Day 61: Kicking Down Doors

Imagine the report on CNN--5 Navy doctors raid insurgent hideout; all enemy combatants destroyed. Okay, so you will never see this I know. We are going to Afghanistan for a different mission. However, here at Fort Riley the medical personnel are a small percentage of the trainees that are coming through. Consequently, some of the training does not really directly apply to us. I guarantee you that they will never call me to go clear out a building suspected to be housing terrorists--they would have to be very desperate or crazy. Even though some of this stuff doesn't really apply to us, we still get to play along and do the training. So yesterday, we went out on the range and practiced short range markmanship. Basically, we practice shooting our weapons while walking or turning around, while hiding behind houses or vehicles, or from very short distances. These are skills you typically would use in close combat situations--stuff I better never see. It was somewhat fun...but mostly hot. Monday, I get a chance to put the skills I practiced today to use and pretend I am on a SWAT team kicking down doors and clearing houses. Should be fun.