Sunday, July 19, 2009

771 -- Photos!

More pictures from our trip to Camp Atterbury!

Click each picture to make it a little bigger. Matt's parents got to go on this family day, too, so there are some great shots of them below. It was such a fun day! I think active duty companies should do this too... it's a great family building exercise. And the range was nothing like I envisioned it would be. My only regret was that it came so near the end of our military life!

Getting ready for the range meant suiting up in kevlar vest and helmet and wearing foam earplugs. Protective eyewear was also provided, but Matt conveniently forgot about that so we didn't have to wear it!

I got to shoot first. The targets seemed really far away, but using the laser sight was SO easy!

Terrie went next... she made it through her clip in about half the time it took me! (I would never make it in close combat. Maybe I was a sniper in another life :)


Dan was last to shoot. Everyone did really well hitting the targets, which I attribute to Matt's excellent zeroing prowess. (And our killer instincts ;)


Matt arranged for several humvees to be available. We got to see the tracking system they use (like a glorified GPS) and the supercool Long Range Scout Surveillance System. This is me waiting in line to check out the LRAS. (This is also the first picture of the bump!)


Terrie was amazed at the view through the LRAS!

We ended the day with a mini-tour of the .50 cal range. A group of soldiers was qualifying on a machine gun, and we got to watch. The coolest part was watching the red tracers disappear into the distance. Man you would not believe the range on those guns!

We also got to check out the simulation trainer, which is just like an arcade game where you shoot at bad guys. But instead of simulating people enemies, they used turkeys. (I think this was because we had a lot of kids there, and they didn't want the kids to shoot at people, even if they were simulated.) I didn't get many good pics of the simulation part, because it was inside and dark. Very cool to see what the guys do when they are away. I have learned more about the workings of the Army during Matt's two years in the Guard than I did during his 4+ years on active duty!