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Professionals’ corner, personal experience series

jaibi

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Professionals’ corner, personal experience series:

What’s the best weapon? Jaibi
Outdoor_shooting_range pdf.jpg

Introduction

As we have some top secret projects that we are working on to unravel them soon with partners in crime being @Joe Shearer and @PanzerKiel I had feedback from the poll that we just conducted. There were considerably high votes for professional’s personal experiences in the services. I’d like to take the start and then tag someone to share an incident that either is funny or made them grow.

Weapons training

Being a psychologist in the armed forces is a unique experience because most people don’t know what to make of you. Are you a doctor? Then why aren’t you at CMH? Are you from the Education branch then why aren’t you teaching? Are you from the fighting arms? Then why aren’t you in the field? What do you do?

It’s with this gaze that I came upon the firing range to my instructor a relatively young Subedar of the SSG who was the owner of this gaze. I was a city slicker and more importantly from the air force so he was even more curious as to why I was here but being a good NCO he did not ask.

His greetings were crisp and to the point and he invited us officers to have a refresher whereby he was showing us different weapons in the arsenal at our disposal. I was a keen learner because prior to the military I had had no experience with firearms but I wanted to learn this well because that is my perspective at any opportunity to learn.

After the introduction we were to fire and we all did. Not surprisingly, I was an average scorer on the first day but I talked my way to come again to practice tomorrow again.

As I returned I fared better this time but again not up to what I wanted.

The Subedar came to me and asked if I would like to stay for some more pointers because he saw that I was eager to learn.

The biggest question

Being Punjabi but away from Punjab I couldn’t resist the offer of having Gur-wali-chaye (tea with natural sugar) and so as we were sitting the Subedar asked me a question.

‘Sir, if you have a G-3, MP 5, an AK-47, a revolver, a knife, a Glock and an RPG and your position was under imminent attack which weapon would you choose and why?’

I sipped some tea and considered the options. ‘I think the best choice would be a G-3 or maybe the RPG or a machine gun if I have more range and I could know where I am at and what position is being attacked.’

‘It could be any position, sir ji and you’ve seconds to react before the enemy is upon you. Which would you choose and why?’

‘G-3,’ I said, confidently.

The Subedar scoured at the bag right next to him got out my targets with my name and G-3 written on it. Out of 10 bullets that I had fired I had hit 4 on the target, so it was a 40% accuracy. That had been one of my experiments to gauge my proficiency with the weapons.

‘You’ve a 40% chance of surviving then, sir,’ he said and sipped his tea. ‘I don’t like them. Do you?’

The deadliest weapon

‘Your results with the MP-5 are the best; why didn’t you chose that one, sir?’

‘It gets inaccurate with the range, I suppose.’ I answered being a little embarrassed.

The Subedar smiled, ‘Sir ji, please don’t listen to the critique of men who have not seen war. What if you had cannon with you? It could take out everyone but if you cannot use it then it’s as good as wings are to a fish!’

‘I see,’ I said with genuine interest. ‘I’ve been firing with the MP-5 in the air force a lot or maybe it’s because it’s an easier weapon to handle, that my scores are better there?’

‘No, sir, it’s because you’ve been practicing with it. The weapon that’s the deadliest in the field is the one you’ve the most experience with. It is the one which your hands don’t feel like they’re holding a gun. I would advise, sir, if you don’t mind; don’t try to master the weapon by your mind but by your body. Practice with them and you’d do just fine.’ He finished his tea.

I thanked him for this invaluable lesson and it really stuck with me throughout service.
 
The biggest question
Being Punjabi but away from Punjab I couldn’t resist the offer of having Gur-wali-chaye (tea with natural sugar) and so as we were sitting the Subedar asked me a question.

‘Sir, if you have a G-3, MP 5, an AK-47, a revolver, a knife, a Glock and an RPG and your position was under imminent attack which weapon would you choose and why?’

I sipped some tea and considered the options. ‘I think the best choice would be a G-3 or maybe the RPG or a machine gun if I have more range and I could know where I am at and what position is being attacked.’

‘It could be any position, sir ji and you’ve seconds to react before the enemy is upon you. Which would you choose and why?’

‘G-3,’ I said, confidently.

The Subedar scoured at the bag right next to him got out my targets with my name and G-3 written on it. Out of 10 bullets that I had fired I had hit 4 on the target, so it was a 40% accuracy. That had been one of my experiments to gauge my proficiency with the weapons.

‘You’ve a 40% chance of surviving then, sir,’ he said and sipped his tea. ‘I don’t like them. Do you?’

The deadliest weapon

‘Your results with the MP-5 are the best; why didn’t you chose that one, sir?’

‘It gets inaccurate with the range, I suppose.’ I answered being a little embarrassed.

The Subedar smiled, ‘Sir ji, please don’t listen to the critique of men who have not seen war. What if you had cannon with you? It could take out everyone but if you cannot use it then it’s as good as wings are to a fish!’

‘I see,’ I said with genuine interest. ‘I’ve been firing with the MP-5 in the air force a lot or maybe it’s because it’s an easier weapon to handle, that my scores are better there?’

‘No, sir, it’s because you’ve been practicing with it. The weapon that’s the deadliest in the field is the one you’ve the most experience with. It is the one which your hands don’t feel like they’re holding a gun. I would advise, sir, if you don’t mind; don’t try to master the weapon by your mind but by your body. Practice with them and you’d do just fine.’ He finished his tea.

I thanked him for this invaluable lesson and it really stuck with me throughout service.

Just a little correction, we don't call tea as "chaye" in Punjabi language, we call it just "cha", also we don't use "wali" in spoken language but rather "ali", so in correct punjabi language it would be called "gorr ali cha".
 
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Bro, our cook wasn't Punjabi so it was gur wali chaye for him. Though I agree with you :)
Just a little correction, we don't call tea as "chaye" in Punjabi language, we call it just "cha", also we don't use "wali" in spoken language but rather "ali", so in correct punjabi language it would be called "gurr ali cha".
 
Bro, our cook wasn't Punjabi so it was gur wali chaye for him. Though I agree with you :)
Sir I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experience! My eyes were gliding from line to line.
And it`s a delight to know you are a psychologist in PAF :-) I wonder how many have you rejected on PDF :D
Btw, MP5 is cool!
 
Zarur bahi jan
@jaibi Kabhi humain bhi gun training ke liye invite karen :D

Thank you, brother, I must tell you that the MP5 has a reputation of being an easy weapon so it's not liked by the army that much :D and I was a very gentle selector so I'm sure I wasn't unfair to the PDF bros
Sir I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experience! My eyes were gliding from line to line.
And it`s a delight to know you are a psychologist in PAF :-) I wonder how many have you rejected on PDF :D
Btw, MP5 is cool!
 
Zarur bahi jan

Do you ever train with a gun ? I never hold a real gun in life , i mean its hard to believe but its true .. how does it feel for a newbie like me to fire the first time ? if and whenever i did i will surely write about experience it would be fun :D

And please Bhai jaan nai bolen yaar , sharminda ker rahe hai :) ap mera naam le len .. Omer is my name ..
 



Key here is
‘Sir, if you have a G-3, MP 5, an AK-47, a revolver, a knife, a Glock and an RPG and your position was under imminent attack which weapon would you choose and why?’

There are so many variables based on threat perception.
If the attack is from Mechanised brigade, RPG is really your only choice, if the attack is from long-range engagement from another post, then you have G3, if it's an ambush both AK and MP 5 are your options.

Next, where is your position? out in the borders, in an Urban setting, in a mobile convoy, all very realistic scenarios for modern warfighting. If you are in an APC, and are coming under attack, G3's although unwieldy compared to AK's can bring significant range and stopping power advantage if you can get it out of the confined space. while Mp5 being extremely agile and maneuverable won't have adequate stopping power or range.

Enemy type: like mentioned whats your threat profile, is it light-skinned vehicles, armored vehicles, is the enemy wearing body armor, or not all those thing will factor in.

Given the option you discussed, AK's remain the perfect goldilocks small arms. 7.62x39 has adequate stopping power, great terminal ballistics, almost flat-shooting up to 200 yards, and adequate sights to hit human-sized targets upto 200 yards under duress, and in addition, it's long-stroke gas piston design provides remarkable reliability.

So in most situations, the asnwers revolves around Ak and G3, when all else fails, RPG remains the only option.
 
In my experience it's the gun of knowledge or passion brother but if we're to have it on more concrete levels then a Breta is your best friend.
@jaibi do you know which gun attracts Girls towards Guy holding it the most?

Agreed, sir, provided you are able to use them. That was the lesson he wanted to teach me.
Key here is
‘Sir, if you have a G-3, MP 5, an AK-47, a revolver, a knife, a Glock and an RPG and your position was under imminent attack which weapon would you choose and why?’

There are so many variables based on threat perception.
If the attack is from Mechanised brigade, RPG is really your only choice, if the attack is from long-range engagement from another post, then you have G3, if it's an ambush both AK and MP 5 are your options.

Next, where is your position? out in the borders, in an Urban setting, in a mobile convoy, all very realistic scenarios for modern warfighting. If you are in an APC, and are coming under attack, G3's although unwieldy compared to AK's can bring significant range and stopping power advantage if you can get it out of the confined space. while Mp5 being extremely agile and maneuverable won't have adequate stopping power or range.

Enemy type: like mentioned whats your threat profile, is it light-skinned vehicles, armored vehicles, is the enemy wearing body armor, or not all those thing will factor in.

Given the option you discussed, AK's remain the perfect goldilocks small arms. 7.62x39 has adequate stopping power, great terminal ballistics, almost flat-shooting up to 200 yards, and adequate sights to hit human-sized targets upto 200 yards under duress, and in addition, it's long-stroke gas piston design provides remarkable reliability.

So in most situations, the asnwers revolves around Ak and G3, when all else fails, RPG remains the only option.
 

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