When making my schedule, The last days of March, first days of April seemed like a great time to have our bi-yearly Basic Sniper School for the State Training Commission. The problem was that the Good Lord decided that rather than judge the earth with locus, He would give "deep freeze" a try. Lucky me- I was outside all week long.
Here is where we were training all week long. It's called "Yakima Training Center" and it's actually run by the US Army. As you can see, there is not so much as a tree around. Based on how cold I was all week, I'm pretty sure it just as open all the way to the arctic circle; not so much as a barb-wire fence to keep out the cold.
Here are the students for the week. I think they are all frowning cause it takes more muscles than smiling, and they are trying to keep warm.
That's me in the chair... don't let my lounging looks fool you, being in charge is a HARD job! For one thing, when sitting it's tough to keep one's rear from being frozen to the camp chair.
Here's one of the instructors shading the student from the hail storm, you can see all the little ice pellets on the ground. The wind was so strong that it felt like eighty three delinquents were all shooting their Red Ryder BB guns at your face.
Jay (standing over the shooters yelling) is one of my partners and helped instruct this week. He is a former Marine and loves to yell at the "Girls" (what he calls the students) to do whatever they are doing faster, better or different. If he were to treat college students this way, they would all go fetal and be in therapy for years. The guys who want to be snipers just do what he is demanding and learn, then shake his hand at the end of the week... go figgure.
Heh heh heh... I don't know if this position has any real-life value, I just have everyone do this at each class cause its soooo funny to watch.
The official name for this position is the "Rice Paddy Prone." However I call it the "Turkish Toilet."
Well, everyone passed, no one got shot. I did get a pretty bad windburn, but it just made Krissy feel sorry enough for me to give me a back rub tonight...
And please, if you have ANY aerosol cans of anything in your house.... please step out your back door, direct the nozzle at the ozone and spray away. I will take any help you can give to jump-start this global warming thing.
