Posted on 09/11/2009 5:36:42 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA
RALEIGH, N.C. — Lance Cpl. Patrick Malone was relaxing on his bunk at an Iraqi combat base when a direct superior interrupted his late-night movie.
It was time for a game Marines sometimes play to build confidence in colleagues: Point a gun at a comrade and ask, "Do you trust me?"
Cpl. Mathew Nelson raised his weapon — and the 9 mm pistol went off, striking Malone in the head. The higher-ranking Marine rushed to the wounded man's side and tried to perform CPR, but Malone was mortally wounded.
The game, which has cropped up in barracks across Iraq and Afghanistan, is supposed to make a serviceman feel comfortable enough with a comrade that he would stare into the other Marine's gun barrel. But it violates the military's basic weapon-safety rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
9mms do NOT just “go off.” PERIOD.
“Never point a gun at anything you’re not willing to destroy.”
What part of this did the individual in question not understand?
Words fail
My dad told me a story where Marines would slap their wings on their bare chests when they won them - points going into the flesh .....
I was correct. From the story: “The corporal turned back, pulling the trigger on the weapon he didn’t know was loaded, Taylor said.”
Stupid and costly “game.”
For those who don’t know, the number 1 rule of firearms is EVERY GUN IS LOADED until you clear it YOURSELF. That means even if someone just cleared it before handing it to you, IT IS STILL TO BE TREATED AS LOADED until YOU clear it. And once you even partially insert a (full or empty, doesn’t matter) mag into it, it is LOADED until YOU personally clear it AGAIN.
Even then, you NEVER point a firearm at anything you don’t want to kill/destroy even AFTER you cleared it. That’s the other number one rule of firearms!
I am amazed anyone with a knowledge of guns would play a “game” with them. Not to mention they broke all 4 rules of firearms safety.
Simply mind boggling.
You never point a gun at something you don't want to shoot. Period.
It's so ingrained in me that it makes me uncomfortable to point a "red gun" (a molded plastic facsimile of a gun) at someone during a training exercise.
Agree.....I am the same way.
Cannot believe a Marine would knowingly do this.
Very stupid.
As my G-Grand Father used to say,If you pull it, pull it a’smokin. These baby soldiers have too much time on yheir hands. My father related a story of two security guards in Korea, one GI and one Korean got into a quick draw contes, The Korean lost, but luckily for both of them, The .45 mis-fired and did not penetrate the rib cage. Like Russian Roulette I suppose.
Who do you trust? NOBODY!
barbra ann
Relax. It was a rite of passage. An initiation into the “brotherhood”.
The Army Airborne troopers did this, too, after graduating from Jump School. I have no idea if they still do, but they did when my kid brother graduated. I asked him how it made him feel and he said he felt like “AIRBORNE!”
I see no problem with either. Just men being men.
I think it’s cool ....
OooRah.
This sounds like something out of The Deerhunter. Are these guys getting that crazy from too many TDYs and the insanity of their surroundings?
This makes me just shudder.
I know about attaching the pins to their bare chests. It’s a macho thing. But THIS is just crazy.
Not just Military's rules, any sort of common sense would say you only point a gun at those things you wish to destroy.
Cpl. Nelson should spend the rest of his life making large rocks into gravel at Leavenworth.
Regards,
GtG
We would watch the Marines in our course ‘pin ‘em on’ when someone made a higher rank.On another note, I had a friend who prospected for an outlaw motorcycle club. When he got back from his initiation into the club ,he had a very large deep bruise on his chest and powder burns on his body armor.
We would watch the Marines in our course ‘pin ‘em on’ when someone made a higher rank.On another note, I had a friend who prospected for an outlaw motorcycle club. When he got back from his initiation into the club ,he had a very large deep bruise on his chest and powder burns on his body armor.
Oops!
WTF??!!??
We never did that and would NEVER point a weapon at a fellow Marine.
This makes no sense.
“is supposed to make a serviceman feel comfortable enough with a comrade that he would stare into the other Marine’s gun barrel.”
For what purpose?
I can’t believe this...
This is scrappleface, right?
I've been an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor for over 20 years. Before that I was an Infantry (army) Captain. Sometimes I have trouble using a power drill because my trigger finger is still laying along the frame of the drill! I think his entire chain of command should be given below the zone (at least that's what WE used to call bad Officer Evaluations) efficiency reports because this is their fault.
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