SeanFromCanada's Blog

Originally posted on 10.02.13

One of the highlights about the Paratrooper for a Day event was the firing of live ammunition at the range. More than one group member said this was what they were looking forward to most while we drove up to Edmonton. It was now time!

As you might imagine, we were highly supervised for this event. A soldier was assigned to each of us to guide us through every step. I appreciated this, as there was a lot of instructions coming at us and to be honest, I wasn’t keeping up. I wasn’t interested in pretending I was listening when it came to dealing with live ammunition.

We were issued 4 empty magazines, and 120 rounds of ammo. We were then shown how to load 30 rounds into each magazine, an act that revealed the soldier’s familiarity with these weapons. As the real Paratroopers loaded the first magazine for us, it looked easy and fast. Once I was in charge, it was a much slower task. These guys handled the weapons with a confidence and familiarity I can only claim for my TV remote. They weren’t even looking as they handled the equipment.

Once fully loaded, we were read specific instructions for proper conduct at the range. We were told what would happen if an injury occurred and how we’d be expending the 120 rounds. I paid close attention to these instructions, especially when words like ‘bullet wound’, ‘field dressing’ and ‘ambulance’ were being used.

The range is about 500 meters long, but we planned to start at the 100 meter mark. While we walked down the range – spread out, side-by-side, we spoke with the soldiers about their equipment. Through the day we’d noticed that many wore different boots, and most had ‘custom’ vests and gloves. They explained that the Canadian Army had changed it stance around ‘standard issue’ equipment. As long as the soldiers wore gear that complied with ‘colour and look’ standards (such as black boots and military style vests), the soldiers were allowed to buy their own accessories. We learned that each soldier spends around $600 – $1000 on customizing their kit. There were no complaints about the standard issue equipment, nor was there about having to buy their own stuff…the soldiers simply said “professionals buy their own equipment…we know what they want, and know what works best for us”.

When we arrived at our first firing location (100m down range from our target), we lay down on the ground and sighted in our weapons. The goal was fairly clear – hit the center of the target (on the man shaped body). There were two options offered to us: fire the weapon on single shot or put it on full automatic.

First, we were told to fire in single shot mode, in a series of 3-4 shots. It was interesting as I lined up the sight with the target. The scope on the rifle was really good – but I had to place my eye at just the right distance….too close and things were fuzzy, too far and I couldn’t even make out the shape on the other side. As I steadied my breathing and positioned the sight in alignment with the target, I braced for the kick of the rifle…and fired. I’m positive I hit the target on the first shot! And then I fired 3 more times, and as sure as I was that I hit the target on the first shot, I was positive I missed on the next 3. The gun moved way too much between shots, and I couldn’t line my eye up with the sight quick enough. I’m usually a pretty good shot (with a pellet gun), so I was a little frustrated at missing 75% of the shots I’d fired.

I was advised by my guy (the soldier supervising me), to take a deep breath and re-started my ‘sighting in’ process. This time I expected the shots to rattle me off course. Yet, I still struggled to hit on shots 2, 3 and 4. I may have hit the target more than the first time, but I can’t say for sure. The gun was loud and had some kick. It wasn’t easy to fire it 3-4 times without being jarred off target pretty drastically.

Before I had time to master the single shot exercise (from 100m), it was suggested we try putting the gun on automatic. Before firing, the soldiers told us they never use this feature, because it’s too inaccurate and wastes ammo way too fast. The soldier helping me said he can fire faster, and more accurately, on single shot vs. fully automatic! Regardless, I was keen to try the rapid fire mode.

As I switched to full automatic, I was told to make sure I had a good hold of the weapon. That was all the warning I needed to cause me to grip everything really tight….and I mean everything. Lying stomach down on the ground, I lined up the sight, and pulled the trigger… I sprayed about 5 – 8 bullets in the direction of the target before I could release the trigger. Accuracy was non-existent but I definitely sprayed the target area with ammo. It was impressive how fast the gun could fire, but as forewarned, accuracy was practically non-existent.

We shot off 2 out of 4 of our magazines, switching between single shot and automatic. I preferred the single shot mode, and actually felt more and more confident in firing off 3-4 shots in rapid succession …often hitting the target more than once in that sequence!

Things got really fun when we marched forward to 25 meters away from the targets. It seems a common pet peeve of the soldiers is what they referred to as “the Rambo effect”. Apparently it drives these guys crazy when they watch action movies and the hero (or villain) grabs an automatic rifle and fires it both accurately and continuously for several long minutes from their hip….We were offered the opportunity to experience just how ‘fake’ this really is.

We were told to load a fresh clip into the rifle. As we stood in an action figure pose, we held our rifles at our hips and pointed them at the target. On command, we fired on full automatic! What a rush – and what a joke. It took about 3 – 4 seconds before I heard the ‘click’ of the empty clip. During those precious few seconds of awesomeness, I fired bullets all over the place. I’m sure my grouping of rounds was a tight 15 feet circumference…there was no ability to aim, and it was over so fast, I couldn’t believe it. I’ll always remember that experience, especially when I watch an action movie …

We ended the adventure by expending the last clip standing, firing single shot groups of 3-4 rounds, at 25 meters. Firing from a standing position is very different from lying on the ground, and is much more physically taxing. I did, however, prefer it, as I felt more balanced and in control. By the end, I felt like I could hit 75% of my shots…as long as I had time to line everything up.

Once the final rounds were fired and the weapons were cleared and triple checked, we were informed of a surprise addition to our event…we were going to load into motorized vehicles and be transported to a training area where we’d conduct a mock raid on an enemy camp!

We were told to saddle up…

We were going into battle…