One of the most important aspects of our training was of course Firearms. There is no point in walking head first into danger and you don't even know how to load your gun.
In between being woken up with blank shot gun rounds being fired into your tent, having to complete a endless runs, many push ups and high stress problem solving we would spend hours on the shooting range.
Lucky for our course we had the privilege of being taught by the one and only Instructor Zero's Main Apprentice who to say was lethal with a weapon was an understatement. To add he also looked very nice in his tactical pants... But I digress! Guliamo was a strong built Italian man who had been training under #InstructorZero for many years and had offered his time to come help train the new and up coming Field Rangers in South Africa.
Guliamo - Right
He drilled safety into us and if you weren't left standing for 30 min with your arms out holding a hand gun until you felt like they would break off then you would be on the floor in a push up or sit up for holding the grip incorrectly or holstering your weapon wrong. It took us weeks before we were actually allowed to shoot our first rounds. He wanted to make a Perfectly "Ready".
We had all been acing the fire and movement which in basic is shooting while moving without pointing the weapon at your team or shooting yourself in the foot, so the Instructors decided we could have a little fun and practice shooting a suspect who is leaning out of a high jacked vehicle which is a poster attached to a pully systems that comes towards you at a rate of knots and you must stop him from making his escape.
Everyone had done really well as I think we needed something fun to let off a bit of steam and when it came to my turn I was but only bubbling with excitement!
As the pully engaged I took my strides out, lined up my sights and in one shot hit him right between the eyes and put a stop to this poster criminals madness! In my total excitement to look back at my cheering squad I muzzle swept EVERYONE. Oh Boy. I have never seen a man move with quite the lightening speed that it took for Guliamo to be right up in my face screaming at me. I was told to drop into the plank position, screamed at some more about why do I want to kill all my team mates and he left to continue with the shooting exercise.
It felt like I was left there for hours before he returned to lean down, his nose was centimetres from mine, his eyes piecing deep into my soul all while my little arms and body shook violently from the strain.
As he stared at me he began to say in his way to sexy Italian accent " I did not fly 12 thousand miles to come a teach this SHIT, you must give me 50, Now." So with his face still inches from mine I attempted to lower my planking body down for my 1st of 50 push ups. I believe I made it to a very painful looking 15 or so before a man by the name of Red Beard started to give the instructor grief about how I had done enough and this must stop which ended him right next to me giving 100 push ups which he took seeming quite glad. This was followed by 2 other men who decided to join in and it was then that I believe all 4 of us really began to piss of the instructor with pure team spirit and newly found energy as we smashed out push up after push up. I believe he felt he had lost the point he had tried to make to the men; definitely not to me as I wasn't sure how I would run back to camp after this and told us to get up and go.
The one and only Red Beard and myself getting ready for night ops
I will never EVER muzzle sweep anyone in my entire life again. That you can bet on. Thank you for this lesson Guliamo and I'm sorry if I am spelling your name wrong.
(For those of you who don't know what muzzle sweep is, the front barrel of the gun is called the muzzle this is where the bullet exits from and you can pretty much be kicked out of any shooting range if you, even with you finger off the trigger point this in the direction of any person)
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