Fun with Guns at Sea

It was mostly sunny, that February morning in 1975, and waves were in the 3-foot range. The ship was stationary and experiencing a bit of roll, but it wasn't too bad. We were stopped out in the middle of nowhere; I didn't know why. Then the word was passed for my division to muster on the fantail.

When I got there, I found the skipper, XO, division officers, my chief, and several of the gunner's mates assembled around a large table. On that table was an assortment of weapons, some of which I'd only seen in training manuals.

The Gunnery Division officer informed us we'd be initiated in the "wonderful world of Navy small arms." Yes!

We were instructed to form lines. I got in the line to the left, but couldn't see which weapons were on my side of the table. We had to wait our turn to fire at empty coffee cans which were bobbing about 75 yards away. Navy coffee cans, at the time, were large rectangular silver cans. Easy to see, when waves weren't in the way.

When I reached the head of the line, I looked eagerly to see what I'd be shooting. Three weapons were available: M1911A1, A&R M-14 (full/semi auto), and A&R M-60. They asked me what I wanted to shoot.

"All of 'em, please."

Alrighty, then. Showing a fine disregard for certain niceties like hearing protection (that's for wimps, right?), I was handed the M-14. As a boy raised in farm country, I'd done a fair amount of shooting, and could pick individual leaves off a tree from 200 feet with a .22. My dad taught me how to bark squirrels when I was 8 or 9; I didn't think anything of these things, since it was what I knew. I was surprised, in boot camp, to find that many not only couldn't shoot like that, but that many of them had never fired anything more powerful than an air rifle. Hmm.

I'd fired a few larger rifles, but my experience with heavier calibers was limited. The first round out of the M-14 stunned me; not the recoil, which wasn't too bad, but the volume of sound. I felt like someone had slapped my ears with sledge hammers.

I fired five more rounds at the coffee can, and don't know whether I hit it. The M-14 was certainly the heaviest rifle I'd shouldered* at that point in my life, and I was too busy trying to reacquire the appearing/disappearing can. I found that the targets had a disconcerting tendency to bob below the waves just as I squeezed the trigger.

I ran one magazine through the Colt Gov't. model; I'd done plenty of practice with that.** Part of the military leadership class had included instruction and practice with the Government model. We had to field strip & reassemble the pistols in the dark, in 60 seconds. I thought it was fun, and couldn't understand those who grumbled about it.

Then they positioned me behind the M-60. When cleared to fire, I aimed at that stupid coffee can again, and pulled the trigger. After a few seconds, I let go and looked at the officer in charge. (I LIKE IT.) "Can I do it again?" Again, again! (THAT WAS FUN. MORE?) No, I had to let the next guy give it a go. Rats!

The chief told me later that he almost didn't recognize me while I was at the M-60. He said I got "an evil grin" on my face. Heh. That was the most fun I'd ever had. I was young, but still ... it was an honest-to-gosh M-60! What did he expect?

My ears rang for two hours, and I couldn't hear normally until sometime after lunch. I went back to my office & tried to work. I couldn't keep my mind on my project, though, and finally went searching for the senior gunner's mate. He asked what he could do for me.

"Umm ... can I do that again?" (evil grin)


*Firing was done off-hand, while standing. The M-60 has a bipod; we squatted behind it, at the rail.
**Note to self: practice more.