Kellogg's Korner

As many of you Know I am an active member of the U.S. Army reserves. I have been since my ETS from Active Army. My first year in the reserves was a bit bumpy, but I found a Unit here in Columbus that I think will work out for me. As of October 2009 I am a member of the 412th Civil Afears Battalion, Whitehall, Ohio. I have been officially attending Battle Assemblies with tem for five months now. So far I feel that this is agreat Unit.

This weekend the 412th went to Ft. Knox for Weapons Qualification. All of the Unit that has not been activated arrived early Friday morning. I showed up a bit earlier than most, due to the fact I had just gotten off night shift at 06:00.

The first big part of any qualification is weapons draw. Each soldier goes to the arms room and signs out their assigned weapon. each soldier is assined their own weapon so that any sight adjustments made for that person will be presuved from one qualification to the next. Weapons draw did not go as smoothly as pland, due to personal issues for other soldiers there was only one person authorized to sign out weapons. We were able to sign out all our weapons prior to the bus arrival, so it did not delay are departure for Ft. Knox.

We loaded on to buses by company. Due to weather conditions all the airborne troops were not able to make a jump into Ft. Knox, so they had to load on the bus. This made for full busses. This was not an issue due to that fact that most of us were going to sleep on the way to Ft. Knox anyway.

On the way out we tried to start a Movie for those that did not plan on sleeping (got to love charter buses), but their was no sound. After trying another DVD I check the cables, which were not connected properly. Once that was fixed the trip when smoothly, almost.

About 30 mile from Ft. Knox our bus ran out of gas. apparently we had a new driver. He did not know if the tank was filled before he left, and had forgotten the charger for the radio the company uses to call maintenance. about half hour later (and one attempt to get fuel from a local gas station) the second bus returned to pick us up. We managed to arrive just in time to make it into the Chow Hall before it closed.

And that was the end of the First day.

The Next day was the QUalification rang. This was the second time I have used a Combat Optics sight on an M16-A2. YOu may remember my first, I did not think highly of it. This time I was able to finally zero the sight correctly, which made all the difference. I was able to QUalify with 30/40. The only time I had an issue was in the pron-unsupported firing position. I think I have found a way to improve that position next time I qualify.

The qualification rang took most of the day. The endo f the day was taken by classes required by the DoD.The day was over for us after the classes we complete. Sunday was just the return trip. Over all it was a good BAttle Assembly. Unit cohesion and team building is excellent within 412 CA BN. We also qualified 100% of all firing soldiers at this rang.

After being to the rang I have thought about teaching the girls about firearms, what they are and how to use them. I feel that one of the biggest problems with children and firearms is that they are not tought about them. Many children( mostly boys) are given toy gons and ever see the use of a real weapon.

With this in mind I want to take the time to let the girls know how dangerous real weapons are, and hopefully instill in them a respect and knowledge of how to use them properly, either for hunting or self defence.

The right to bare arms if one of our constitutional right, and I feel that our nations children are not educated enough about weapons, which is why they may accidently hurt or kill others when they “Play” with firearms. Teach them early an they will know how to properly use a weapon, neglect this teaching and you may regret it in the future. If they know the respect and fear due to a real weapon, they will know what to do if they have a friend that does no know, and it may save their life.

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