Military Unintelligence
In 1990 the U.S. Army accommodated its powerful political friends by letting select civilians take target practice on army ranges……. Only cost us $5 million in tax money….. Maybe when the next war starts, the generals could send some of their country club pals over to fight it…..
Seems only right to me…..
April 14th, 2005 at 11:43 am
Mrambler, civilians have been allowed, nay, encouraged to compete in matches held at DoD ranges since 1916! The matches are usually run by civilian clubs but are typically attended by both military and civilians. Many matches were run by the US Army through the Department of Civilian Marksmanship, an entity created in the wake of the Spanish-American War in order to encourage civilian marksmanship training. The DCM has morphed into a 501c nonprofit.
I’ve shot the WA state rifle championship at Ft. Lewis while I was up there.
April 16th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
You are talking about a completly different subject….. Maybe by not serving in the military you somehow didn’t get the jest of the post….. This was done by U.S. Army in 1990 during the Gulf War period….. The “target practice” was NOT in the form of rifle or pistol marksmanship matches…. These select big-wig “civilians” were enjoying target practice with M-16’s, M-60 machine guns, 50 Cal. machine guns, M-79 grenade launchers, M-72 LAW’s (hand held one-shot Light Anti-tank Weapon), etc…… Weapons that are definitely not available to the public and are for war use only, not for any friendly markmanship match….
Just out for a fun afternoon with some of the most expensive and destructive infantry weapons in our military arsenal….. I’ve personally fired all the weapons listed above on a military range and it is a “Rush” that you never forget….. I know the cost of just one .50 Cal. round was in the $3 to $4 range in 1968, so you can image what that cost is now per round and the M-72 LAW’s are probably in the thouand dollar range or more and it is a one-shot only weapon….. So, the 5 million dollars of tax-payers money wasn’t spent anything like you described, but was spent for the enjoyment of a select few big-shot individuals who the U.S. Army was trying to impress and who had no business being near one of these weapons, not alone be allowed to have a free “shoot-’em-up” fun day at the range……
April 18th, 2005 at 1:07 pm
Sounds like greasing the wheels, then. A 5 million dollar “demonstration” might go a long way in getting a $billions appropriation bill passed or keeping select bases off the closure list, etc. Just good investment, from their point of view, I guess.
I wouldn’t mind trying a M-2 .50 BMG, myself!
April 19th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
Yep, wouldn’t it be fun to have a few friends in really high places….. If only on occasion…..
And, thanks, HuskySooner, for the info on the matches sponsored on military installations…. I was unaware of this and it was very interesting reading….. Something I might like to participate in…..