I'm experimenting with a parallel blog, at


nobilitas.blogspot.com


It's an allegory thing about the duality of my character.

Which is not split-personality schizophrenia, mind you.

posted by baron at 6:29 AM

I have mustered enough strength to blog again.

Well!

There's so much to report on. I'll briefly record the Armour stuff first.

Straight after the technical handling tests on the heavy weapons we went for a simulation shooting practice.

Its like those arcade video games, except that instead of a screen and plastic pistols they have a 360 degree screen and projectors plus a mock-up turret/cupola of the vehicle smack in the middle of the room. You manipulate the cupola and the weapons systems (including the smoke grenade launchers) just like the real thing, including the loading and firing of the auto grenade launcher and the heavy machine gun.

Wicked sick indeed. WICKED!!!!!

Problem was the 40/50 cupola has no electronic targetting sight scope so everything had to be engaged with the naked eye as the only targetting system. Which, of course, isnt very useful when you're shooting at enemy APCs 1500 metres away.

But it was still dead fun, the ultimate arcade experience. As i said, it was WICKED.

Then came the driving course. Was another fun thing except that the instructors became alot more temperemental, especially when we didint drive the 23 tonne armoured vehicles properly, and screamed at us alot more as a result. Which, naturally, stressed us out even more to the extent that more mistakes were committed.

Like driving into the gullies.

Sergeant: OII!!!! SLOW DOWN!!! @#*%$@)^%)^(^^&$# (@)#)##!!

Me: Yes sergeant im doing my best

Sergeant: You best cant even include stepping on the #($*#*@#& brake pedal and $)%@!*_) releasing the accelerator and setting gear to L range???

Me: Sorry sergeant

Sergeant: Never mind give me 30 (pushups) after this circuit.

Ok it didnt exactly happen that way but you get the rough idea.

Then we had to break the damn tracks. Crazy stuff that. I dont wish to record the whole process down, suffice to say that my uniform was soaked with sweat after just 5 minutes into the process. Exhausting stuff.

After driving was LIVE FIRING. WOOOOOOO

Setting up the target butt was another case study in insane and inhuman slave exploitation (what with moving 90kg concrete slabs around), but firing the heavy weapons was WICKED SICK.

The auto grenade launcher goes CHAKCHAKK CHAK CHAK CHAK CHAK CHAK and you see the little black grenade rounds fly off and go CHOOM CHOOOM CHOOM CHA-CHOOM with clouds of black smoke and bright flashes. Just like the grenade throw in BMT, but multiplied by twenty. Ho boy was my adrenalin on max.

The heavy machine gun was funky. The damn thing bangs like nothing in the world. And the rounds have this cool effect on the target barrels; they leave this small almost innocuos hole in the front but rip out the whole of the back of the barrel, like some maniac came and twisted and and tore our the metal with a chainsaw. WICKED SICK!

The GPMG was cool, because even though it was the lightest of the weapons it was the most accurate and easiest to control. Its the midway thing between the SAW light machine gun and the heavy machine gun, being a medium machine gun (DUH). CHARTT CHARTT CHRRAAAAARRRRRTTT!!! It was quite a beauty to shoot it espcially at night when all the red tracers go whizzing and richochetting just like in star wars. But one of the guys had the some ejected cartridge casings stuck in his sleeve and got 3 inch blisters on his arm because of that. Ugh.

Following that there was nothing much except the field camp, where I fell asleep on sentry duty after the laager and got one extra for that.

And now I'm sitting here waiting to be shipped out to Taiwan for platoon training.

Its quite a shitty feeling now, especially since the chaps in infantry and signals and combat engineers have all gotten their sergeant stripes already. Whereas we poor sods in armour still have 2 months to go.

Oh well. The two sides of every coin cant be seperated can they.

posted by baron at 5:32 AM