This past weekend there was a "Family and Neighbors Weekend" at Hickam AFB here in Honolulu. The main attraction was the Thunderbirds were here to perform their air show. But of course there were also static aircraft displays - the C-5, C-17, B-1, B-52, F-15, F-117, some helicopters, etc. There were also static displays from the USMC, Army, and historical WWII era jeeps, trucks. I loved to go to these as a kid, but these events became scarce over the years (probably due in part to world events) and the annual Armed Forces week "open houses" disappeared, replaced by smaller entertainment-oriented events.
One of the things I loved to look at as a kid were the small arms. I think the first one I ever went to I could barely lift an M-16 and there was a photo of me struggling to hold one. Then there was another photo of me successfully holding an M-16 up port-arms as I got a little older. One of the things I'm really glad I learned starting in high school was proper gun handling. As I look back at those pics when I was a kid, the finger was on the trigger of those weapons. Empty as they may be, I now cringe at the thought. One of the displays I got to see this past weekend was set up by SDVT-1, the SEAL Swimmer Delivery team based here. There was a table full of small arms - the M88 0.50 sniper rifle (which got passed up by most of the kids and adults prob since it was so heavy), and then the M-4's, an Mk11 Mod0, Mk12 SPR, Mk46 SAW, and even an MP5K:
Precision weapons
Unfortunately for me a whole bunch of little kids were there so all I could look at was the (what I figured was) M-4A1 with 10" CQB upper:
CQB upper. The kids were of course picking up the lighter M-4's and the MP5 and pointing them here and there, one of them pointing it at friend or family and making shooting sounds. The SEAL that was standing there looked pretty - uncomfortable. I wanted to take a closer look at the other weapons and maybe ask the SEALs there a couple questions but it didn't look like that was going to be worth the wait - there were other displays to see and the Thunderbirds would be up in less than an hour. Wanted to return to the tables after the show but they had packed everything up by then and were getting ready to leave.
Anyway, I had a really good time there - brought back memories and also made me feel glad I've learned more about firearms through the years, thanks to books available, and of course to great forums like this
Brian
P.S. I promise to teach my kids - hopefully there will still be events like this in the future.
One of the things I loved to look at as a kid were the small arms. I think the first one I ever went to I could barely lift an M-16 and there was a photo of me struggling to hold one. Then there was another photo of me successfully holding an M-16 up port-arms as I got a little older. One of the things I'm really glad I learned starting in high school was proper gun handling. As I look back at those pics when I was a kid, the finger was on the trigger of those weapons. Empty as they may be, I now cringe at the thought. One of the displays I got to see this past weekend was set up by SDVT-1, the SEAL Swimmer Delivery team based here. There was a table full of small arms - the M88 0.50 sniper rifle (which got passed up by most of the kids and adults prob since it was so heavy), and then the M-4's, an Mk11 Mod0, Mk12 SPR, Mk46 SAW, and even an MP5K:
Precision weapons
Unfortunately for me a whole bunch of little kids were there so all I could look at was the (what I figured was) M-4A1 with 10" CQB upper:
CQB upper. The kids were of course picking up the lighter M-4's and the MP5 and pointing them here and there, one of them pointing it at friend or family and making shooting sounds. The SEAL that was standing there looked pretty - uncomfortable. I wanted to take a closer look at the other weapons and maybe ask the SEALs there a couple questions but it didn't look like that was going to be worth the wait - there were other displays to see and the Thunderbirds would be up in less than an hour. Wanted to return to the tables after the show but they had packed everything up by then and were getting ready to leave.
Anyway, I had a really good time there - brought back memories and also made me feel glad I've learned more about firearms through the years, thanks to books available, and of course to great forums like this
Brian
P.S. I promise to teach my kids - hopefully there will still be events like this in the future.