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We train people to shoot these
weapons, and I was stationed in Guam for three
years and we went out to the gun range, and
that's when we'd go out to the gun range to
qualify personnel to be able to handle these
weapons onboard ship. And you go up to the gun
range and you get personnel online. And online
means you have like five personnel standing
there with these weapons and, you know, we tell
them, do not shoot unless you're told. Do not
put this ammunition into this gun unless you're
told. So one guy decided
he wanted to go ahead and load the gun and get
ready to shoot. You know, that's putting everybody
- we have about maybe 300 people out on the
range and that one person mistake can cause
maybe 20 people their lives, you know,
because he decides he want to go and do something
that he wasn't told. So
then therefore that's when we step in, you know,
hand me the gun. And we're in a position
where we can take that person down on the ground
because we don't know, they [could have loaded]
this clip thinking they're going to shoot somebody,
so we have to use our security tactics that
we've learned to put that person down on the
ground. So when that happens, it's like, you
know, what are we going to do? This guy [could
be] going crazy on us. We're not just going
to run up to him and say, give me that gun.
So it was like, you know, talking to this person.
What's on your mind or whatever? I want you
to go ahead and drop the clip on the ground
and hand me the gun over. And
then we had another situation. Handed the guy
the gun and he just started shaking. It was
like, why are you shaking? Like, I'm scared.
Well, no, you can't be up here with this gun
shaking like this, so had to go ahead and kick
him off the range as well. So those were
- there're only two incidents that I can remember
that were really scary to me.
[The first guy was] just being
anxious and eager, thinking he knew it all.
You know, you get those people because, you
know, a lot of people are raised to go hunting
and shooting with their grandfather, but you
can't use those type of skills on the firing
range with 300 other people. So we have to take
different precautions with different people.
So if you don't listen out on the firing range,
then you can't be out there because as gunner's
mates, we have to protect those people - the
other people that are out there, and they're
depending on us for that.
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