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...

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.