Friday, April 30, 2010

Weapons qualification

It was a beautiful day at the pistol range in the Orchard Training Area south of Boise. The snow-covered Owyhee Mountains seemed within walking distance. (Click to enlarge any picture.)



Beautiful, but windy. The red range flag denoting a live-fire range snapped straight out all morning.



Soldiers waiting for the pop-up targets to pop up, under a vast blue desert sky. The guy holding the white circular paddle is a safety officer.



Here's one of the pop-ups. A new twist. Instead of just a dark green silhouette, the targets looked like this. Female soldier engaging a female, Kalashnikov-wielding opponent.



Here's a fun one.



There were different versions of these targets. One of them was this same kid, holding a soccer ball. He was similarly bullet-riddled.

Update: A brief video of the targets popping up, and getting shot down. I wasn't close enough to capture the sound well, but the snapping sound is the pistol shots. You'll also hear the wind. They pause for 30 seconds, from .18 to .50, waiting for the order to move out downrange.

1 comment:

ericn1300 said...

the pop with the kid on it looks like Benji from The Hurt Locker.