Photo By Staff Sgt. Richard Hoppe | A tactical crewman with the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 308 aboard a...... read more read more
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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - For most troopers, a day at the range allows for a chance to practice sight alignment, steady breathing, sight picture and trigger squeeze – along with any malfunctions checks and remedial actions. Even on a perfect day, getting the score you want can be difficult.
Imagine instead, squeezing several people onto a small boat and making your way out to an ever-growing, turbulent ocean while you fight the urge to become seasick. Then imagine your target being tossed around by large sea swells at one end of the range while you and your weapon receive the same treatment. Throw in a few more random swells to obstruct your line of sight as you try to line up your shot.
And if the weather turns bad, it’s back to the boathouse to give it another shot tomorrow. These are the conditions that Coast Guardsmen with Port Security Unit 308 faced June 19, 2015, during their annual range fire qualifications at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“The big thing here is the cresting of the waves. The boat moving up and down on the waves; you have to try to stay on target and make sure you don’t shoot the water in front of you,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven Manuel, firearms instructor for PSU 308 and safety spotter for the shooters on his boat. “A good portion of [the rounds fired] hit [the target]. As long as they get to the general area of the target; because you got to think, a boat is going to be bigger than [the buoy]. The buoy is pretty small. As long as you get in the general area you’re going to hit a boat.”
The qualification isn’t only for the shooters; it’s also a refresher for the entire boat crew. The event keeps Coast Guardsmen sharp when handling live-fire situations, especially in the face of such an unpredictable environment.
“It’s one of our qualifications for the tack crewman and tack coxswain,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Rick MacKinnon, weapons officer for the Maritime Security Detachment and rating officer in charge for the range qualification. “We’re required to shoot once a year to get the commands down; from when the coxswain gives the commands to the shooter and to make sure the shooter can understand what the coxswain is doing. And maneuvering the boat when needing to take care of a ‘hostile’ boat that’s coming into an [area of responsibility].”
Two 32-foot Transportable Port Security Boats idled at a distance beside one another, taking turns firing on the target buoy, calling out their malfunctions to the coxswain and quickly getting back on target like a well-oiled machine.
“Between the waves and the movement of the boat, it’s pretty hard to stay on target,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Phillips, a qualifier on the range who shot the .50-caliber, the 240B and the M870 shotgun. “It was fun. It was good training. It was a nice day out. It could’ve been a lot worse.”
The range was scheduled for a total of six days over two week's time. Two of those days were canceled due to poor ocean and wave conditions. Even an outgoing barge led by Tugboat Spence delayed range operations.
In the end, the conditions couldn’t have been better, allowing for good training and a whole new level of appreciation for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Coast Guardsmen.
“Today [the ocean] actually calmed down, so we were able to get a lot of shooting done. It actually turned out pretty nice today,” MacKinnon said. “Everyone shot well. It was safely done and nobody came back hurt.”
| Date Taken: | 06.19.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.01.2015 16:02 |
| Story ID: | 168804 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Hometown: | KILN, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 275 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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