Image: An old picture taken after weapons training lessons. Two LMG's seen in the foreground.
From Left: Squatting - Rahman Torch, M.Sham ( Datuk) Aji ( Datuk, Dr) Standing: Hooi, Razali Bai, Daniel Chan (deceased) and Hank
From Left: Squatting - Rahman Torch, M.Sham ( Datuk) Aji ( Datuk, Dr) Standing: Hooi, Razali Bai, Daniel Chan (deceased) and Hank
‘Fire’!, familiar call
Saturday’s weapons training
Self Loading Rifles
For target practice
Outer, Inner, Magpie,Bull
Butt Party’s response
Live bullets were used
Fun, but just as dangerous
A teenager’s dream
Process Notes:
Hank had his secondary education
( equivalent to High School years ) at the Royal Military College. Military Training, comprising, Parades,
Weapons Training and Map-Reading were on every Saturday mornings. Target
Practice was just one aspect of weapons training. It was at the 100-meter Shooting Range using Self
Loading Rifles ( SLR ) or Light Machine Guns ( LMG) with .303 live ammo. The Butt
Party at the far end would indicate after each shot the outcome. It could be a Bull’s- Eye, Magpie, Inner , Outer or off target. It was fun!
Written for Joe's hosting at d”Verse’s OpenLinkNights week 70 and Chev’s CARPE DIEM # 45 with prompt - fire-
That was what the RMC boys did on Saturdays! I was marching in the brass band, and twirling drumsticks!
ReplyDeleteIf you've done your fair share of marching, that was how it was and more. We had to be spick and span (as in the army) Our shoes were shining brilliant that you could comb your hair looking at them (we spent at least 45 mins shining our shoes on every Friday afternoons) There were brass materials on the beret and the uniforms to be shone with brasso. Everything must be in place and shining bright. That was discipline!
DeleteHank
you know...i would've use for a training in map reading cause i'm just so bad at it..ha...and after watching the new james bond last week...if weapons only were used to fight the real bad guys, i'd do some target training any time..but then..
ReplyDeleteMap reading was fun. We experienced the jungle situation for training especially during campings. As for guns they were lethal. I cringed every time I pulled the trigger
DeleteThanks for sharing ! Great take on the prompt ☺
ReplyDeleteThanks siggio
DeleteHank
This must have taken you to your childhood days !!!
ReplyDeleteOh yes,GS! We were lucky! Others our age could only imagine!
DeleteHank
pretty cool bit of your history man...map reading is fun..learned a bit of it in my younger says...learned my shooting in the woods out back my house...bet that was really exciting for a boy though...smiles..
ReplyDeleteYes, wouldn't trade it for any other. We experienced at different times a Browning pistol, a .22 rifle,a bigger .303 rifle (that slapped the cheeks hard on recoil)the SMC (Sub-Machine Gun) besides the SLR and LMG. Anyway all are now dinosaurs compared to the present day AK47 and the like!
DeleteHank
Hmm I think I can muffle my way through a map, did it ages ago but only remember a bit, and training with a gun would be fun, but scary a bit.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Pat! I shivered the first time I had an SMC. I was afraid it would explode in my hands.
DeleteHank
Coming up age, perhaps joining the army, and being trained to fight, being a man, every male teen's dream but not all he had hoped it to be maybe.. I want to know the whole story! WOW! This was amazing!
ReplyDeleteThis took me to a very different take on 'fire' Thank you for a new perspective.
ReplyDeleteThis is nice. Nice writing and nice knowing a little about your adolescence. It sounds like it was a challenging school.
ReplyDeleteHank -- quite an experience ... thank you for sharing with us!!
ReplyDeleteHank, thanks for sharing your childhood here. Sounds like they kept you boys in line. However, I am terrified of guns, and have never owned one.
ReplyDeletePamela
Your poem took me back to my college years. I was a fifteen, or sixteen year old carrying an AK47 fully loaded with plastic bullets. For some strange reason I always got top marks in shooting. And I consider myself a pacifist. Go figure! :-) beautiful poem. Its beauty lies in its brevity.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
Wish I could remember the poem about target practice that's an interior dialogue between cadet and the drill sargent's orders. This reminds me a lot of that. Well done, Hank.
ReplyDeleteI was in a clay pigeon shooting competition once, I won! Beat all of the guys taking part and won a cash prize. Was taught how to fire semi automatic rifles too. Very exciting and yes, I imagine every boys dream. (and some girls too) Great read Hank :)
ReplyDeletePlaying with fire is always dangerous, but it's true that teenagers dream of shooting and killing enemies. Better training in peace than at war.
ReplyDeleteNice trio of haiku.
Enjoy the weekend.
:)
I have never held a rifle in my hands!
ReplyDelete