The BBC's schools section has a number of short articles on war and military subjects. Most are pretty much aimed at the younger kids. This one made made me laugh though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A906734 It is loaded with hilarious understatement:
Somewhat. The BBC subscribes to the "teaching should be fun and funny" theory. Still, amusing for adults.
My daughter has just passed her Skill At Arms test with the ATC and i was with her right throught the training. It was very intensified and very strict on the passing of the exam. She passed with a grade of skilled which was the top mark. Though at the moment she is only able to fire the bolt action .22. Some of the remarks on what i read were certainly not true, the SLR was i think probably the best weapon the British Army ever had. The SMG was effective if fired at close range which is what it was designed for, anything over 25metres you may as well throw the weapon at the enemy, which is the same as the Browning 9mm pistol. The Bren Gun is an awesome light machine gun and in the hands of a really good trained team would make the difference in a fire fight. The GPMG is i consider the finest light machine gun ever produced and when on the tripod it was too accurate. The Lee Enfield .303 was also one of the most accurate weapons i have ever fired, though it has a slower rate of fire because of it being bolt action. Mike (Sniper)
Congratulations to your daughter, Mike. I agree with your comments about the various weapons. To be fair to the BBC, they do have individual pages on some of the weapons, and they do point out the good points. I think this is just a light-hearted attempt at keeping students' interest (and the articles are submitted by BBC readers rather than educationalists, after being vetted).
Thanks for the congrats to my daughter, she's heading out on her first camp tomorrow, down to Penhale in Cronwall. She'll be shooting on the range and if she's anything like her old man she'll come home with a marksman badge to go with the 1st Class she got yesterday. I could see the light hearted view in what they were saying but some of it was certainly unfounded, especially about the bren gun. Can't say i knew of anyone who fired it with open cuffs and if they did, then serves them right they deserved to have a hot empty cartridge burn them. Sorry if you think i have got upset about this but the weapons i have fired so far which includes all of those mentioned are a lot better than what was said about them. Okay i'm off my soap box now. :becky: Take care all Mike (Sniper) eep:
My dad was a Bren Gunner, so I could imagine his reaction. Too accurate yes, but what was aimed at was hit and stayed hit. Not too many enemy put their heads up if there was good gunner pulling the trigger.
I believe that the ACF still fire the bren gun for their 3 star so you'll have to join the boys in green Kitty. Even though i know you have a soft spot for the boys in blue,:becky: If i remember rightly they found on a camp somewhere a whole warehouse full of .303 rounds, enough to keep the ACF using the bren and Lee Enfield for the next 120 years. Have fun. Mike (Sniper)
Sorry Kitty the boys in blue only fire .22 or very rarely the 5.56. Your going to have to bite the bullet and go green. Mike (Sniper)
How can a gun be too accurate? No one seems to have questioned this so presumably there's some technicality here of which I am not aware.
Hi Adrian, As a covering fire weapon, the "cone of fire" was not great enough through the life of the magazine. Simply, instead of hitting 20 enemy, you may hit the same target multiple times.
