You know you're a soldier who's also into CAS when...

[Captain Lee Bishop]

You know you're a soldier who's also into CAS when:
-You have a tough time shooting anything without a helmet on your head, about 50 pounds on your back and your sleeves rolled down at all times.
-You keep looking for a selector switch on your weapons.
-If shooting in a desert, you sometimes smell the gunpowder and dust going by and get short flashbacks.
-You drink three times as much water as anyone else at the shoot.
-When the RO asks if you're ready, you respond, "Hooah!"
-The first time you see the targets lined up, you think, "heck, I could spit that far!"
-The idea of paying for ammo still doesn't sit well with you.
-You always have a canteen with you at all times.
-You hear former and current cops telling their stories, listen politely, then go off and snicker alone.
-You refuse to go to any event that takes place in a desert, with the logic that you've already spent enough time in that environment to last a lifetime.
-When you take your hat off outdoors for any reason, you have this sinking feeling someone's going to yell at you to "give me 50."
-You still check your "gig line" even in your cowboy duds. Yes, your gun belt, too.
-You hear someone talking a lot of guff about how much better they are at shooting than you and you can't help but wonder how good they'd be with someone shooting back.
-You know they are "pistols, rifles and shotguns," but collectively, you only call them, "weapons."
-It somehow seems unfair that the targets aren't popping up.
-You keep waiting to hear the tower tell you to perform each function of loading and shooting.
-You keep forgetting there is no "zero range" you must shoot at before going to the first stage.
-It's a uneasy feeling knowing you don't have to sign out your SAA or Winchester from an arms room.
-You fight the reflex to salute the shooters who are wearing 1800s uniforms with officer ranks.
-When you walk away from the unloading table you shout out, "No brass, no ammo, Sergeant!"
-The idea of shooting at targets while only standing up is still a novelty.
-When you weapon jams, you ask when the "alibi firers" get to shoot.
-You accidentally knock over your rifle onto the ground, and you immediately knock out 25 pushups with the rifle over the backs of your hands.
-You're slightly disappointed that you didn't get "coined" for not missing any targets that day.
-When you have a bad malfunction, you turn to the armorer, then remember that it's your rifle and YOU have to fix it.
-You marvel that at the first time everyone gets together, it only takes a few minutes to get the first shooter on the line ready to shoot.
-You have access to REAL food at a shoot if you want it.
-When you get home, your family doesn't understand why you clean your weapons before you even take a shower, eat dinner, take your boots off...

[Old Top]

Captain Lee,

Why do I understand all of those, and represent most of them     

Old Top

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Cap'n:

       

Also, you might want to add this:

You're constantly amazed when you hear so many  stage directions specify that you engage the targets starting with the "least dangerous"  FIRST!    (Military classifies the NEAREST targets as "most dangerous" and farthest targets as "least dangerous."  It's a logic thing.  )

[Guns Garrett]

- At the "beep", instead of firing, you wait for "Ready on the left, ready on the right, aaaallll ready on the firing line ...."

- You resist the instinctive reaction to assume MOPP Level 1 when a "Soot Lord" fires his stage.

- You raise your hand at a misfire or stoppage.

- You reach for your pencil and Data Book after each shot.

-  Are relieved you don't have to spend the afternoon in the "butts".

[Reb Tyree]

OK, now Im having flash backs!!!!!!!  For this table of fire you will load with a seven round mag.......  God I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning! Ok, all day! Hooah!!  As a drilling Army Reservist SFC/E-7 Platoon Sgt, I run the 9 mm range, also coach the troops who have a hard time with weapons quals.  Route step, march, Jones your on point! Bounding over watch, move out!     

And yes its hard not to salute all the folks in 19th century officer uniforms!  I still do it, habits!

I thank all the Vets who served before for me, and to the young and old troops now serving in the combat zones, all our military family!  Thank You all for your service.  Also thanks to all who take the time to send care packages and cards and letters to all overseas!!!!

Don't forget, Thank a Vet!!!!!

[Captain Lee Bishop]

Oh, I thought up a few more:
-You keep referring to the local club honcho as "Sergeant Major."
-You ask the local boot vendor if they can make you a pair of cowboy boots with Panama soles and drain holes near the bottom and uppers made of fabric.
-Every time you've seen a movie about the Zulu war, and you've seriously considered getting a set of that British leather gear for CAS events, thinking, "Hmm, that's not too different from my old TA-50."
-Every time you look at any gun cart, you think to yourself, "This thing would never survive a long road march."
-You keep referring to your cowboy hats at "Boonie hats."
-If the range has a American flag flying, you salute it every time you walk by the pole.
-If there is a pledge of allegiance before the shoot, you stand so rigid and straight that you look like you have a ramrod placed very uncomfortably somewhere.
-You refer to any shoot with members of another club as "joint operations."
-When someone is doing something stupid, you tell them to "get their head out of their fourth point of contact."
-A rifle without a sling simply looks wrong to you.
-The AAFES folks are sick of you asking if they'll stock CAS gear or Evil Roy DVDs in the PX.
-You are certain there was no 19th century equivalent of a ruck sack. You checked already, just to be sure.
-You suggest PT during the morning of the first day of any weekend shoot.
-The local groups have banned you from trying to introduce "indirect fires" to CAS.
-You stand at attention when the awards are given out. If you're reading off the awards, you start out with, "Attention to orders!"
-While clearing buildings, you think how more effective your SAA or a 97 would be at that moment.
-You often refer to the vice president of the local CAS club as the "XO."
-You secretly yearn to introduce saber charges as an event to cowboy mounted shooting.
-You refer to the original members of the Wild Bunch as the "Joint Chiefs."
-You've tried to send a greenhorn shooter off to find a Winchester blank adapter or a roll of firing line.
-When people are talking during the safety briefing, you shut them up with a terse, "At ease!"
-You store all your ammo in GI metal cans, even when in the cart.
-When packing to go to End of Trail, you refer to it as, "Going to the field."
...and as a personal jab, before someone else thinks of it:
-You base your SASS persona on your active duty service!   

[Grapeshot]

...and as a personal jab, before someone else thinks of it:
-You base your SASS persona on your active duty service!   

Amen to that, Brother.  If ya can't brag on that, this ain't the America I fought for.

[Dr. Bob]

I have to admit to checking my gig line every time I get dressed!

[Drydock]

-You carry your M-9 in an El Paso Saddelry rig with a "Patton" holster.  (All my officers wanted my rig)

-You give the Gunny heart failure while setting the local shotgun course record by single loading your Mossberg.

-You come across the Quarterdeck of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier wearing an M1860 light artillery enlisted unform, right down to the spurs, causing a confused Ensign to salute you over the side.

-In the Persian Gulf, on your last day of active service before retirement, you man your patrol boat wearing your M1884 fatigue uniform.  (Its more comfortable than your DCUs!)

[Top Kick Ken]

Guilty of so many of those...But these are so me it isn't funny; or then again maybe it is.

-You secretly yearn to introduce saber charges as an event to cowboy mounted shooting.
<guilty; and wanted to do bayonet drills too>

-You fight the reflex to salute the shooters who are wearing 1800s uniforms with officer ranks. 
<guilty: Except I didn't fight the reflex...EOT(last one in Norco)>

-If there is a pledge of allegiance before the shoot, you stand so rigid and straight that you look like you have a ramrod placed very uncomfortably somewhere.
<guilty>

-You base your SASS persona on your active duty service!
<guilty: Combo of my service and that of my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather>

Guilty...But unashamed!

[Steel Horse Bailey]

This is a GREAT post and has gotten better with the additions!  Keep it up, fellow troopers!

[US Scout]

Guilty...But unashamed!

Concur!

Great list - though I have to translate some of the "Army" lingo into "Marine."   (Which ain't a problem since I've served many years with both, and the Air Force and Navy as well.)

US Scout
Bvt Brig Gen, GAF

[Trailrider]

I have to admit to checking my gig line every time I get dressed!

Me too!  But, if I based my personna on my actual service, I'd be trying to pull a 5-ton Minuteman Targeting Van...with a team of mules! (Come to think of it, there were plenty of times up Montana way when we could have used a team of mules to get to the site...given the unreliability of the vee-hikles! )

Let me add:  When you are the loading officer and you greet each shooter with, "With ten rounds of ball, load rifle!"

You also know you've been in CAS too long in your military personna when you start referring to having been in campaigns with Gen. Crook, back in '76...1876! 

[Gripmaker]

This just isn't even funny. It took me 37 years to finally stop doing these things and somebody has to bring it up here. I too, am so guilty of some of these that I blush from pride, especially the pencil and pad drill after each shot. Heck, I even served under Gen'l George Armstrong Custer III while at Yuma Proving Grounds in "70". Even had him pull me from under a vehicle after knocking myself out on the drive shaft when someone hollered "Atten-hut" and I instinctively responded. Can you believe that man was as bald as an egg? Goldylocks don't run in the family I guess.

Looking forward to next week in dismal, cold Ioway. Hope the creek's back in its banks by then.

[Captain Lee Bishop]

I'm glad you all like this! Here's a few more:

-At the safety briefing, it drives you nuts that nobody is standing in formation.
-Wearing a Sherriff's badge might seem kind of silly to you, but wearing a Kepi or slouch hat seems natural.
-You refer to the editor of the SASS Chronicle as "the S-2."
-You've actually said, "I didn't miss that target, I was just trying to leave a survivor to go tell his buddies who did this."
-Large groups of people who are armed, standing that close together, bug you as you know one well-placed indirect round will take out the entire posse.
-In the line for the potluck, you fight the temptation to tell out, "All right people, let's dress this line!"
-While practicing between shoots, you chuckle at the guys who wear BDU pants and shoot M-16 variants that are clean enough to eat off of.
-You've tried time and time again to somehow work volley fires into a CAS stage.
-You might not wear them at CAS shoots, but you still have your issued ear plugs in the case.
-You wished that SASS would issue a marksman (or better yet, expert) badge for clean stages.
-You tell people that wasn't a miss, it was suppressive fire!
-You know that CAS doesn't stand for "Close Air Support" but wish that it would sometimes when you miss a target...
-You just know that someday, there will be a hobby where people dress up like you did on active duty and calling it "historical."

[Old Top]

Capt Bishop Sir,

I am still using my issue ear plugs and case.  And when giving stage instructions still start out with "OK, Listen Up".

Keep up the good work.  I am enjoying or reperesenting almost every one.

Old Top

[Gripmaker]

PERMISSION TO SPEAK SIR!  Where and when were earplugs issued? Maybe I was on KP that day.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

Gripmaker - you're telling on yerself and yer age.  That started in the late '70s; perhaps AFTER you were out!   

And yes - my earplugs are STILL in their original case and get used EVERY time I shoot.  Anything.

[Old Top]

Steel Horse,

We had them in the 60's but they normally were for Artillery, I scored mine in AIT working around the FDC.

Old Top

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Aaah.

Steel Horse,

We had them in the 60's but they normally were for Artillery, I scored mine in AIT working around the FDC.

Old Top

Since I was in tanks, perhaps they would have had them, too - in the 60s.  But Arty would be #1 on the list probably.