RANGE AND RAIN AND BACK TO ZAZEN 98662

I came out of the field last night. All but one or two of the permanent
staffers came out. I had wanted to stay because it did not feel right to me
to leave a friend behind while I got to go home and take a hot shower and
dry my feet off and I had initially made my mind up to stay. Then a fellow
Staff NCO said "What, don't you have any work to do back at the HTC?" Ugh,
so I feel bad if I leave and now I feel bad if I stay. Horns of dilemma.
Truth is I have enough work back here at the HTC to keep me busy for a long
time. It doesn't help that there are constant interruptions either. A lot
of the stuff I do can't be interrupted or an interruption means starting all
over again. So here I am.

The weekend went backwards, we had beautiful weather for the close in
distance shooting on Sunday and then on Monday when we were shooting the
"known distance course" at ranges up to 500 yards we had perennial rain. I
ended up shooting very badly but still managed to qualify. I am not sure
how much the range really matters to me anymore anyway. There is a bit of
residual Marine pride that stirs up desire to shoot expert every time but by
the same token, baring a promotion, I don't think I will see another
deployment or anything else that would make my marksmanship skills come into
play anytime soon.
Anyway per the uniform order I can still ware my expert badge unless I am
not able to reclaim expert on the range the next time I qualify. The next
time I am due to qualify I will most likely have my retirement papers in.

I really have to admit that the rain really did throw off my shooting. By
Monday afternoon the Gore-Tex wet weather gear had completely failed and
totally soaked through, along with my boots. I know the motto says every
clime and place but when you are shivering and uncomfortable it is pretty
ridiculous to be trying to shoot for a score. A lot of people did not do as
well as they expected, a lot of them blamed the ACOG or advanced optical gun
sight because it was their first time shooting it. Personally I think for
me it was more the new tactical three point sling (that you cant tighten up
enough to use as a decent stabilizer) and the weather. But I guess what it
really comes down to is the shooter.

This morning ZMH was happy to sit with me, she even corrected my mudra and
said my thumbs should be like a bridge and not stick up.