Anyone lose interest in shooting after serving in the Military?

[CapnMac]

Not really, but, in my case the military was not letting me practice as much as I cared to. Reserve duty just dictated the w/e I would not get range time in.

There were "kinds" of shooting, that I participated in less after military service; some got more. That was more personal. Circumstances changed that matrix.

 

[Chuck R.]

Not for me.. after 23 years active and 4 in the National Guard.

As an enlisted MP I qualified annually with the M16A1, 1911A1 and while in Korea I was an M60 gunner. Once commisioned as an Field Artillery LT. I qualified annually with the M16A2 and 1911A1, later the M9 and M4. As a TF FSO I did get to mess with an M2 because I was also the TC and the M113 came with one.

Really not much small arms shooting at all, most of my "work" was with a radio and digital message device doing fire missions and coordinating for support. When with a battery, again mostly radio and trooping the gun line.

 

[drobs]

I still like shooting, I was just out shooting today and yesterday.

 

[Mk-211]

I've loved shooting since I was a kid, and after serving in the Army, as an 11 boom boom.

I like my job operating a freight train, it's just a job though. The company and unions make it an experience, I wish on no one!

The foamers add a level of hilarity, you have to see. I can handle "rail fans" as I work with a bunch of them!

 

[dannyd]

guy's from World War 2 and some from World War 1, I knew as a kid were the same way, especially one of my uncle's. He never picked up a rifle again after getting back from Europe.

 

[FL-NC]

Absolutely not. I had the best MOS in the army (18B- SF weapons sgt). It was literally my job for 2 decades and I fell in love with it, I went to every advanced school I could go to if it had anything to do with guns- tactical training, sniper schools, instructor courses, armorer courses, mortar courses- literally anything that required hearing protection. I was fortunate in that my job and my unit was very heavy on weapons training, and when I wasn't doing it in an operational assignment, I was in a instructor position, and it was all done full-tilt at the cutting edge- none of the basic training dumbed-down silliness. Plus we had what seemed like an infinite supply of ammo, with the best weapons available- and when we wore the weapons out, they just gave us new ones. And not only was it all free, I actually got paid to do it!

 

[Lo-Profile]

After serving in the military has anyone else lost interest in shooting?

Nope, it's taught me the value of continued preparedness and to never trust the god'vernment

 

[.308 Norma]

After serving in the military has anyone else lost interest in shooting or camping?

Heck no! I could hardly wait to get out and get back home to Idaho where I could take up duck, goose, pheasant, deer and elk hunting again.
And camping - although "camping" was usually a part of my family's deer and elk hunting trips (as well as an occasional fishing trip) when I was growing up, I didn't take up backpacking and climbing/camping trips until I was in my late 30s - 20 years after I got out of the Navy.
Now if you'd have asked about swimming, well, I was a rescue swimmer in Navy choppers. I haven't been in a sea or an ocean anywhere since 1972. I did, however, manage to teach both of our daughters to swim (in swimming pools), and they're pretty good at it too.
As far as generally losing interest in guns and shooting after getting out of the Navy goes though, I don't care if I ever fire another M-60 or M-16. However, I do have and use a few .38 Special revolvers, including a Smith Model 10 (as well as a canvas shoulder holster for it) - just like the one I carried in the Navy on flights when I wasn't the designated swimmer and therefore wasn't wearing my wet gear.
BTW, the VA bought the $8,000 hearing aids I'm wearing because the Audiologists determined my hearing loss started when I was in the Navy - not from gunfire, but from sitting under two, 1,500hp jet turbine helicopter engines for nearly 2,000 hours.

 

[HighRoadRover]

The Army sent me to two shooting schools, and I deployed a number of times so was always around weapons. I never liked the M16 much and don't have an AR. But I sure enjoy shooting pistols. I bought my first pistol, a Mauser HSc .380, in the Rod and Gun Club in Germany in the 1970s! And when I get a chance, I attend various courses, including a few trips to Gunsite.

 

[tark]

It is unfortunate that some make false claims of the scars of their service.

I am certainly NOT one of those.

I joined the Army in 1967, ( I didn't have enough guts to join the Marines, ) did a year in Vietnam, and I can honestly say it was one of the most fun years of my life. I was in Qui Nhon, working at Long My supply depot. Had hot food everyday, nice barracks, two 110 electrical outlets. We even had a %$#*&^ Refrigerator in our barracks!!! never got shot at, never shot at anybody, hell, I never even saw a VC! I carried around my M-14-E2 and got to pretend that I was a real soldier I got promoted to Spec 5, started smoking cigarettes, got drunk for the first time and lost my virginity...all on the same day...my 20th birthday! Did a year in Germany and was Honorably discharged in 1970, after a very plain and boring three years. I am a proud REMF. Go look it up.

My service only enhanced my love of guns, which is not surprising considering how easy I had it.

My interest in shooting has not diminished one bit after serving in the military. I was a combat engineer for the first few years I was in and I have served in combat. Somethings do trigger my PTSD but shooting firearms is not one of them.

My Son's half brother was a Combat Engineer. This is his license plate!

 

[Odessa]

No, never lost my love of shooting, hunting, and fishing. I had years where there was no time for those things, but still wanted to do them. I served in Ordnance and in Military Police; I’m an OIF vet, but never was a frontline combat vet. OH

 

[unspellable]

This thread may suffer selection bias. Many who lost interest in shooting would not be viewing this site.

 

[EMC45]

Nope. The only rub I had with shooting in the military was that the miltary had the tendency to suck the fun out of almost everything. Even on the range it could be "unfun" at times.

 

[Sav .250]

Maybe once or twice a year. Check mainly to see if rifle is still on target. Same with ML.

 

[Charlie98]

My biggest complaint was not being able to shoot enough while I was in the military. Being at Fort Backwater (Fort Carson in the 1980's was not high on the readiness totem pole back then...) we only got to qualify once a year... 40 rounds. That's it. I begged to go on any qualification range, for anything... and they finally let me shoot the M2 .50cal. I offered to carry the M16/M203 combo... nope. That honor went to, quite literally, the most slight female in the platoon... she was probably 100# soaking wet.

Instead, we went to the mountains nearly every weekend... I bought a Buckmark, a Ruger Single-Six, a used 10-22 (he wanted beer money for the weekend... ) and finally got my Colt 1911 from Back Home. After I got out, I immediately started driving trucks OTR... so I didn't really get to shoot a lot for the next 10 years, either... but in the meantime, I picked up more guns, and filled out my reloading setup. These days, I have an entire room dedicated to reloading, and I try to shoot every other week or so, even if it's just a box or two of ammos.

What the military DID do for me, was make me hate cleaning guns. You can only take so many times of cleaning a just cleaned already cleaned rifle...

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I was fortunate in that my job and my unit was very heavy on weapons training... and it was all done full-tilt at the cutting edge- none of the basic training dumbed-down silliness. Plus we had what seemed like an infinite supply of ammo, with the best weapons available- and when we wore the weapons out, they just gave us new ones. And not only was it all free, I actually got paid to do it!

I have a brother that retired from an outfit very similar to what yours apparently was. Many times they could choose their own weapons, to a certain extent. He went around the world, training and training with other countries "special" units.

Funny thing; he's not, and never was, a 'gun guy'. He viewed the weapons as a carpenter views a hammer: just a tool to do a job.

When he retired he put them down, and AFAIK doesn't even own any now.

 

[Soonerpesek]

You can only take so many times of cleaning a just cleaned already cleaned rifle...

 

[bdickens]

That's why I grit my teeth every time a civilian snowflake claims PTSD and needs a safe space.

You never know what other people have had to suffer. Even as a civilian child....

Even though i was considered a VN era vet i will NEVER claim that honor. Any combat vet has my respect and gratitude. God Bless You.

You still signed that blank check. Combat or not.

 

[deadeye dick]

You never know what other people have had to suffer. Even as a civilian child...

You still signed that blank check. Combat or not.

Guess so, I went to Key West on alert for the Cuban Missile crisis. Could have had a DUWK or Mike boat ride

 

[d2wing]

I used to love shooting guns as a kid and teenager with my dad. After my 4 years in the Corps and going to Afghanistan, I really lost interest in shooting. I only shoot now to sight guns in. It's fun but I never go shoot to shoot and I can shoot at my house, which many would consider paradise.






After serving in the military has anyone else lost interest in shooting?

I did. After serving in the Army in Vietnam I didn't own or shoot a gun for ten years. My neighbor talked me into grouse hunting with him and I liked it and resumed hunting and shooting. I did have some bad moments.

 

[Speedo66]

My Dad served as an infantryman in some nasty places in Europe during WWII, including the Battle of the Bulge, Hurtgen Forrest, and the Roer River battles.

I served in the Army Reserves during the Viet Nam era, but never left the states.

My Dad had no interest in picking up a weapon, even when I became a LEO he did not want to target practice with me. I think he was, unfortunately, profoundly affected by what he went through over there, although he never talked about it.

Watching actual footage of the constant artillery barrages during those battles is frightening even without having been there.

 

[Steve51]

I enlisted when I was 18.. I never lost interest in shooting but I am not too interested in AR style rifles. I prefer walnut or laminated stocks and blued or stainless rifles. I don't even own an AR style rifle.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

No recreational shooting opportunities for a single EM living in the barracks in my day 1967-1971, rifle and pistol teams had disappeared.
Don't own an AR/M-16 styles rifle, don't care for the round, after training on the M-14 the Mattie Mattel special doesn't appeal to me. May get an M-1A "someday".
The feeling I got from my Active Duty days was the Army wasn't anti-gun but it was certainly un-gun. Starting in about August of 1970 we stopped taking weapons on guard duty, later veterans have spoken of guarding sensitive installations with broom and mattock handles.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I don’t care about full auto after military service.

I spent a good deal of time with a 7.62 mini gun.

 

[tark]

You never know what other people have had to suffer. Even as a civilian child....



You still signed that blank check. Combat or not.

You just can't stop...can you?