Tactical Tuesday

 The forward assist is bad, okay? And here is a story as to why:

Georgia Southern University, 2009

As punishment for my sins, as a prior service enlisted cadet, I found myself helping to run a rifle range, On a Saturday. For nursing program cadets. Yeah, about that.

So, anyway, we were shooting for score at our little 25 yard range. Which for ROTC cadets, was a test score.

And I'm walking up and down the range, nursing a hangover and a Gatorade.

BOOM!

I may or may not have hit the dirt, rolled off the line, and started ripping towards my thigh for my non existent sidearm. 

A cease fire is called and I collect my senses. One of the junior girls is huddled over, crying; the tattered remnants of a M-16A2 at her feet. 

Wrapping her in a bear hug and easing her away from what was left of her rifle; I knelt down to see just what in the hell had happened. 

So, our nursing cadet, defaulting to her level of training, had used the forward assist to close the bolt after a misfeed. 

And in the process, lodged a live round behind the bullet of a previous malfunction that she thought she had cleared. The extractor ripped off I'd say around the bottom half to 3/4s of the round that failed to fire, leaving the actual bullet in the chamber.  Which was preventing the next round from chambering. 

Which she rectified by mashing the forward assist until the weapon went into battery, 

A matter of inches stood between her missing a hand and not. It was gut wrenching.

For the record, a number two pencil makes the same size hole as M855A1 in a 25 meter zero target. 

Everyone qualified and we all went home, with all fingers and hands intact. 

God, the forward assist is dumb. 

Thanks fo stopping buy.