Maggie's Drawers

It wasn't a total miss, at least, but my attempt at completing a rifle qual down at Camp Lejeune this past weekend was not as successful as I hoped. I tagged along with 4th MLG's HQSVCBN Comm Co. and hoped to be able to shoot the M16 on the KD range, as well as qualify on the pistol. However, due to some unexplained cluster the company only brought enough rifles for about 90% of the Marines, and I ended up in the unfortunate 10%. I did get to shoot the pistol, and qualified as sharpshooter on my first try without a warm-up round. A bit off the pace of my previous 3 expert qualifications, but I hadn't handled a Beretta in over 4 years and the double action speed round gave me some issues.

The known distance range was fun, despite being a mere spectator. I appreciate the fact that Marines still must qualify annually from 500yds, despite the fact that combat optics have largely replaces iron sights due to operational requirements.

In writing this post, I stumbled across these sketches by Kris Battles, currently serving as a combat artist with the Marines. They remind me of the many sketches that color the pages of John Thomason's classic Fix Bayonets!

You may still be wondering about the title of the post. Imagine briefly that you are laying in the hot dust and grass of the range, peering through the rear aperture sight, thinking about your breathing and trigger control, sight alignment and sight picture, and BANG. The shot is off and the target goes down. As it comes back up for your score a few moments later, a bright red flag waves left to right across the target face as the report "No Impact No Idea" rings in your ears. That flag? Those are the bright red underpants of Maggie, the range mistress. Congratulations, you've just met Maggie's Drawers.