"How would you like to spend a day where you go out on the range and shoot a bunch of weapons and then do some other fun stuff on Wednesday?"
Didn't even wait to hear about the other "fun stuff" before I yelled out, "YES!", right in the middle of Target. (I wonder if people thought I was accepting a marriage proposal via phone call? After all, I was excited and enthusiastic enough.)
And I DID have fun. I had so much fun yesterday, that I immediately came home, stuffed four pieces of pizza in my face before crashing... not even having the energy to blog about it until today.
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| Special Warfare Memorial Statue (a.k.a.- "Bronze Bruce) |
We were introduced to "Bronze Bruce", and the symbolism behind the statue was explained, followed by an explanation of the plaques on the ground and a chance to visit the Memorial Wall. Sadly, my husband knew a few of the men on that wall. He wasn't able to go to CapEx (it was for the Army spouses), but when we went inside the building afterwards, there was a digital memorial wall and I was able to put faces to the names of some of the stories he has told me.
We were also able to watch a HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump where the jumpers landed in Memorial Plaza.
The HALO jumpers stayed for a while to talk to the attendees and from there, we went to the range. On the range, there were Special Forces operators who told us about their jobs and showed their equipment, allowing the attendees to ask questions.
Our next stop was the sniper station, where we were shown various sniper rifles and equipment. A demonstration of sniper camouflage had one woman almost jump out of her skin when he fired off a blank round from what looked to be an empty section of grass and weeds. (I couldn't help but start laughing. That poor woman.) We were allowed to go down and use the sniper rifles and I was amazed at the accuracy of the scope. There was an instructor at every rifle station who taught us the proper way to hold the weapon and sight the target. After we had the grip down, we loaded it and were able to shoot for a good 40 minutes until it was time to rotate to the next station... which ended up being Glock-19s, M4s, and MP5s.
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| I learn the correct way to position the sniper rifle before sighting a target. |
I have to say that this was one of my favorite parts of the entire day. The instructors were extremely nice and very professional.
We moved from the shooting range to the "Close Quarters Combat" building. Vests and helmets were given to everyone and we walked up onto a catwalk, looking over the interior part of the building. (Imagine you were looking down on a house that had no ceiling. You could see into all of the rooms from above.) Once we were situated and had a quick safety briefing, the CQB demo began with a literal "bang" as they blasted in the door and began to clear the house. The soldiers swept through the rooms, blasting open doors when they were locked, detonating flash bang grenades, and setting off an explosive charge in the final room. We had to duck down when the charge was set, the overpressure letting out a loud "whump" noise that felt like an ocean wave hit you. (You could actually feel it in your gut. I can only imagine what the soldiers felt on the ground level.) Having achieved their objective, the team worked their way back through the house and exited the building.
The attendees were able to ask questions and look at all of the equipment that the operators use. Different rounds of ammo and the various charges were explained, along with battering rams and saws used to cut down doors. Once complete, we went to the final range.
This was the "Grand Finale" from what our guide had told us. We arrived at a cinderblock town, complete with cinderblock church and multiple buildings with different layouts and sizes. We climbed up onto the roof of one of these cinderblock buildings and were told what would happen and why it was done that way. The major in charge of the exercise leaned over, turned "Ride of the Valkyries" on so it was blasting through the loudspeakers (we were all laughing at the dramatic scene setting), when it started.
The sniper took his shot (successfully), and two small helicopters flew overhead with Rangers hanging off the side. The helicopters dropped the Rangers on the rooftops while two Chinooks (larger helicopters) flew in and more operators were dropped onto another roof, via fast rope. They all worked to clear the buildings while the helicopters flew off and a drone flew over the main part of the street. A "bad guy" ran out of one of the buildings, which the dog handler responded to by loosing the dog on him.
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| "Bad guy" gets downed by dog. |
The last "bad guy" was captured and everyone left the town, heading out to be evacuated by the helicopters. At this point, all of the attendees boarded the Chinooks and went for a ride. Now, I've been on a Chinook before (when I was in basic training at Fort Sill) and I've helped load them, but I've never been on a "crazy" Chinook ride. The pilot must have been told to have a little fun, because we were all over the place. I had a blast! I was able to take a short video once he stopped banking left and right.
We landed and had a final farewell from one of the event coordinators before we hopped back on the bus and headed home.
This day definitely counted as "fun stuff" for me. I can't wait to go again next year.
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