[Night Hides Not]

Shooting weapons is the sexy part everyone sees. But there’s a lot more to it than that.

As a platoon leader, I never got the chance to do the "fun stuff". During evaluations, I often helped my squads with their missile reloading drills, as our squads were usually undermanned. Both of my platoon sergeants (I commanded both Chaparral platoons at the time) were in their 40s, though in decent shape. Just made more sense for my jeep driver and me to pitch in.

Chaparral missiles weighed over 190 lbs, and it was a struggle with four men, let alone three, particularly when it's below 30 degrees and you have evaluators itching to mess with you.

In the above photo, the trickiest part has been performed, i.e. loading the missile on to the rail.

So much for fun...lol, at least I got a couple of trips to Crete during my four years (for missile live fire practice).

Please don't take it the wrong way: being a Platoon Leader for 18+ months was the most fun I had, although I had several other great jobs, such as a Battery Commander.

[SJSAMPLE]

I was in artillery of all types (canon, rocket and missile). The standard for 155mm loading called for a SINGLE man be able to lift and load the projectile. It became a “two-PERSON” lift when women were forced upon the combat arms.

I made five trips to Crete (NAMFI) myself. Good times.