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Max loved range day. It wasn’t so much that he was a good shot. He just enjoyed the simplicity of aiming, controlling his breath, firing and seeing the results of his marksmanship discipline. Eddie had the same kind of appreciation for the skill but had another decade of experience at it over Max. Neither of them was worried about whether or not they’d actually qualify. Both of them felt that qualifications should contain more of a challenge and some focus on NOT standing still when you shoot.
The whole squad was there except for Keith. He was still in the hospital and reports from his wife were that his condition was not improving. Bill, Dave and Eddie kept going to the hospital to check on him and his wife, Thelma. Nothing was changing. The docs didn’t seem to have an explanation for why they weren’t seeing any improvement but the only thing they seemed to change was his medication regimen every few days. In another few days they were going to bring him out of the medically induced coma and see how his brain function was. Thelma was both excited about it and scared of it because it would either give her her husband back… or confirm that he wasn’t coming back.
That a senior member of the squad was in such a dire condition had been a distraction for everyone on the range. Still, the squad shot fairly well. They had already all qualified in the 90% or higher range when they’d come down for handgun qualifications. Shotguns were relatively easy. The biggest complaint about shotgun qualifications was usually the recoil bruises when slugs were used for 25- and 50-yard shots. This year though, the agency had tried out something knew. All of the shotguns had been outfitted with a Knoxx recoil absorbing stock. That alone helped reduce the felt recoil quite a bit. In addition, the agency had switched to Max Stop IRP shotgun ammo. The tail-stabilized single projectile ammo recoiled less than the slugs and, combined with the Knoxx stock, were almost easy to shoot. The enhanced accuracy from being tail stabilized, and the rifle sites that were on all the shotguns, helped to make qualifying with the shotguns far easier. The squad members all had good mechanical, handling and safety skills so the shotgun portion of the day was pretty easy. Rifles… that was another story.
The military veterans on the squad – Max, Eddie, Sam and JP – had no problem with mechanical, handling and safety skills for the Battle Rifle BR4s. The other squad members seemed to be learning how to handle a rifle for the first time – every year. The firearms instructors got the veterans through rifle qualifications first and then used them to help coach the rest of the squad. All of the service veterans qualified expert – shooting above 90% - and JP put up with a good amount of ribbing because she’d done so “even though she was an Air Force vet.” She knew it was all good natured and laughed along with the members of her squad.
By the time the after lunch qualifications were done, the squad had successfully qualified with shotguns and the BR4s. They had a little bit of time left on the range and the instructors decided to have some fun. Each squad member was provided a BR4 with one magazine containing four rounds of ammo. They each also had their handgun with only four rounds in it and a space magazine containing eight rounds.
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All of Season 2 of The Oceanside Chronicles, including officer survival notes and an alphabetical list of characters can be purchased as an anthology on Amazon.com via Amazon Prime.
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