Anyone lose interest in shooting after serving in the Military?
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The Night Rider
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Old Dog
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Shooting, I did take a moratorium from rifle shooting for the first year or so after I left the military. I never bonded with the M16/M4. Strangely, I grew far more fond of that platform after I left active duty. When I started pistol competition, my interest in shooting grew exponentially. I'd shot a lot of everything in the military and I actually started studying firearms history and development after getting out of the military.
I think the fact that I felt unprepared (square range training doesn't prepare anyone for combat and I wasn't in the SEAL teams) on my last couple deployments made me seek out more training after I left the military.
I think the fact that I felt unprepared (square range training doesn't prepare anyone for combat and I wasn't in the SEAL teams) on my last couple deployments made me seek out more training after I left the military.
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Chuck R.
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Man that brings back memories!
In 3 years with 1/11ACR 87-90 I did 3 rotations on OP Alpha, two as as the border OIC.
Observation Post Alpha - Wikipedia
We stared at them, they stared at us. We had a similar set, tall slender guy with grey hair and his shorter, younger, sidekick that carried the camera.
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Reloadron
Member
Well I was introduced to shooting at age 8 when a friend of my uncle gave me a Remington 510P. I was 19 in '69 when I joined the Corps and was handed a M14 but when I got to Nam in '72 was handed an M16. I had 9 years USMC and my love of shooting never changed. I turned 75 last week and my enjoyment of shooting will likely never change. During the NE Ohio winters it's the local indoor range and summers the outdoor range. I have friends who love the golf course but for me it's the rifle range. Guessing for me that will never change.
As long as shooting is something I enjoy I will continue to shoot. However I can see the point of others, when shooting is no longer enjoyable I guess it's time to walk away.
Ron
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bangswitch
Member
The military ramped up my interest in shooting. I became an avid shooter while working for DOC in the 1970's-early 1980's. Got some good training and did some competitive shooting (PPC). When I joined USAF in the later 1980's it was a noncombatant job (Flight Nurse), but while in Europe during Desert Storm, I had a fair amount of down time and through a secondary duty got to know the Combat Arms Section's instructors and had opportunities to shoot some really cool stuff that I would otherwise never have had the chance to even handle, much less get range time. The highlights were the M2 .50 cal, the Mk19 grenade launcher and the best was the MG42.
I can see why you might lose interest though, given the combat scenarios you've obviously been in. Maybe your interest will renew on a more limited level later. Sort of a shame to waste good training,
irishlad
Contributing Member
My dad was the same. After WW2 he said he'd had enough of guns. One of the few times I ever saw him with a gun was during the Watts riots.My Dad while going through the Depression had several booklets about .22 target shooting along with some descriptive pamphlets for Remington and Winchester rifles. I found them when we cleaned out his parent's house. There just wasn't enough money in the household budget to be able to afford a rifle.
While he was in the Army, during WW II (ETO) he shot expert with an M1 and cleared the jungle course with a borrowed M3 Grease Gun. He was wounded, taken prisoner, and spent the next four months in a German hospital.
After the war my Dad rarely spoke about what happened and had completely lost all interest in firearms.
Enfieldier
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I served in the active Army, ARNG, and Army Reserves and my interest in shooting has never flagged. I started shooting a lot with my high school rifle team, then with my buddies in college, then the Army, and in my off time. At age 70 I still go to the range at least once a month. I never got shot at intentionally in my lengthy military service so perhaps that has something to do with it. Perhaps I would feel differently if I had been combat arms. While in the Army I shot the XM16E1 (basic training), M14, M4, M16A2, M60, M1911A1, M9, 81mm mortar, 105mm howitzer. I also got to shoot the Sterling SMG, G3, and SLR with NATO. Shooting on Uncle Sam's dime is the best.
One of my sons is a 11B combat vet and still shoots. He is a Federal LEO so he shoots for pleasure and to keep his skills honed. What he won't do is watch modern war movies or modern action thrillers. He says they are either so wrong as to be insulting or too realistic and brings back memories. He detests "The Hurt Locker".
One of my sons is a 11B combat vet and still shoots. He is a Federal LEO so he shoots for pleasure and to keep his skills honed. What he won't do is watch modern war movies or modern action thrillers. He says they are either so wrong as to be insulting or too realistic and brings back memories. He detests "The Hurt Locker".
Enfieldier
Member
I worked part time in a family owned gun shop between high school and finishing college. The man who ran the store had no interest in shooting anymore. He said that he saw, talked, handled, and sold guns all day long and when he went home he didn't want to see another gun. The son of the owner also worked in the store and he collected old records, not guns. The owner had a fantastic gun collection though!
I missed getting a piece of the Berlin Wall but I do have a couple of small pieces of the tank ditch from the Fulda Gap.
I was stationed in Baumholder from Jan 92 to Dec 94. I was assigned to the 40th Eng Bn, 2nd Brigade, 1st AD. We hosted Sapper Stakes at Wildflecken during the summer of 93. Our 1st SGT was assigned to the Fulda Gap years before as a 12E nuclear demolitions specialist . Their job was to use tactical nukes to close the Fulda Gap. Anyway, we had a free weekend so he took us to check the old border out. That is when I gathered a few pieces of the tank ditch.
At that time all of the lookout towers and compounds were taken over by Bosnian refugees. And crossing into the old East Germany was like stepping back in time. Everything looked like it was stuck in the 1950's even 5 years after reunification.
Yes, I got that feeling as well.
The Night Rider
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I had a piece of the Berlin wall but I gave it away.
I Was assigned to Battery A 3/35 FA at Peden Barracks
I remember doing a border tour at the town of Holle (translates to Hell).
There was a Staff Sergeant leading the tour. I remember him telling us that somebody on a previous tour had flipped off one of the East German guard posts and supposedly created an international incident because they complained up their chain of command and back down our chain of command and at some point diplomats got involved and long story short the guy was Dishonorably Discharged from the Army within a week.
Whether or not it actually happened I'll never know.
Either right before or right after I left some idiot from VII Corp. headquarters stole a Humvee and a laptop and some classified commo equipment and drove across the border to East Germany because he was butthurt because he wasn't getting promoted or sent to PLDC or something.
If I remember right the East Germans took all his equipment and returned him to the American authorities who promptly court martialed him.
I also remember the Red Army faction poisoning our on post water system with cyanide.
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BLACKHAWKNJ
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I confess I have little interest in full auto firearms-"a quick way to turn expensive ammo into noise." They're a lot of fun when somebody else is paying the tab.
Chuck R.
Member
I got some fence.. seemed fitting since there wasn't a wall in our AO.
I remember driving over when the wall came down and yup, they hadn’t even repaired the bullet holes and the village roads weren’t paved.
Wildflecken!!!
Another great memory! Rumor was the allies never could bomb it because it spent so much time in the fog.. It had a top-notch Rod and Gun club with skeet/trap ranges and a nice indoor pistol range . We'd hit the range in the morning, then swing by Kruezberg.
https://kloster-kreuzberg.de/en/ Best beer in the world!
"Wildchicken" had without a doubt the smallest impact area I ever shot into, by the time you computed the safety box you could only adjust about 1500 meters in any direction. Every time we shot there, we had to borrow a Q36 or Q37 radar because most of the time the impact area was fogged in, and the FOs couldn’t see the rounds to adjust. Many, many times the feedback we got from the hill was “sounded safe”!
I was the SWO (Special Weapons Officer) for my squadron for about 1 year until I moved up to platoon leader. The whole nuke thing was a PITA.
They turned Down’s Barracks over to the Germans and they turned it into refugee housing also.
Baumholder wasn't much better when it came to fog, especially from around October through April. We also had black ice pretty much every morning during those months due to the fog. We had one of the largest training areas there at Baumholder yet they made go to Graf, Hohenfels and Wildflecken instead. I had a 1st SGT and a couple of platoon sergeants that were 12E's before that MOS was done away with. All of them were stationed at the Fulda Gap. They all said that it was basically a one way suicide mission if they ever had to set tactical nukes off to close the gap. I was glad to be a 12B instead.
I will admit that I lost interesting shooting full auto after getting out. Most of that is because I didn't have Uncle paying for the ammo anymore. It took about 10 years from the time I got out before I bought my first AR. Now I have quite a few AR's all built for different purposes. I reclassed from 12B to 44E (machinist) in between Desert Storm and getting stationed in Germany. I was in a unique position in that my chain of command had me doing depot level maintenance on weapons systems versus having to send everything back to a stateside depot. So I always had an interest in firearms that never diminished. I always enjoyed working on firearms and weapon systems that carried over to civilian life.
I will admit that I lost interesting shooting full auto after getting out. Most of that is because I didn't have Uncle paying for the ammo anymore. It took about 10 years from the time I got out before I bought my first AR. Now I have quite a few AR's all built for different purposes. I reclassed from 12B to 44E (machinist) in between Desert Storm and getting stationed in Germany. I was in a unique position in that my chain of command had me doing depot level maintenance on weapons systems versus having to send everything back to a stateside depot. So I always had an interest in firearms that never diminished. I always enjoyed working on firearms and weapon systems that carried over to civilian life.
Miami_JBT
Member
I have never lost my love of shooting. It has changed over the years. But never outright lost it. Since hanging up the gun belt, my tastes are now more sporting. But the love is still there for anything and everything from Black Powder to modern NFA and everything in-between.
Speedo66
Member
Basic began in Nov. 1967, Ft. Ord, Monterey, CA.
My brother went to Ft. Dix in NJ, why they sent me all the way across the country from NYC to CA I’ll never know. To be honest, it was a lot nicer in CA in the winter than NJ.
My time in the USMC cured any and all interest in M-16 and clones. Being an armorer and inspecting them by the hundreds after every exercise will do that for you. I still hunted and shot a fair bit. Still like my .22 WMR and there are shotguns scattered around the place.
foxmeadow
Member
Actually, the service was where my interest expanded. As a yute, I shot .22 rifles and .410 shotguns under supervision of my dad. I wasn't really interested that much, but I enjoyed it.
After a year of college, I enlisted in the Navy. After boot camp, I was at Great Lakes is a Basic electronics course and happened by the pistol range and read a notice on the bulletin board out front advertising basic pistol courses. Not having pistols as a teen, I enrolled. Well, that got me started. The old CPO running the range got us started on Colt Aces, in .22, and quickly got into 1911 National Match pistols with which I fell in love. I qualified Expert, after which I had great interest in anything with a trigger. My first duty station was on a sub tender based in Key West. (somebody had to do it). Whenever we would put to sea, there were small arms exercises on the fantail. This was in the 60's, so the stuff we played with was all WWII material. Garands, Thompsons, BARs, M3's
Browning .30 and .50 cal machine guns. I was kind of a pest when all this was going on. I was in the weapons department as a torpedoman (working on Mk14-5's which were ALL older than me), so I was constantly trying to hang out with the Gunners Mates. Learned enough to get me totally hooked. My three thousand pound weapons were just not enough...
After a year of college, I enlisted in the Navy. After boot camp, I was at Great Lakes is a Basic electronics course and happened by the pistol range and read a notice on the bulletin board out front advertising basic pistol courses. Not having pistols as a teen, I enrolled. Well, that got me started. The old CPO running the range got us started on Colt Aces, in .22, and quickly got into 1911 National Match pistols with which I fell in love. I qualified Expert, after which I had great interest in anything with a trigger. My first duty station was on a sub tender based in Key West. (somebody had to do it). Whenever we would put to sea, there were small arms exercises on the fantail. This was in the 60's, so the stuff we played with was all WWII material. Garands, Thompsons, BARs, M3's
Browning .30 and .50 cal machine guns. I was kind of a pest when all this was going on. I was in the weapons department as a torpedoman (working on Mk14-5's which were ALL older than me), so I was constantly trying to hang out with the Gunners Mates. Learned enough to get me totally hooked. My three thousand pound weapons were just not enough...
8 years in TNG and Army; first job was half track driver, 81mm mortar squad in 112th ACR in 53 or 4.
Back to the 81's when 112th was absorbed by 49th AD. Didn't drive any longer and only the vehicles changed.
Shot rifle competition every chance I got through the years in the service and spent last few months on Ft Polk AMU which only served to intensify my interest in shooting. Shot HP Rifle competition after separation for 17 years, until health interfered, then took up hunting.
Back to the 81's when 112th was absorbed by 49th AD. Didn't drive any longer and only the vehicles changed.
Shot rifle competition every chance I got through the years in the service and spent last few months on Ft Polk AMU which only served to intensify my interest in shooting. Shot HP Rifle competition after separation for 17 years, until health interfered, then took up hunting.
This thread seems to be drifting quite a bit.
I'm going to put this one to bed.
If this is an interesting enough subject...and folks can maintain focus...perhaps someone would be interested in starting another thread
I'm going to put this one to bed.
If this is an interesting enough subject...and folks can maintain focus...perhaps someone would be interested in starting another thread
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