Chapter 10
Chapter 10
It was also at this point that we were issued a key piece of equipment. At another time, I would have simply called it a g*n. But the Army, never settling for casual terminology, insisted that we call it a ‘rifle’. More than that, it was ‘my’ rifle. It would become a part of me, never leaving my sight. This was the beginning of weapons training and its introduction was the M-16 rifle, and we would learn the name and function of every single part of this weapon. We would spend a great deal of time on the firing range learning how to fire it, how to sight it in, how to carry it and how to hold it. There were many nights when we would be ordered to sleep with it lying next to us. In my earlier life, I had been quite uncomfortable about the idea that there were guns at
