Sunday, September 9, 2012

An Explosive Event

I dont think that anyone can ever truly love their job.  I know some of you are reading this and think, "I love me job!", well let me stop you right there.  If you love your job so much, you should do it for free, you know, out of love and all.  Still love it so much?  The thing about jobs is that no one would do them if you didnt love PART of that job.  See what I did there?
     I am not going to sit here and pretend that I am going to be in the Army for life.  Im not.  There is an expiration date to my time in uniform, but that doesnt mean I dont enjoy what I do.  I am very proud of my position and have no regrets.  There is one part of my job though that will always have my heart.  I love shooting Artillery.  I love it like I love chicken, like I love Bell's Two Hearted Ale, the point is that when a round is going down range, I want to be involved.
     We had our chance a few weeks back, we went out to the field for a few days to perform this art in motion.  It was very hot, being the desert and all, but that did nothing to dampen the feeling of hearing a howitzer burst in the distance.  We had a few exercises to work with but the main event was cross Battalion training with our local infantry friends.  They wanted to practice asking us to blow things up, we really wanted to blow things up, its a match made in Military heaven.
     On my end, we dont get all the glory to sight a target, make the call, and watch it leave this earth in spectacular fashion, instead we get to see the nuts and bolts, the engine.  There is a fine process making the act of artillery work and I am happy to be one of those that get to be involved.  Safety and hard work go into every round.  When you are sending a round out of your line of sight and destroying a football field, you want to be sure that you dot your T's and cross your I's.
     I also had a few firsts of my own this time.  I am usually involved on my end in the production of a fire mission, but I ventured out and got into one of our howitzers.  They allowed me to join in a crew drill, get out of their way, watch them be awesome, then they let me pull the lanyard and send a few rounds firing.  The feeling?  It was much as it sounds... AMAZING.
     Am I a fan boy?  probably, but you should know that when the heat of battle hits, everyone is happy Artillery is around and we are some of the best.  I love getting to actually do my job even if the other 90% of my time is not at all as glamorous.  I just hope that everyone has something in their day that makes them as happy as this does for me.  Otherwise, what are you doing working there?