L98 Weapons Training

    On Sunday the 19th of June, Corporal Meacham and I went to carver barracks on an L98 rifle training day. The L98 is the most powerful rifle the ATC use for shooting, and is a modified version of the the British army SA80. The rifle looks almost exactly the same as the original but is modified to fire one shot and to be cocked after each round is fired. We had arrived at carver barracks (formerly R.A.F. Debden) and waited for our turn in the sun for our training. After waiting about 15 minutes Flight Lieutenant Penn gathered us outside in the shade with the rifle and showed us how to load the rifle, show the rifle for inspection, pick the rifle up in an unsafe condition and make it safe, and how to use the weapon on the range. Once we were shown how the weapon works we were led into a room where we practised the operation of the rifle for the main WHT (weapons handling test). When I first picked up the weapon it felt very heavy and was complicated to operate but Flight Lieutenant Penn showed us how to correct what we were doing wrong and how to fix and clear jams. When we had run through a few practise tests we were ready for the final test.

    By now I was really nervous because if I passed this test I would be the first pupil in my school year to be qualified to fire a real rifle. When we got into the test we were first told to pick up the weapon and move into a firing position. About a quarter of the way through the WHT Corporal Meacham was asked to lay the rifle down and stand up (which was weird and further confused us) then another person was asked to do the same out of the 2 other shooters left. The test then carried on and after another command another person was asked to lay his rifle down and stand up. By now I was the only person left doing the test when the final order "unload" was given but unfortunately I had failed by one mistake. Unfortunately for Corporal Meacham and I none of us had qualified to shoot but we tried our best and are aiming to get it on our next camp. If you are given the opportunity to go and train with the L98 don't refuse it. If you go and pass the test you can be authorised to shoot on camps which can be added to your 3822 (logbook). Although we didn't pass we had great fun and are looking forward to redoing the test.

Cadet Jack Yardley