Shoot 'em in the face

If only I could've had a cool motto like that going through reflexive fire training today.

Unfortunately, today might have been more along the lines of "fake the funk."

Some etymology of the title motto: In 2000, a company of the 3d Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Kosovo adopted the motto "shoot them in the face" as its company motto. It came from their time spent on the reflexive fire range, where troops train to land rounds at very short range, in one of three lethal zones: head, chest, or abdomen. These lethal zones are usually marked with paper plates on a standard E-type silhouette. The majority of the paratroopers, being naturally competitive, usually went for the most lethal shot, and so, it ended up being head shots. Thus, "shoot 'em in the face." This came directly from a guy who had been in 3-504 PIR during its tour in Kosovo and could speak from personal experience as to its etymology. Anyway, I digress.

There were no lethal zones. The only discriminator was that it was highly recommended not to hit the wooden frame on which the E-types were mounted, but I could've been lobbing parabolic trajectory blooper rounds and I could've gotten about the same amount of feedback. If you gotta whack tangos close in, so to speak, you don't have a lot of luxury not to hit one of the lethal zones. It was fun - but hell, it's always fun to fire bullets. Besides, it's been a while since I've done any of that with a long gun. It's a lot more awkward to do that while wearing body armor.

There was one joker in the group, wearing dental brass, who I made it a point not to stand near. His lane safety told us this guy had tagged the wooden frame, which was the least of his essential cluelessness. I try not to vent too much, being the irascible guy that I usually am, but accountability and setting the example are kind of pet rocks for me. If you're wearing field grade brass, act like it and don't act like a complete toad in front of the junior enlisted. This guy might nominally be a peer, but you have to earn the respect of your peers and subordinates to truly get it. This guy doesn't rate and the only reason he's not standing at the position of parade rest for everyone else is because he happens to outrank most of them. Salute the rank, not the person...

I had occasion to get into one of the junior soldiers' faces about flagging, because he was carrying his bullet launcher around and being totally unaware of where his muzzle is pointing. Flagging is, mildly put, a great big problem in close quarters combat. He just didn't fathom that regardless of whether his weapon was clear or not, you never, ever point your weapon at anyone you don't intend to kill. Ever. He couldn't understand why I was raising my voice about it, but put simply, flagging gets people killed. Given the relative expertise levels in the group, I guess we could have spent more time on the range actually shooting.

In any event, we're done. Now I have to get ready to send stuff home, finish treating my uniforms with an unbelievably noxious insecticide that doesn't repel insects-- it kills them instead. It's always reassuring to see the warning on the bag that says "corrosive" and "warning: irreversible eye damage." Nice.

I might go for a long slow run at McKelligon Canyon on Friday. Load up the Camelbak, start at the bottom, and give it a few hours or so. That might not be so bad. Tomorrow, either way, will be easy, I think. Save the energy for Friday.