Day 258: Boom!

On base, nothing will ruin your day more than a Field Artillery (FA) firing mission. I had blogged about the first FA mission several weeks ago which involved long range target practice into an open field. Well today's mission was the same thing only FARTHER which translates into LOUDER! I mean much LOUDER!! We were aiming for an open field over 15 km away in order to test the accuracy of some new equipment which had arrived.

Meet BASHER and his brother BAM!

Every time a shot was fired you could hear people being startled, the buildings rumble, and troops ducking for cover thinking it was incoming as opposed to outgoing. Anyone who had initiated their daily afternoon siesta was very rudely awakened! This was all borderline entertaining:)

Well, to pass the time I decided to help out with medical coverage for this mission as injuries are very common during FA missions. Anything from cuts and scrapes from handling the complex weaponry to blast injuries/burns due to the potent explosives...luckily no injuries to report although I wonder if anyone is going to eventually show up with a busted eardrum. The coolest part was being able to pull the laniard (check out the pic above), which was the trigger mechanism for the gun and the reason for an overabundance of hate & discontent throughout the base. For me, being a part of the FA mission removed any element of surprise which therefore minimized any gasping, yelling, or crying spells in the fetal position on my part. Well, after 50 rib-rattling rounds and multiple prolonged episodes of tinnitus, the fire mission was ended and life has since been back to normal. For now...