Armour Live Firing

84mm rocket launcher

Just did my reservist,
one incident came to mind.
Funny one, during live firing,
when I was still an active NS man.

It was during our 84mm rocket launcher live firing.
I was one of the safety specialist.

Let me give an intro to the weapon.
84 mm rocket launcher is an anti-tank weapon.
A specialist would be assigned to a firer,
and that specialist would be close to the firer (not more than an arm's length).

The sound is extremely loud,
reverberation impact so strong u can feel it meters away.
Analogy to standing beside a bomb explosion.

Because of the strong reverberation,
end of the day your chest feels the pain, after standing one whole day there.
This is how strong it is.

As a safety spec, ear plug will never be enough to muffle the sound.
I would use my fingers to press in the ear plug when they fire,
and half squat to minimize the reverberation impact.

If you are the firer, you press the trigger, you know when to expect the blast.
As a bystander, u can only wait for the rounds to be fired, wait to be scared.

during live firing

I was with a firer when my OC walked towards us.
My OC has just being transferred to our company.
From an infantry man to armour,
bet he had a steep learning curve.

"How's everything?"

"Fine, Sir" I replied,
as I instructed my firer to load in a 84mm round.

Captain P****** spoke again, perhaps to show his rank supremacy :

"When u ask the firer to fire, always sense where the rounds land,

so that you can tell the firer to adjust his next firing."

As he spoke, both his hands were on his binoculars, happily scanning for the best view.

"Sir! Permission to fire." I asked,
surprised he WAS WITHOUT his ear plug,
and still standing tall holding his bino.

I repected him, at the same time I wanted him to get ready.

I've never known of anyone sensing the rounds like that.
And I've never seen anyone there without ear plug.
I wanted to warn him, but hold back
because I presumed he should have done his own live firing already.

"OK, FIRE!" He gave his approval.

"Fire!" I echoed.

"BOOOM!!!"

It was followed by 5 seconds of dead slience,
before I heard my OC again.

"Wah, so loud one huh!"

I giggled and replied a "yah".

Sia, I was surprised he was able to keep his cool.
As the smoke settled, I looked at him.
He acted composed as if nothing had happened.
Wah sia! He my idol! Shock proof!

I instructed for another round to be loaded,
with eyes fixated on my firer doing the right drill,
totally ignoring Captain Idol.

When it was loaded, I got myself into my firing position.
Fingers on the ear plug, half-squat near to the firer.

Next, I asked for permission.

"Sir, permission to fire!"

"Fire! fire!..."

I heard him. 

He was not beside us anymore.

His voice came from somewhere far away,

behind his land rover far far away.
Totally out of sight .

Hahaha!

He thought he firing M16, still can look look see see without ear plug.
This is armour. This weapon holds a 84mm round and is damn loud.
Ironically, he did not know the impact of the blast.
Guess that was the first time he heard a 84mm live firing.
And he will remember it for the rest of his life.

Somemore without ear plug and standing so tall.
Most funniest was the second round
when he retreated back to his land rover and hide behind it.
I should have asked him to come out of that rover-
"Sir can u help us sense the round again?"