Basic Training M203 Range

This is video that was recorded by a photography company in Columbus, Georgia while I was in US Army Basic Combat Training from August-Nov 1997. This company would record various bits of training and then rip of the Joes by charging them large quantities of hard-earned money for this bouncy, grainy video. Anyways....its good to have this record of what I was going through, though it is hardly all-encompassing. This is video from the M-203 grenade launcher range. Here you see us shooting training practice rounds (TP). They mark the target with orange chalk. I was exceptionally good with the M203, and after doing my time on the M249 SAW when I got to Bragg, I was grenadier for a while. Not to boast, but I was a damn sniper with that thing haha. The M203 can fire a variety of rounds. While deployed to Kosovo I carried mostly HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose), smoke rounds, and flares. I only had to fire my flares a few times....Funny story, the first time I fired a flare there it was sort of a heat of the moment thing. We were trying to spot a shooter who had shot this Serb guy a few times. It was dark and I loaded my 203 to fire a flare...something told me to double check what I had loaded. I looked and realized that I had loaded a HEDP (explosive) round instead of a flare....good thing I checked. I switched it out and fired. I was scared and nervous so I didn't angle my shot properly and the flare went more horizontal than vertical...nearly heading straight for the neighboring town (Vrbobac) where 1st Platoon was. If I had screwed that up I would have given them something to talk about huh?! My squad leader was cool about it since we were all scared, and I had to fire another flare so we could get proper illumination. Good stuff...Hooah! More clips from my basic training to come.