Well, you are reading the blog of one of America's finest who just qualified as a sharpshooter. Yep. Go me!
Good things come to those who persist and do NOT give up, even under threat of heatstroke!
Honestly though if Mr. Highmountain hadn't offered me a waterbottle before we started, I probably would have keeled over before the qual...
So, I stood there in the entirely inadequate shadow provided by the range and I listened and I tried very hard to absorb everything that was said by the four instructors. It was harder than it might otherwise have been because I didn't actually have a firearm as I was listening to the explanation and some of the more kinetic learners were fiddling with the fiddly bits of their firearms while I was trying to listen.
So things got sorted out and we all got our stations and I DID get a firearm then. It was lighter than I expected it would be, which surprised me. It was also, I found out very quickly, not inclined to kill me via recoil, which was very nice.
I should quickly point out here that my previous experience has been entirely limited to plinking with a .22 at the end of a safety course and then shooting a handgun in Nebraska to the derision of my brother, his friend and his friend's father. My own dad just stood by looking a bit embarrassed for me. Neither of the two experiences did anything for my confidence. Then there was Boot and contrary to what you might expect, I didn't get to shoot anything there because I was waiting for a piece of paper that would declare me to be sane.
(By the way, I think it's important for my readership to know that I'm listening to Men of Harlech right now and am humming along under my breath. Yeah, I'm a little proud of myself...the reward is wicked awesome Welsh men's choral singing)
Anyway, there I was. I sat on my bench and helpful people fiddled with a box on my bench that was supposed to help me steady my rifle. I was grateful for this. And then they used very complicated and formulaic words to basically tell me "Fire at your own pace and take your time so you don't screw up." I took my time all right. This turned out to be a sort of test round. We did... five of these I think.
Anyway, at the end of the five, I was pretty proud of myself but also kind of tired and heat-sapped (heat-sapped is my own oh-so-original way of saying that because it was hot I was really tired and didn't want to do anything except die of overheating).
Little did I know that the true qualification was just beginning!
I cannot say I have ever been formally introduced to the prone, kneeling and standing stances for firing a rifle. I have been pushed into them, but not formally introduced.
First there was prone.
I will say this for prone- I couldn't fall over and that was an improvement in some important respects from the other two. The really bad thing though was my inability to breathe and fire my firearm with any degree of accuracy. I lay there on the concrete thinking "How the hell do I line everything up and fire without my safety glasses falling off of my face and blinding me? And how do I breathe?"
It was difficult, but somehow I got through it.
I kept making dumb mistakes- no 'breaking blue', but stupid things like leaving the safety on for longer than it ought to be.
Then there was kneeling. Kneeling was... odd. I didn't like it very much. Towards the very end of shooting kneeling, I sort of got the idea and got much more steady. I thought it was probably too little too late.
At last it was time for the standing position. This was not much fun either, but we apparently had ten minutes for it. I had resolved that it would not, in fact could not take me ten minutes because I had a mission to accomplish- get a good sight picture and don't screw it up by moving my firearm away from my head. I honestly had difficulty understanding how someone could _take_ ten minutes for ten shots. Somewhere in the middle, what with holding my breath and all, I would invariably lose count and despair. In my despair, I apparently relaxed enough to do well, at least this was according to one of my two coachs. I can't really thank this one guy enough though. He was kind enough to help me reload my magazines. That was about the one thing I was pretty sure I could do without screwing up too badly, but about half-way through the whole qual I got pretty badly rattled, I'm not sure by what, and I couldn't even load a magazine. I felt like a completely useless berk, but he patiently helped me out. I owe him cookies or something.
The whole thing was an experience. It was overall a good experience and I'm glad I didn't quit the handful of times I felt like quitting would have been more productive than not. I learned a lot, and I would very much like to go back at some date in the far distant future and improve my skills. But I really think I need one-on-one tutoring with someone who is very, very, very patient. Like St. Monica patient.
Showing posts with label neat stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neat stuff. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Awesome German food!
So a bunch of us went out for awesome German food last night! I'd like to take all the credit for finding a place that everyone really seemed to like- and disavow anything to do with everyone getting horribly lost. It's Google's fault. _I_ corrected that as best as I could, texting people the correct address as soon as I realized the problem.
The food was really, really awesome. I got the Jagerschnitzel and it was soo nice. It was probably the best German food I've had since being in Germany!
A good time was had by all, though one of the company was a bit lonely since he's not in exactly the same job as us and he might have been feeling a little lost. I hope that I was a good hostess (in so far as one is ever a hostess when your party is out at a restaurant...) and helped him fit in. I'm not sure how successful I was at that though.
We played another two rounds of 'Who Am I?' (first I was Napoleon (elected ruler, technically not French) and then I was Werner Von Braun. I got both and had a wonderful time. My two mystery people were Cleopatra and Louis Armstrong :D) over at DrunkLeprechaun's house, and that was fun. His cat is a complete and total spaz and it was hilarious to watch the cat interact with him and everyone else there. His wife is also a little spazzy, though perhaps the prank FB update that someone made was crossing the line. If I was her, I'd sort of expect it from his loony friends by now, but that's just me. Whatever.
We drove the non-car owners back to their respective barracks, after a long, thoughtful conversation about personality types. It was a good time. The conclusion? Most of us are introverted peeps. That wasn't a huge revelation somehow... But we all managed to get out and have a great time. Except for the losers who didn't show. Oh well.
And soon a bunch of cool people are going to go away and I'll have one less useful thing that I can do in my copious spare time. This means I'm going to have to novel more and procrastinate less. Bother.
The food was really, really awesome. I got the Jagerschnitzel and it was soo nice. It was probably the best German food I've had since being in Germany!
A good time was had by all, though one of the company was a bit lonely since he's not in exactly the same job as us and he might have been feeling a little lost. I hope that I was a good hostess (in so far as one is ever a hostess when your party is out at a restaurant...) and helped him fit in. I'm not sure how successful I was at that though.
We played another two rounds of 'Who Am I?' (first I was Napoleon (elected ruler, technically not French) and then I was Werner Von Braun. I got both and had a wonderful time. My two mystery people were Cleopatra and Louis Armstrong :D) over at DrunkLeprechaun's house, and that was fun. His cat is a complete and total spaz and it was hilarious to watch the cat interact with him and everyone else there. His wife is also a little spazzy, though perhaps the prank FB update that someone made was crossing the line. If I was her, I'd sort of expect it from his loony friends by now, but that's just me. Whatever.
We drove the non-car owners back to their respective barracks, after a long, thoughtful conversation about personality types. It was a good time. The conclusion? Most of us are introverted peeps. That wasn't a huge revelation somehow... But we all managed to get out and have a great time. Except for the losers who didn't show. Oh well.
And soon a bunch of cool people are going to go away and I'll have one less useful thing that I can do in my copious spare time. This means I'm going to have to novel more and procrastinate less. Bother.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Grateful Single
Very recently I have started to see the penny drop with regards to my single state in life. I have a few things that I am particularly grateful for.
I don’t have to ask permission.
If I want to stay out later at night, if I want to go to a Goth club, if I want to wear my hair a certain way, if I want to talk to a male friend, if I want to go on vacation, I don’t have to ask for permission. Which is a truly beautiful thing. I know so many marrieds who conditionalize everything with “I’ll have to see what the wife thinks” or “My husband would prefer we stay in tonight.”
What I can take away from this as a longer term lesson is that if I am ever supposed to get married, me and the future Mr. Right had better have a very good understanding about such things. I don’t want to ask him for permission on a regular basis, and I don’t want him to have to ask me either. The ideal situation would be that we would specify things that were important- like a special dinner, an anniversary, or even just a ‘bad day’ where mutual support would be greatly appreciated. Other than that we could come and go like grownups- no asking for permission in a marriage of equals. Does that make sense or am I approaching this a bit too much like ‘roomies with benefits’? At any rate, this requires grown-up style communication skills- not sarcasm, not guessing games, not isolationism. If you’re not perfectly honest about what you want and need, the other person can’t know what you’re thinking!
I don’t have to worry about infidelity
Committing to marriage is a Big Damn Commitment, and one that for the right person I would undertake very gladly. But here’s the scary thing- we’re humans. Humans fall, make mistakes and occasionally even run off. A childhood friend of mine was sixteen when her dad up and left with a woman half his age. Granted, he was on mega-painkillers so maybe he wasn’t exactly in his right mind but it doesn’t change the fact that he did it and is responsible on some level. It was devastating to the wife he left behind to raise six kids. They had to sell their house and give away the dog, move to a terrible neighborhood, and the two oldest girls put thoughts of college on hold to work to support Mom and younger siblings. And that’s just the easily quantifiable bad stuff. He wasn’t there for his older teen daughters, when a dad is vitally important to help sort through potential boyfriends (whether or not the daughter agrees with that!). He wasn’t there for his younger teen sons, who at that age desperately need Dad to be a strong role model when peer pressure is strong.
If I ever get married, I’m a little afraid that a corner of my mind will always think I have it way too good and that one day Hubby will find a cuter, younger model and vamoose. Rational fear? Dunno. But it does exist. While I’m single, I don’t have to worry about worrying about infidelity. Yay! One less thing to worry about!
I don’t have to worry about my ability to have children
In this day and age when lots of people are choosing NOT to have kids, or ‘have dogs instead’, this may seem a bit out-dated. But I would like to have kids. In fact, I would so like to have kids that if I never marry I would rather like to adopt- if I can as a single parent… I think you must be able to somehow. I have a second cousin who did that and I think she and her daughter are awesome!
So, my worrying about my ability to have children. My mom miscarried at least three times that we know about. Both my brother and I were ‘miracle babies’. I have a friend who has recently dealt with a miscarriage. I am quite frankly terrified by the idea. As amazing as it must be to have new life inside of you, the flip side of the coin is if something goes wrong, someone died inside of you. That’s terrifying for me. And I think that I would not cope well with that. I might be too scared to ever try again.
But as long as I’m single, it’s not a worry! Hurrah! It is proper to me in my current state (especially in my state of employment at present!) to be childless. But that doesn’t mean I’m not called to be a mother. I’m called to be a spiritual mother at present. Weird, hm? That means I have to pray for people around me who are sort of like my family- in addition to my family of course. Or I could spiritually adopt some children in danger of abortion. Either way, I am responsible to pray for people and do other mom-like things in a spiritual way.
Weirdly enough a few months ago someone asked me if I had any children because I seemed like a motherly person. At the time I didn’t quite know what to think of that. When I seemed confused they said they wondered because I seemed pretty mature for my age… I get that a surprising lot but I also get the “You’re not really __ years old are you? _Really_? You seem a lot younger!” Maybe it all averages out or something….
I know I have many other things to be grateful for, but this is going to be the short list for now. More to follow as the ideas occure to me.
I don’t have to ask permission.
If I want to stay out later at night, if I want to go to a Goth club, if I want to wear my hair a certain way, if I want to talk to a male friend, if I want to go on vacation, I don’t have to ask for permission. Which is a truly beautiful thing. I know so many marrieds who conditionalize everything with “I’ll have to see what the wife thinks” or “My husband would prefer we stay in tonight.”
What I can take away from this as a longer term lesson is that if I am ever supposed to get married, me and the future Mr. Right had better have a very good understanding about such things. I don’t want to ask him for permission on a regular basis, and I don’t want him to have to ask me either. The ideal situation would be that we would specify things that were important- like a special dinner, an anniversary, or even just a ‘bad day’ where mutual support would be greatly appreciated. Other than that we could come and go like grownups- no asking for permission in a marriage of equals. Does that make sense or am I approaching this a bit too much like ‘roomies with benefits’? At any rate, this requires grown-up style communication skills- not sarcasm, not guessing games, not isolationism. If you’re not perfectly honest about what you want and need, the other person can’t know what you’re thinking!
I don’t have to worry about infidelity
Committing to marriage is a Big Damn Commitment, and one that for the right person I would undertake very gladly. But here’s the scary thing- we’re humans. Humans fall, make mistakes and occasionally even run off. A childhood friend of mine was sixteen when her dad up and left with a woman half his age. Granted, he was on mega-painkillers so maybe he wasn’t exactly in his right mind but it doesn’t change the fact that he did it and is responsible on some level. It was devastating to the wife he left behind to raise six kids. They had to sell their house and give away the dog, move to a terrible neighborhood, and the two oldest girls put thoughts of college on hold to work to support Mom and younger siblings. And that’s just the easily quantifiable bad stuff. He wasn’t there for his older teen daughters, when a dad is vitally important to help sort through potential boyfriends (whether or not the daughter agrees with that!). He wasn’t there for his younger teen sons, who at that age desperately need Dad to be a strong role model when peer pressure is strong.
If I ever get married, I’m a little afraid that a corner of my mind will always think I have it way too good and that one day Hubby will find a cuter, younger model and vamoose. Rational fear? Dunno. But it does exist. While I’m single, I don’t have to worry about worrying about infidelity. Yay! One less thing to worry about!
I don’t have to worry about my ability to have children
In this day and age when lots of people are choosing NOT to have kids, or ‘have dogs instead’, this may seem a bit out-dated. But I would like to have kids. In fact, I would so like to have kids that if I never marry I would rather like to adopt- if I can as a single parent… I think you must be able to somehow. I have a second cousin who did that and I think she and her daughter are awesome!
So, my worrying about my ability to have children. My mom miscarried at least three times that we know about. Both my brother and I were ‘miracle babies’. I have a friend who has recently dealt with a miscarriage. I am quite frankly terrified by the idea. As amazing as it must be to have new life inside of you, the flip side of the coin is if something goes wrong, someone died inside of you. That’s terrifying for me. And I think that I would not cope well with that. I might be too scared to ever try again.
But as long as I’m single, it’s not a worry! Hurrah! It is proper to me in my current state (especially in my state of employment at present!) to be childless. But that doesn’t mean I’m not called to be a mother. I’m called to be a spiritual mother at present. Weird, hm? That means I have to pray for people around me who are sort of like my family- in addition to my family of course. Or I could spiritually adopt some children in danger of abortion. Either way, I am responsible to pray for people and do other mom-like things in a spiritual way.
Weirdly enough a few months ago someone asked me if I had any children because I seemed like a motherly person. At the time I didn’t quite know what to think of that. When I seemed confused they said they wondered because I seemed pretty mature for my age… I get that a surprising lot but I also get the “You’re not really __ years old are you? _Really_? You seem a lot younger!” Maybe it all averages out or something….
I know I have many other things to be grateful for, but this is going to be the short list for now. More to follow as the ideas occure to me.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Gimme Your Stuff- please? I'll give you mine!
So, I found this cool blog exchangy thing, and I thought "Hey, awesome!".
First, what I've got to offer:
I live near Washington DC, so I'm pretty versatile. There are a lot of shops near me. I'm willing to send books, candy, food and music. If you've lived in the US or are a US Expat in need of a fix from home, I'll try my best to help you out! :D I've lived abroad, so I know the awful feeling of say, not being able to find peanut butter, or macaroni and cheese. Or a book in English. I'd rather you gave me specific requests, but if you let me have my own way, be prepared for a random assortment of stuff within given parameters.
Second, What I'd like:
From the UK- Thorton's Toffee, Biggles books, nearly any other sweets you care to mention (excluding stuff that's packed with artificial colouring). Asterix books. Map of Kent.
From Germany- 'Easy reading' children's books, photos of landscapes, sweets. Maps.
From Hungary- Sweets and fruit-tea! Detailed maps of Budapest and Szeged.
I know I'll think of more things later...
First, what I've got to offer:
I live near Washington DC, so I'm pretty versatile. There are a lot of shops near me. I'm willing to send books, candy, food and music. If you've lived in the US or are a US Expat in need of a fix from home, I'll try my best to help you out! :D I've lived abroad, so I know the awful feeling of say, not being able to find peanut butter, or macaroni and cheese. Or a book in English. I'd rather you gave me specific requests, but if you let me have my own way, be prepared for a random assortment of stuff within given parameters.
Second, What I'd like:
From the UK- Thorton's Toffee, Biggles books, nearly any other sweets you care to mention (excluding stuff that's packed with artificial colouring). Asterix books. Map of Kent.
From Germany- 'Easy reading' children's books, photos of landscapes, sweets. Maps.
From Hungary- Sweets and fruit-tea! Detailed maps of Budapest and Szeged.
I know I'll think of more things later...
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