Shoot with the Marines at Al Asad

A few weeks ago I was invited to go shooting with the Marines Here at Al Asad. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. While some of the Marines I work with offered to let me use their assault rifles, I declined that option. This was owing to the fact that all of the Marines actually complain about going to the range. They say the experience is way too long especially considering the fact that they must wear all their battle gear. I simply did not want to be a part of anything that slowed the process down and made any of them more annoyed. This is a sound policy in my opinion. Anyway I have included here a few pictures of the Marines at the range, who I work with every day. As you may be able to tell, all but one of my shots hit in the prime target area. The only one that did not was still a head shot and probably would have been fatal. Not bad for no practice shots and no practice since last summer. I also did speed shooting with one of my magazines. All in all, I thought it was a good time. I guess if I was a Marine and I had to wear their heavier armor and it was the middle of the summer I would have been less enthusiastic. I also have dropped a few pictures I took to show what Al Asad looks like. I think it is kind of like a small scale Moab in some ways. It has shear cliffs surrounding a river/wash (wadi) valley. There is an Oasis which I mentioned in a previous post and those things combined give it a slightly more lush than expected appearance for the middle of the desert. I think it is quite scenic.