The most fun that I had during my 10 months in Korea was going out on the rifle range. When I
heard that we were scheduled to go and qualify with our carbines, I thought that was stupid. Here
we are in a war zone and they want us to go to the shooting range. Then I realized that although we
were ASA, we were more likely to use our rifles than those in Japan and the States!


The evening before we were to go out, someone said that the ammunition was already loaded in a
3/4-ton truck parked out by the motor pool. I went out and reached in through the canvas cover in
the back and picked up one of those cardboard boxes containing (I think) 50 rounds and slipped it
into my field jacket pocket. It turned out that a lot of others did the same thing.


Next morning we were going to do rapid fire. They gave each of us two clips, each loaded with 4
rounds. We were to fire four rounds, change clips and fire the last four. While the range officer was
giving instructions, I (and many others) reached in our pockets and pressed more cartridges into
the clips. I am pretty sure that I had one clip full, this is 15 rounds, and the other had probably 10 by
the time the instructions were finished.


When the order to fire was given, the noise was 'ear ringing'. I fired maybe ten shots into my target
and then for good measure put the rest of the clip into my neighbor's target. Then I changed clips
and emptied that one into my target and into the other neighbor's.


There were enough shots fired that one target actually had one of the supports shot off and it sort
of sagged forward. Obviously the men in the pits figured out what was going on. They waved a
couple of "Magie’s drawers", indicating a miss.
Obviously we all qualified!

Glenn 'Rip' Van Winkle
NEW MEMBER   352CRC 1952-53, in ASA 2/51-1/54
MEMORIES FROM A NEW MEMBER