Gelston
09-15-2008, 09:49 PM
Last Saturday night, I was the RSO (Range Safety Officer) for a M249 SAW range, M249s are Light Machine Guns used in the role of an Automatic Rifle at the fireteam level. We had a good time, fired off thousands of rounds during day and night.
Now, there are a few requirements as far as safety you must adhere to when firing any belt fed weapon on a range. These include flak jackets, kvlar helmets, EYE PRO, and ear pro. As I wasn't firing and wasn't really on the firing line, I wasn't required to adhere to any of these rules.
So, its night We have the last gunner up, and he yells rounds complete. He conducts his safety checks, short of sticking his finger in the barrel(Which is extremely hot by this time.) I'm a good distance away when I begin to move over to his weapon to clear him safe so he can move off the line.
The manuel on for the M249 says to wait 30 seconds when in a training environment, or 5 seconds in combat, before you actually observe the inside of the M249 when it has some sorty of malfunction. This is to protect the shooter from something called a cook off. A cook off occurs when the round heats up and explodes, generally from a very hot barrel.
About 40 seconds went by between his last fired round, and his yelling of rounds complete and the time I got up to him. I lift up his saw to observe the barrel with the green glow of the otherside of my NVGs to ensure that his weapon is clear. Almost immediately I see sparks everywhere, then darkness.
The first thing that popped through my head, even as I still saw the sparks from the exploding round was "Cook off. Is this some kind of fucking joke?" I immediatly turn away from the weapon, my eyes already closed, and fall to my hands and knees. My right hand going directly to where I felt pain, directly above my left eye.
My hand pooled with a warm substance, blood. I felt a chunk of something which felt like the metal casing for the round pop out of my skin. The only thing going through my head was "This sucks. How are my eyes, how are my eyes." By this time I felt blood everywhere.
I pulled my eyelids open with my fingers, and the most soothing, happiest thing in my life occured. I saw the dirt ground covered in blood. The entire time from the cook off to this happened in less then a second. Next thing I hear is corpsman up.
I was the only one hurt, my head shielded the other guy. Tyhe actual piece of sharpnel from the exploding shell hit me in the eyebrow, less then an inch above my left eye. My entire face was peppered with powder burns and unburned balls of blackpowder.
The blackbowder cut the inside of my eyes, but my cornea and such was protected by my contact lenses. I was put into the hospital for 2 days and I just got out today.
Moral of the story: Eyesight is precious. Don't do stupid shit like I did and risk losing it.Wear eye protection.
Now, there are a few requirements as far as safety you must adhere to when firing any belt fed weapon on a range. These include flak jackets, kvlar helmets, EYE PRO, and ear pro. As I wasn't firing and wasn't really on the firing line, I wasn't required to adhere to any of these rules.
So, its night We have the last gunner up, and he yells rounds complete. He conducts his safety checks, short of sticking his finger in the barrel(Which is extremely hot by this time.) I'm a good distance away when I begin to move over to his weapon to clear him safe so he can move off the line.
The manuel on for the M249 says to wait 30 seconds when in a training environment, or 5 seconds in combat, before you actually observe the inside of the M249 when it has some sorty of malfunction. This is to protect the shooter from something called a cook off. A cook off occurs when the round heats up and explodes, generally from a very hot barrel.
About 40 seconds went by between his last fired round, and his yelling of rounds complete and the time I got up to him. I lift up his saw to observe the barrel with the green glow of the otherside of my NVGs to ensure that his weapon is clear. Almost immediately I see sparks everywhere, then darkness.
The first thing that popped through my head, even as I still saw the sparks from the exploding round was "Cook off. Is this some kind of fucking joke?" I immediatly turn away from the weapon, my eyes already closed, and fall to my hands and knees. My right hand going directly to where I felt pain, directly above my left eye.
My hand pooled with a warm substance, blood. I felt a chunk of something which felt like the metal casing for the round pop out of my skin. The only thing going through my head was "This sucks. How are my eyes, how are my eyes." By this time I felt blood everywhere.
I pulled my eyelids open with my fingers, and the most soothing, happiest thing in my life occured. I saw the dirt ground covered in blood. The entire time from the cook off to this happened in less then a second. Next thing I hear is corpsman up.
I was the only one hurt, my head shielded the other guy. Tyhe actual piece of sharpnel from the exploding shell hit me in the eyebrow, less then an inch above my left eye. My entire face was peppered with powder burns and unburned balls of blackpowder.
The blackbowder cut the inside of my eyes, but my cornea and such was protected by my contact lenses. I was put into the hospital for 2 days and I just got out today.
Moral of the story: Eyesight is precious. Don't do stupid shit like I did and risk losing it.Wear eye protection.