Friday, October 17, 2008

Live Fire Shoot House--I Shot Austin Powers


Today my youngest daughter, Lisa, reminded me I left her favorite part out of my blogs on the Live Fire Shoot House. On Day Two we made a four-man assault on the lower section of the building. We hit two doors on the right side of the hallway and one on the left. The hallway leads to a staircase that branches to the left and the right. We were not supposed to enter the upper floor, but we were supposed to secure the stairway and the building. The targets on Day Two were from-the-wait-up paper targets pasted on cardboard backing. Most of the people in the pictures were the instructor and his friends. But the last target, up the stairs to the right was Austin Powers.

The rules of engagement said we were to shoot the armed targets, capture the unarmed targets. I was in the third of four teams to go in. No one on the first two teams fired on Austin Powers. I was the first man through the door, so I secured the hallway. I saw Austin at the top of the stairs. He had blood on his hands and his fingers pointed. I fired.

When we came out for the debriefing our instructor said, "Who the f@#k shot Austin Powers in the head."

"That's me sir," I said. "He had blood on his hands and his movie was stupid."

He agreed about the movie, but said we were not supposed to fire at unarmed targets.

The final team went in. When they came out, there were two three-round bursts in Austin.

Exhibit of Contemporary Art from Ukraine and Talk by Vladislav Davidzon at Abington Arts

I went to "Affirmation of Life: Art in Today's Ukraine" at Abington Arts in Jenkintown, PA. The exhibit is on display through...