in 1976, at the age of 17 and a half, for reasons we won't go into, i joined the kentucky national guard and suddenly found myself up in the middle of army basic training. i didn't then, and don't now, think i was particularily good soldier material, but what the heck. there i was.
anyone who has been in the military knows that the military loves you if you are good at shooting at things and hitting what you are shooting at. now, i grew up a kentucky farm boy and i shot lots of guns, but i don't know i was all that good at it. but i fired expert in basic training - 65 out of 80. i was not very good at marching or running or shining my boots, but by golly i fired expert.
and here's the trick to how i did it: i was on a detail just before we went out to the qualifying range. this detail was in an office and there was a Black NCO, an E-7, and he took an interest in me. in the office, they had a rubber M-16 and some kind of a target. this man, God Bless Him! had me to lay down on the floor with that rubber gun and pretend/practise breathing and "shooting". he made me do this for, like, hours! man, i wish i knew his name and could find him and thank him!
but then he told me something that made even more difference. he said (more or less) "When you aim at that target out on the range, don't aim at the middle of the target! aim at right where the target meets the ground. you'll hit right in front of the target and rocks and sticks and sand will fly up and hit the target and knock it down."
so. when i got out on to the range, for the first few rounds, i probably just blasted away like everyone else was doing, but then i remembered what he told me and i started putting it into practice. and the targets fell down and i fired expert. after that, i got to ride back from the firing range on a truck instead of running 5 miles in the august, south carolina sun. and therefore survived basic training.
about 2-3 years ago, i thought about this and then realized what was actually taking place. shooting at the line of "where the target meets the ground" means you were probably hitting the ground an inch or two below the target, THEN THE BULLET TUMBLED into the target and knocked it down. if you shot at those targets in the middle and hit it, there was a chance you wouldn't knock it down because the target was full of bullet holes! hitting it with a bullet that was knocked sideways was more likely to knock it down.
i wish i knew how to find and thank that NCO who taught me to shoot. he was a fine man who was really interested in and took an interest in helping us young guys, a truly fine man.
anyone who has been in the military knows that the military loves you if you are good at shooting at things and hitting what you are shooting at. now, i grew up a kentucky farm boy and i shot lots of guns, but i don't know i was all that good at it. but i fired expert in basic training - 65 out of 80. i was not very good at marching or running or shining my boots, but by golly i fired expert.
and here's the trick to how i did it: i was on a detail just before we went out to the qualifying range. this detail was in an office and there was a Black NCO, an E-7, and he took an interest in me. in the office, they had a rubber M-16 and some kind of a target. this man, God Bless Him! had me to lay down on the floor with that rubber gun and pretend/practise breathing and "shooting". he made me do this for, like, hours! man, i wish i knew his name and could find him and thank him!
but then he told me something that made even more difference. he said (more or less) "When you aim at that target out on the range, don't aim at the middle of the target! aim at right where the target meets the ground. you'll hit right in front of the target and rocks and sticks and sand will fly up and hit the target and knock it down."
so. when i got out on to the range, for the first few rounds, i probably just blasted away like everyone else was doing, but then i remembered what he told me and i started putting it into practice. and the targets fell down and i fired expert. after that, i got to ride back from the firing range on a truck instead of running 5 miles in the august, south carolina sun. and therefore survived basic training.
about 2-3 years ago, i thought about this and then realized what was actually taking place. shooting at the line of "where the target meets the ground" means you were probably hitting the ground an inch or two below the target, THEN THE BULLET TUMBLED into the target and knocked it down. if you shot at those targets in the middle and hit it, there was a chance you wouldn't knock it down because the target was full of bullet holes! hitting it with a bullet that was knocked sideways was more likely to knock it down.
i wish i knew how to find and thank that NCO who taught me to shoot. he was a fine man who was really interested in and took an interest in helping us young guys, a truly fine man.
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