I\u2019m back. I\u2019ve unloaded some of the activities that were eating up my time so, hopefully, I\u2019ll be able to do a better job keeping up with this in the future. Now back to my first summer at the Academy.<\/p>\n
In order to properly use guns of all sorts, we had a class in gun safety. We learned how to clear various weapons. We learned how to disassemble and reassemble a rifle, a .45 pistol, and a .38 revolver. Fifty or so of us assembled in a large open building. Our practice weapons sat on tables in front of us. The instructors demonstrated what we were supposed to do and talked us through our practice while monitors looked over our shoulders to make sure we were doing it right. Then we got to practice on our own.<\/p>\n
We were practicing with the .45s when a gun went off. One of the cadets fell to the floor. The monitors rushed to converge on the downed cadet. The rest of us sat in stunned silence while the monitors ministered to him. After what seemed like an eternity, he jumped to his feet, grinning. It had all been staged. The gun had a blank in it, and the cadet was in on it. I have to admit it was one of the most effective safety trainings I ever attended.<\/p>\n
These were the days before AR-15s so we were issued M-1 rifles. They were a part of our lives for the next four years. We marched and paraded with them. We practiced manual of arms. We practiced marksmanship with them. We cleaned them until they were spotless or tried \u2013 somehow the inspectors frequently found something we had missed, a speck of lint, the glint of oil. I became extra familiar with mine because I spent a lot of time with one on my shoulder, marching tours.<\/p>\n
We got demerits for numerous things: dust, a \u201cdirty\u201d weapon, late for anything, poor judgment (It seemed that way), \u2026 When we accumulated enough demerits or committed a heinous crime like being late for curfew by a few minutes (a Class 3 offense), we had to march tours as our punishment. That first year I spent most of my Saturdays, rain or shine, going back and forth across the quadrangle with my rifle.<\/p>\n
Not all my experiences that summer were unpleasant. We trained at a variety of things: physical training, bayonet fighting, an obstacle course, and as I mentioned before marching. The obstacle course was my biggest challenge. It was tough, and my practice times were poor at best. For the final exam Jim Lorrigan, an ATO, trotted alongside shouting encouragement. When I crawled under the barbed wire, I could hear him, \u201cYou can do it! Keep it up!\u201d As I zigzagged across the elevated planks, his \u201cYou\u2019re doing great!\u201d urged me on. As I clung to the top of the wall, straining to climb it, he was there. \u201cClimb! You\u2019re going to make it.\u201d And I did. Panting and wheezing I pulled myself up and over the wall, dropped to the ground on the other side, and trudged for the finish line. I made it with my best time, but I wouldn\u2019t have without Jim\u2019s help. I owe him a debt of thanks.<\/p>\n
As a grand finale for that summer we got to see what it was like to be a ground pounder. We marched down what is now 6th<\/sup> Avenue (It turned into a dirt road before we got off it). We turned into Lowry Bombing Range (I think we went through Buckley Naval Air Station, but I can\u2019t imagine it being on a dirt road) and marched to a camp site. Since it was late summer in Eastern Colorado, they were somewhat redundant, but we had pup tents to sleep in.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t remember a great deal about the bivouac, but it was both taxing and intriguing. It had a final exam of sorts. There were a number of scored activities. The two I remember were a compass course which I didn\u2019t do well on and a marksmanship test.<\/p>\n The marksmanship test was to burst a balloon with a .45. The reason it was so difficult is that the .45 bullet moves slower than the speed of sound so it has a bow wave. If it is slightly off dead center of a balloon suspended by one end, the bow wave pushes the balloon aside. We were given five shells to do it. I was one of the few who got it on the first shot.<\/p>\n With that my first summer at the Academy came to a close. I\u2019m sure I\u2019ve left out some things that would be interesting to someone, but as I remember them, I\u2019ll add them to my list and eventually mention them.<\/p>\n Next, the academic year starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m back. I\u2019ve unloaded some of the activities that were eating up my time so, hopefully, I\u2019ll be able to do a better job keeping up with this in the future. Now back to my first summer at the Academy. In order to properly use guns of all sorts, we had a class in gun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n