My army experience, or the first time I shot a gun

I hear the ra-ta-tap of C7 A2 service rifles all around me, the sound dizzying even through my earplugs. I smell the cordite on the air, a blend of sulphur and acetone.
I can’t see very well. My helmet is much to loose and it keeps falling over my eyes. After some fumbling, I finally get a clear look though the sight.
I breathe out slowly, my finger on the trigger and pull. I probably miss the target but it doesn’t matter.  
I’ve been waiting for this moment for nearly two days.
CFB Petawawa opened its doors to its civilian employees as well as a selected few  members of local news outlets and offered them the opportunity of experiencing a soldier’s life. Namely on how to shoot an army calibrated weapon.
The two-day event would never be enough to truly understand the full scope of what soldiers go through, but it does offer a tantalizing glimpse into their daily experience.
Day one involved making my way though the labyrinth of unmarked buildings that constitute the base to try and find the “SIM centre”, a small blue building which hosts advanced weaponry stimulation.
Think Call of Duty is hardcore? It doesn’t hold a candle to this centre.
The walls within this building can be transformed into a virtual battlefield, complete with rifles that stimulate kickback.
It’s the closest thing to reality that the Canadian Army can offer and gives soldiers the opportunity to train and understand the mechanics of weaponry in relative comfort and complete safety before going on the range.
It’s not perfect.
These gas-powered rifle have less recoil and are much more finicky than the real deal.
It also wasn’t working.
A base-wide power outage had plunged us all into darkness and without access to the technologically advanced training, we had to do resort to the old-fashioned way.
A dozen practice rifles were brought out to the back of the building where more than 30 civilians gathered unsure what to do.
That uncertainty didn’t last long as we were quickly thought the basics needed to safely handle a weapon, learning to load, unload and clear our rifles without shooting ourselves or anybody else.
After making it onto the range the next morning, we finally figured out what it truly means to be in the infantry.
We waited.
It’s a little known fact that the military is based off the saying, “hurry up and wait.”
This, I was assured, is typical.
Soldiers often find themselves spending hours just waiting for their next move. It isn’t unusual to be told to meet at a certain time for a training exercise and have to wait more than four hours before actually beginning.
Between the safety procedures, the unending briefings and waiting for the range to be cleared, I was a bit surprised we weren’t there until sunset.
Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day, the people were interesting and the unending supply of cookies, drinks and packed lunches made it a bit tolerable.
The mountains of food, I was later told, was also typical.
Soldiers march, and shoot, on their stomachs.
Without a steady diet of caffeine, sugar and fat, the military would have long since been deserted of any actual combatants. Before noon hit, the supply of coffee had been depleted and the cookies were in low supply.
I take the blame for the cookies.
The sun was shining, at least, as I watched actual army personal go through their Personal Weapons Training test.
Every employees in the military, from experienced snipers to clerks in charge of insurance forms, have to go pass this test once a year. Some are more talented than others and pass the test with no problem while others can spend several hours trying to hit the target once.
They did make for a spectacular display. Gunshots broke in staccato as bullets hit the target and their body’s created perfect lines in the cold mud. Their concentration was only broken when orders were being shouted.
Once they completed their test, these men and women would be guiding us through our own shooting.  
I knew I was never going to shoot that well on my first go, but at least it was a beautiful day to try.
The nice day part, however, was a bit atypical.
Base Operations Officer for CFB Petawawa, Major Marc Lesage, cheerfully joked that he wished it were raining or unbearably cold.
“Because it gives you the opportunity to go through the misery and joy we go through on a daily basis,” he said with a smile.
He later told me that this shared misery allows the troupes to build a special rapport and camaraderie that cannot be found in other circumstances. It allows them to grow a thick skin and get through whatever life throws at them.
Most soldiers are proud of the daily minutia of their job, but rarely get to show of what they really do.
“It’s a great opportunity to have our civilian employees in the field and get them the opportunity to get the feel of what else we do here in CFB Petawawa,” said Major Lesage. “Every soldiers enjoys this a lot because we get to share what we do. We get to do and share our experiences, our training when generally we are only seen in passing or in parade where we can’t share what we are passionate about.”  
That doesn’t mean they weren’t secretly chuckling at us while helping us shoot. It just meant that they were very helpful, kind and patient while they were doing it.
When it came time for me to try my hand at target practice, I was suited up with an oversized helmet and eye protection, handed a rifle and given three magazines holding 30 bullets.
Laying, crouching, kneeling and standing in the mud, I was uncomfortable at first. I couldn’t help but worry that my gun would spontaneously break into a hail of unstoppable bullets.
Then this bubbling adrenaline began to raise inside of me, egged on with each shot. I unleashed by inner Rambo and hit the target.
Maybe. I think. That helmet really didn’t help with accuracy.