We spent about 6 hours at the shooting range yesterday. It was basically an empty spot in the desert with targets and sandbags. Very different from the highly controlled and cooridated shooting ranges back home. The idea was for everyone to get familiar with their weapons. We had 9 mm handgun, M-4 rifles and the 7.622 M-240 (this is the door gunner's machine gun. the rounds are the same as those in a .208 hunting rifle for those of you who care).

My rifle had some mechanical issues at first. Needless to say there was sand everywhere. After some tinkering, however, it worked pretty well considering the circumstances. From what I understand the 204s worked great. We all had a pretty good time shooting but got really hot and dehydrated standing out in the midafternoon desert sun. Everyone was ready to get back to the tent when the range time ended. We then spent a few more hours cleaning weapons before everyone passed out in the refrigerated comfort of the tent.