COL Jagdog
Member
Just read about the man who shot himself and his wife with a .45 ACP pistol this past week while attending a firearms training class -- accidental discharge -- the story does not really give any detail on how the incident happened.
Just curious about the experiences of others on this forum re being present when someone had an AD. The military/LEO
folks on this forum know how serious AD's are taken by thier
organizations.
I have fired many many thousands of rounds while handling a
wide variety of firearms - my own pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns at ranges, the farm, hunting in open field and in duck blinds (where an AD can be fatal and often is) -- plus
thousands of rounds on military ranges -- and on all of those countless days afield hunting or deployed, have never had an AD -- but I have witnessed a few.
One of my more memorable was as a young lieutenant spending the day as RSO (range safety officer) at Ft Polk -
it was additional duty but preferred to SDO (staff duty officer) -- range day was a single day, SDO was usually a weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening (and stultifying as you sat at a desk answering a phone and waiting for emergencies that never occurred). This particular range day there were 12 M-113's on a .50 cal range -- late morning we take a break, I "safe" the range and announce orders to safe M2's (.50 cals) three times. I come down out of the range tower to hit the latrine and grab a cold drink -- I walk over to one of the M-113's (it is a mech infantry unit, part of 5th Infantry Division) and as I am talking to one of the troops, it happens -- the track I am standing next (M2 mounted in track commanders cupola) fires a burst of about 8-10 rounds -- I practically leap up onto the track in a single bound, realize the M2 has not been safed, I safe it and grab the E-4 and drag him out of the hatch and proceed to rip him a
new body feature -- I literally had him in tears as I threatened to court martial him. Thankfully, no one hurt (good thing is that M2 was still pointed down range) -- he had turned in the hatch opening and hit the butterfly trigger with his elbow.
Did not see any AD's in Iraq by active military -- we had hundreds of troops daily in the MNFI (Multi-National Forces Iraq) dining hall at the Republican Palace which was in one of the palace banquet halls -- it seated at least 600 people and as it was a joint service unit, lots of different weapons were carried -- (it is interesting to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with about 600 armed men and women -- we often joked that an armed society was a polite society) -- I remember two female Air Force officers, a major and an LTC, who carried Sterling submachineguns (the first ones I had ever encountered) -- they carried them slung over thier shoulders like they were Gucci purses) -- in all of those days (bear in m ind that most of us left the Green Zone everyday to travel around Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq, locked/loaded and upon return to the GZ, had to clear and safe weapons) I never witnessed an AD by active military. I did witness a couple of AD's by Iraqis (twice by Iraqi police carrying AK's --both incidents inside Iraqi government buildings) -- no one hurt.
The one I really remember was by a South African PSD guy working for DynCorps -- we were at LZ Washington waiting for a Blackhawk to pick us up -- the PSD guy was about 30 meters from us around the other side of the flight ops building -- he was with some other PSD's and some civilians they were escorting. I hear a couple of AK rounds crack and we race around the ops building thinking bad guys are targeting us -- the PSD guy put two rounds thru his lower leg via AD and was bleeding severely -- one of my guys who had been thru the combat lifesavers course saved his life (helped by one of the new instant clotting bandages we had been issued) -- I will never forget the look on the PSD's face as the color drained out of his face -- most of the DYNCorps and Aegis PSD's were from Great Britain, South Africa, Zimbabwe and were all former military and usually well trained. Anyway, I made a lengthy entry in my journal that evening about the importance of weapon safety and that incident -- I am ever so careful about teaching my two young sons how important safety is.
Just curious about the experiences of others on this forum re being present when someone had an AD. The military/LEO
folks on this forum know how serious AD's are taken by thier
organizations.
I have fired many many thousands of rounds while handling a
wide variety of firearms - my own pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns at ranges, the farm, hunting in open field and in duck blinds (where an AD can be fatal and often is) -- plus
thousands of rounds on military ranges -- and on all of those countless days afield hunting or deployed, have never had an AD -- but I have witnessed a few.
One of my more memorable was as a young lieutenant spending the day as RSO (range safety officer) at Ft Polk -
it was additional duty but preferred to SDO (staff duty officer) -- range day was a single day, SDO was usually a weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening (and stultifying as you sat at a desk answering a phone and waiting for emergencies that never occurred). This particular range day there were 12 M-113's on a .50 cal range -- late morning we take a break, I "safe" the range and announce orders to safe M2's (.50 cals) three times. I come down out of the range tower to hit the latrine and grab a cold drink -- I walk over to one of the M-113's (it is a mech infantry unit, part of 5th Infantry Division) and as I am talking to one of the troops, it happens -- the track I am standing next (M2 mounted in track commanders cupola) fires a burst of about 8-10 rounds -- I practically leap up onto the track in a single bound, realize the M2 has not been safed, I safe it and grab the E-4 and drag him out of the hatch and proceed to rip him a
new body feature -- I literally had him in tears as I threatened to court martial him. Thankfully, no one hurt (good thing is that M2 was still pointed down range) -- he had turned in the hatch opening and hit the butterfly trigger with his elbow.
Did not see any AD's in Iraq by active military -- we had hundreds of troops daily in the MNFI (Multi-National Forces Iraq) dining hall at the Republican Palace which was in one of the palace banquet halls -- it seated at least 600 people and as it was a joint service unit, lots of different weapons were carried -- (it is interesting to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with about 600 armed men and women -- we often joked that an armed society was a polite society) -- I remember two female Air Force officers, a major and an LTC, who carried Sterling submachineguns (the first ones I had ever encountered) -- they carried them slung over thier shoulders like they were Gucci purses) -- in all of those days (bear in m ind that most of us left the Green Zone everyday to travel around Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq, locked/loaded and upon return to the GZ, had to clear and safe weapons) I never witnessed an AD by active military. I did witness a couple of AD's by Iraqis (twice by Iraqi police carrying AK's --both incidents inside Iraqi government buildings) -- no one hurt.
The one I really remember was by a South African PSD guy working for DynCorps -- we were at LZ Washington waiting for a Blackhawk to pick us up -- the PSD guy was about 30 meters from us around the other side of the flight ops building -- he was with some other PSD's and some civilians they were escorting. I hear a couple of AK rounds crack and we race around the ops building thinking bad guys are targeting us -- the PSD guy put two rounds thru his lower leg via AD and was bleeding severely -- one of my guys who had been thru the combat lifesavers course saved his life (helped by one of the new instant clotting bandages we had been issued) -- I will never forget the look on the PSD's face as the color drained out of his face -- most of the DYNCorps and Aegis PSD's were from Great Britain, South Africa, Zimbabwe and were all former military and usually well trained. Anyway, I made a lengthy entry in my journal that evening about the importance of weapon safety and that incident -- I am ever so careful about teaching my two young sons how important safety is.
