Shooting week

Hello and Merry Christmas,

This week was our shooting week. Basically, besides running, push-ups, sit-ups and sprinting, we shot our guns.

Sunday:

We arrived at base, late in the day, and spent the rest of the day setting up base. This means that we took our cots, bags, mattresses and sleeping bags out of the storage room and put them in our tent.

Monday:

We went down to the shooting range and worked on zeroing in our guns. Basically, we had 5 bullets and had to shoot them into a 25m target. We worked on getting a grouping of bullets close together and then adjusting our sights by moving the aimer accordingly.

At night, we had a masa, or Journey. This time it was only 6km or 4 miles. The sky was cloudy this time so we didn't get to see the stars like last time, but it was still fun to do.

Tuesday:

We went back to the shooting range and worked again on zeroing our guns (there are 22 kids and only 6 shoot at a time. Also, not everyone gets a close grouping their first time.) However, this time when we shot, it was at 50 meters and also before, when we were at the 25 meter line, we had bags of sand in front of us to rest our hands on and help us aim. The third time we shot, we had to wear our tactical vests with our helmets on. The reason for this is so we know what to expect if we ever have to shoot in the field. This time they took the bags away and we had to hold the gun without any help. At night, we went for a little run (only 1k)

Wednesday:

Back to the shooting range! This time we went to an open range. By this I mean we went to a firing range in the mountains and on a dirt surface and not cement. It was a lot better on the elbows, because the whole time we are lying down with our elbows up and it tends to hurt after a while. We also got to shoot today under a time pressure constraint. The rate was: 5 seconds to get down into the shooting position and fire 1 shot. 6 seconds to jump down into the firing position and fire 2 shots. And 8 seconds to get down into the shooting position and fire 3 shots. Every time rate, we did 5 times, in a row. So instead of shooting 5 bullets in our own time, we had to shoot 27 bullets according to the time rate (5 times we shot 1 bullet, 5 times we shot 2 bullets and 5 times we shot 3 bullets.) The next firing test was only 15 bullets (3 bullets in 8 seconds 5 times). The final test for shooting was to get down into the shooting range, fire three bullets and then change magazines with another 3 bullets. The whole time we were wearing our tactical vests.

At night, we went back to the shooting range and did night time shooting. There are different rules to fire for night time shooting. One of the big ones was that everyone had to fire at the same time. There is nothing more powerful than 8 guys shooting a gun all together at the same time.

Thursday:

Thursday was a calm day. In the morning we had a meeting on the spirit of the army and then we went back to the old base to go to the shecem (the only store on base, where soldiers can buy drinks; soda, juice, water; and food: chips, cookies, candy, and other things.) It was an easy day and at night we went back to the old base to sleep.

As always, it was a great week and we did a lot of things that just make you stop and say wow, only here in the army will I ever get to do something as cool as this.