We did a live fire for a group of visting congressmen and their familes. And got to use warshots to do it!
A certain Senator who was rather well known for his abilities with a bottle and an intern made the comment that the M-1 couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and that the program should be killed and the money spent elsewhere (I'm assuming in his district so his drunken arse could be reelected again, but I degress).
We decided to show off. A standard NATO tank target was set up at 1,500 meters. All twelve tanks of the troop would speed down the course road and make a hard right turn. At some point in the turn, the tower would raise the target and we would engage.
Twelve tanks down range, twelve APDSFSDU rounds later, we took the congressmen down range and let them look at the results. All twelve rounds were within a 32-inch circle, dead center of the target.
Of course, we were accused of replacing the target before the delegation got downrange and the pukes went back to their hotel to drink, eat and harass the female members of the staff.
It was damn impressive shooting and was a feat that I saw repeated several times as the crews got more familier with the M-1.
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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