FM 101 Knuckleheads
First Range
I remember this one time while I was a 2nd Lieutenant stationed at Fort Sill, I had just finished my initial entry training, had been assigned to my first unit, and given my first range to run. It was a .50 cal range, the weapon system in known a the M2 or Ma deuce and is one of the best weapons ever entered into the army inventory. It remains mostly unchanged even after over a hundred years of service. It serves as both an air defense weapons system and an effective ground unit weapon system, anyway, I digress.
As this was my first range I was rather excited. I went through the proper channels and procedures of organizing and coordinating the necessary resources for my range, briefed the operations officer and the battalion commander on my plan, and got the green light to execute. The day of execution arrived; I took my platoon out to the range, set up and waited for folks to arrive so they could qualify on their Ma deuces. Out at the range there is an observation tower, a set of bleachers, and an ammunition shack (a little 10x10 building designed for a crew of soldiers to occupy and keep the ammo under cover and out of the elements). We setup a butcher block (a large display with instructions written on it) to inform folks what was expected out at our range.
My platoon sergeant (the second in charge of a platoon) told me to sit in the HMMWV (High Mobile Multipurpose Wheel Vehicle – pronounced HUM-VEE also known as a hummer) and watch the radio. I had been enlisted at one point so I knew a little bit about the army. I had never been a platoon leader before nor had I ever run a range before; and, I knew a lot of platoon sergeants were skeptical about former enlisted officers as we tend to want to “take over” and run the platoon. The running (or operations) of a platoon is the purview of the platoon sergeant. The over all management of the platoon rests on the lieutenant. So, he and I had talked about this in the past and I was content to let him run things – boy would I be sorry.
About halfway through the day, while I was sitting in the HMMWV acting as an over paid radio operator, the lazy day was interrupted by a KKRACCKK!!! Quickly followed by a TWANG!!! I learned quickly these were the tell tale sounds of a round impacting in the bleachers. Everything seemed to freeze in place.
I jumped out of the hummer and ran over to the bleachers in order to see if anyone was hurt. Fortunately, the bleachers were empty but sure as shit there was a hole (a rather large one) extremely visible right through the bleachers. I looked at my platoon sergeant wanting an explanation. He said,
“Hell sir, I don’t know what happened but, don’t worry about it. I know the guys out at range control. We’ll be able to cover this up no problem”. I had my doubts.
At the end of the day I reported to the battalion commander about the results of my days range; the number of folks who attended and number of folks who qualified. We had had a pretty successful day with about 30 systems running through the range (we had expected about 35) and all had qualified. I carefully avoided anything about the bleachers. When I finished reporting and answering all his questions, I saluted and said, “Sir, this concludes my report”.
He returned my salute and I started for the door. Just before I reached it he asked, “Ray, do you have anything else to tell me?”
My heart almost stopped. My palms began to sweat. My throat went completely dry. I knew he knew what had happened. I turned around and held my head low to the ground.
“Yes sir, we had a round that somehow hit the bleachers.”
“Ray, I’m glad you told me. If you had lied I was going to fire you.” He calmly said. I did receive a thorough ass chewing but I didn’t get fired. I had to file a report and do an investigation into the incident as punishment but over all I learned a couple of life lessons about the incident. One, don’t try to hide the truth; and two, my platoon sergeant was a piece of shit.
I remember this one time while I was a 2nd Lieutenant stationed at Fort Sill, I had just finished my initial entry training, had been assigned to my first unit, and given my first range to run. It was a .50 cal range, the weapon system in known a the M2 or Ma deuce and is one of the best weapons ever entered into the army inventory. It remains mostly unchanged even after over a hundred years of service. It serves as both an air defense weapons system and an effective ground unit weapon system, anyway, I digress.
As this was my first range I was rather excited. I went through the proper channels and procedures of organizing and coordinating the necessary resources for my range, briefed the operations officer and the battalion commander on my plan, and got the green light to execute. The day of execution arrived; I took my platoon out to the range, set up and waited for folks to arrive so they could qualify on their Ma deuces. Out at the range there is an observation tower, a set of bleachers, and an ammunition shack (a little 10x10 building designed for a crew of soldiers to occupy and keep the ammo under cover and out of the elements). We setup a butcher block (a large display with instructions written on it) to inform folks what was expected out at our range.
My platoon sergeant (the second in charge of a platoon) told me to sit in the HMMWV (High Mobile Multipurpose Wheel Vehicle – pronounced HUM-VEE also known as a hummer) and watch the radio. I had been enlisted at one point so I knew a little bit about the army. I had never been a platoon leader before nor had I ever run a range before; and, I knew a lot of platoon sergeants were skeptical about former enlisted officers as we tend to want to “take over” and run the platoon. The running (or operations) of a platoon is the purview of the platoon sergeant. The over all management of the platoon rests on the lieutenant. So, he and I had talked about this in the past and I was content to let him run things – boy would I be sorry.
About halfway through the day, while I was sitting in the HMMWV acting as an over paid radio operator, the lazy day was interrupted by a KKRACCKK!!! Quickly followed by a TWANG!!! I learned quickly these were the tell tale sounds of a round impacting in the bleachers. Everything seemed to freeze in place.
I jumped out of the hummer and ran over to the bleachers in order to see if anyone was hurt. Fortunately, the bleachers were empty but sure as shit there was a hole (a rather large one) extremely visible right through the bleachers. I looked at my platoon sergeant wanting an explanation. He said,
“Hell sir, I don’t know what happened but, don’t worry about it. I know the guys out at range control. We’ll be able to cover this up no problem”. I had my doubts.
At the end of the day I reported to the battalion commander about the results of my days range; the number of folks who attended and number of folks who qualified. We had had a pretty successful day with about 30 systems running through the range (we had expected about 35) and all had qualified. I carefully avoided anything about the bleachers. When I finished reporting and answering all his questions, I saluted and said, “Sir, this concludes my report”.
He returned my salute and I started for the door. Just before I reached it he asked, “Ray, do you have anything else to tell me?”
My heart almost stopped. My palms began to sweat. My throat went completely dry. I knew he knew what had happened. I turned around and held my head low to the ground.
“Yes sir, we had a round that somehow hit the bleachers.”
“Ray, I’m glad you told me. If you had lied I was going to fire you.” He calmly said. I did receive a thorough ass chewing but I didn’t get fired. I had to file a report and do an investigation into the incident as punishment but over all I learned a couple of life lessons about the incident. One, don’t try to hide the truth; and two, my platoon sergeant was a piece of shit.
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