Winning: The FPS and Avoiding Accidental Self-Destruction
15th June 2019
In the past, troops, of course, had their weapons with them when in a combat zone. But when not in a combat zone, troops rarely handled their weapons. The rifles and such were locked safely away in the “arms room,” and, for most troops, only taken out every week or so for cleaning, and once or twice a year for a trip to the rifle range. Combat troops would take their weapons out of the arms room when they trained, but the rifles and machine-guns still spent most of their time locked up in the arms room. After 2003 recruits spent their first three months in the army carrying around an M-16, and ammunition. The ammo was special training rounds, or “blanks”. These contained propellant, but no bullet. If one is fired, it sounds close enough to the real thing. If someone is really close (a few inches/40-70cm) to the barrel when the blank fires it can cause blast injury that can take an eye out, burst an eardrum and so on. The blanks were deadly enough to have the desired effect on the troops.