Day 212: Artillery

Every once in a while when I get to see Maxwell on the webcam we sing one of his favorite songs together...the Infantry Song. I'm sure many of you may have heard it at church or during Vacation Bible School. It starts out...

I'm too young to march in the infantry
Ride in the Cavalry
Shoot (clap) the Artillery...
I may never spy on the enemy
But, I'm in the Lord's Army
Yes Sir!

Today, I was reminded of that childhood song as I enjoyed the amazing experience of providing medical coverage for a field artillery firing mission! The word Artillery, took on a whole new meaning as I have never really seen the "big guns" so up close and personal before. First of all, it is the loudest thing you will ever hear...ever!! I near jumped out of bed the first time I heard these guns go off thinking we were under attack. The guns fire out 155 mm (for reference, a handgun bullet is 9 mm) rounds that can reach targets up to 30 miles away. It takes a lot of explosive power to send those rounds down range.


Here I am holding a bag of explosive material used to fire the artillery. Don't let the small, compressed size fool you...it packs a huge blast!! Aside from tampering with unfamiliar explosives, I also asked if I could pull the rope that causes the guns to fire...that really got me excited. Unfortunately, the target area was invaded by a herd of goats which stopped the mission for the remainder of the day. Oh well...there's always next time.