Range Day

Today was a range day. A good range day. Of course, to a gunny, they all are good days, but some are better than others.

The big boss of my agency likes hiring retirees from other agencies. He hires a goodly number of young'uns, and we have home-grown some magnificent cops, but the boss sees the wisdom of hiring guys who have already served twenty or more years as police officers who can do jobs that the young officers don't want to do, or don't have the experience to do.

Last Friday we had to qualify with the pistol, and the range was full most of the day. We went throught the drill, but had to focus on moving people through the course, and didn't get to have a lot of fun. At the end of the day, the range officer told us that he would hold a shotgun line and a patrol rifle line on Monday afternoon, for those of us who wanted to qualify with those weapons. So, Monday afternoon, eight of us showed up to qualify with the shotgun and rifle. Of the eight, three were retired troopers, three were retired soldiers, and two had retired from other agencies. In short, we had an old fart's range day.

I've worked with all these guys over the years. Good officers all, and we got together on the range and started harassing each other. The firearms instructor scheduled to run the range was a veritable rookie, with less than five years as a cop, and this year is his first as an instructor. Luckily, he has a sense of humor, and knows when to run his range, and when to shut the hell up.

For example, on one particular course of fire, the instructor got a little flustered and gave us the wrong firing order. To a man, we shouted, "No, goddam it, Look at your sheet." We know what we are doing on a firing line, having been there since before this rookie was in grade school.

And yes, we all qualified with everything we picked up. So, I report to my lone assignment tomorrow, thoroughly qualified on the weapons I normally have within arms reach. The best part of the day was spending it while laughing with friends. Guys I don't see but maybe four or five times a year. It was a good day.