The Results

Well, I missed it again, for the 12th year. I shot a 41, and needed a 43 to qualify for expert; so damn close. This year we had to shoot an additional 10 rounds of ammo while wearing the gas mask. If you've ever worn the MCU-2 gas mask, you know how difficult it can be to perform certain tasks, and it seems that shooting would be another difficult task. But actually, I shot just as well if not better wearing the mask. Your breathing is slowed down which steadies you. On top of that, you have to pull your weapon up so hard to your masked head just to look down the sites that everything gets sturdy; the gun goes on a slight canter, but once you can see down the sites, your head doesn't move without the weapon going with it. Solid.
So we needed to hit 35 targets with 40 rounds last year, and 43 out of 50 this year with the mask, glove inserts and gloves. The targets are the size of a person ranging from 50 to 300 meters away.
This was my last chance to "shoot expert", in my opinion. I've given up. I'm way past my prime and on the down hill slide; if I didn't get it by now, it ain't gonna happen. So I save money by not updating my ribbon rack. My predictions were wrong. I'm still on leave, so I've got that going for me!