMAW. Then you'll watch the tracer on the rocket travel down range at 950fps and impact an old tank or APC and there will be a massive explosion. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen to a bunch of haji's shooting at my fellow Marines from a 3rd story window in Iraq.
We fired 3 rockets during the day and then 2 more at night, for the day shoot we had ACOG's mounted on the SMAW's but at night we put on 17 Charlie nightvision scopes. Shooting them at night through the 17 Charlie nightvision scopes is just... I can't even put it into words.
I cannot believe the Marine Corps is paying me to do this, I just can't believe it.
On Tuesday we began demolitions and pretty much spent the entire week learing about C4, RDX, TNT, Det Cord, and just a ton of other explosives, their nomenclature, and everything necessary to setup a firing circuit and a whatnot. The math involved in this is ridiculous, everyday is basically like going to an 18 hour long math class. We'll PT in the morning and then go to class. It's not easy math either, this is really difficult stuff that I haven't seen since calculas in high school. On Monday we have an exam and then Tuesday we go out to the demolitions range and we'll basically just blow stuff up all day long with all sorts of fun stuff.
Being a Marine is so awesome and the hell that you go through at boot camp is so worth it in the end.
This week was spectacular. On Monday we went to the K-305 range and all the 0351's (about 20 of us) got to do our first live fire shoot with the SMAW(Shoulder Fired Multi-purpose Assault Weapon) rocket launcher, we each got to shoot 5 HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) rockets and each rocket costs around $7,000, so the US government spent well over a half million dollars on just that one exercise at the range.
We shot 3 rockets in the day and 2 of them at night. Happiness is not a belt fed weapon, happiness is an 83mm high explosive rocket. There is no recoil on them, but there is a very aggressive weight transfer.
The SMAW is the loudest weapon in the Marine Corps infantry at 180 decibles. We were on the range and I was about to shoot my first rocket, the instructor screams out "BACKBLAST AREA ALL SECURE" and then he screams "ROCKET" and that's when I was supposed to fire, my heart was pumping so fast and I had so much adrenaline flowing through my body.
I depressed the launch lever, then pulled the trigger and immediately felt this insane concussion which seemed like an earthquake. If you've ever seen a cheesy 80's movie that tries to simulate an earthquake by shaking the camera, that's what happens to your eyesight when you fire the SMAW. Then you'll watch the tracer on the rocket travel down range at 950fps and impact an old tank or APC and there will be a massive explosion. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen to a bunch of haji's shooting at my fellow Marines from a 3rd story window in Iraq.
We fired 3 rockets during the day and then 2 more at night, for the day shoot we had ACOG's mounted on the SMAW's but at night we put on 17 Charlie nightvision scopes. Shooting them at night through the 17 Charlie nightvision scopes is just... I can't even put it into words.
I cannot believe the Marine Corps is paying me to do this, I just can't believe it.
On Tuesday we began demolitions and pretty much spent the entire week learing about C4, RDX, TNT, Det Cord, and just a ton of other explosives, their nomenclature, and everything necessary to setup a firing circuit and a whatnot. The math involved in this is ridiculous, everyday is basically like going to an 18 hour long math class. We'll PT in the morning and then go to class. It's not easy math either, this is really difficult stuff that I haven't seen since calculas in high school. On Monday we have an exam and then Tuesday we go out to the demolitions range and we'll basically just blow stuff up all day long with all sorts of fun stuff.
Being a Marine is so awesome and the hell that you go through at boot camp is so worth it in the end.