Sharpshooting Specialist

This week was devoted to the shooting range.  The soldiers had a few days of practice shooting before their bivouac, which is a French-originating word that means camping.  For some reason, going "camping" isn't allowed, so instead you go bivouacking.  Is it just me, or does bivouacking sound like a disease you definitely don't want to catch?

On Friday, the soldiers of 1-31 FA BN had to qualify with their weapons.  D was a little worried about qualifying, since their day of practice right before was canceled due to the extreme heat (more about the heat later), but today when he called me I found out he did great!  He scored as Sharpshooter, which is the middle level (Marksman, Sharpshooter, Expert), with 32 targets out of 40.  Eighty percent isn't bad, especially considering my husband had never shot a gun until two weeks ago!

So, back to the extreme heat.  I don't know how many of you are aware, but Oklahoma is experiencing somewhat of a dry, hot spell.  As in, it hasn't been under 100F in days.  Weeks, it seems like.  And also, Southwestern Oklahoma, where Ft. Sill is located, has been in extreme drought conditions since practically the beginning of summer.  Check this out:

Ft. Sill is right outside of Lawton, OK -- 112F

Drought Monitor.  You  might say it's a little dry around these here parts.

So, due to these rather extreme conditions we're experiencing, the Army is concerned about a few of the normal training activities.  Particularly, NIC-at-Night (Night Infiltration Course), which is a simulated firefight - basically, the soldiers low crawl while guns are being fired overhead, explosions are going off to the sides and flares are shot into the air.  As you can imagine, with the Oklahoma countryside as dry as kindling, there might be interesting consequences for an activity involving so many incendiary objects.  

I know D was really looking forward to this exercise, but he said today that a memo was sent out that informed the soldiers that activities involving ammunition of any kind were to be limited to graduation requirements.  I imagine the Army doesn't want to set all of Western Oklahoma on fire.  They do, though, still get to throw grenades this week since that area is rather barren because grenades are thrown in it practically every week.

I think D must have moved on to White Phase (goes from Red, to White, to Blue) this week, but I forgot to ask.  Anyway, he got an hour for phone time this afternoon, which was really nice.  Right before we got off the phone, we were celebrating the fact that ONE MONTH FROM TOMORROW we'll be seeing each other again.

Thirty-two measly days.  Pssh.  That's nothing!