Boom Queesha

We had some fun today, we went to see the big guns fire. They were calibrating the Howitzers this afternoon. The gun is a Howitzer M777A2 and is named Boom Queesha (no idea what that stands for), if you blow up the picture, you can see the name stenciled on the gun barrel.

They even let us pull the lanyard to fire the gun. That was fun! They have a big boom and you can really feel the concussion when it is fired. Louder than fireworks and just like fireworks they ended with a finale, firing 8 rounds one right after the other. In the bottom picture, if you blow it up you can actually see the mortar shell in the upper right of the picture. I can't take credit for this picture, someone else the group got this shot.

Next on our agenda of fun things to do is be the dummy in the padded outfit for the military dogs. They are always looking for volunteers.

The other pictures are from a couple days ago. Afghan Ready Mix was setting the big 18' barriers on the flight line to protect the adjacent buildings/tents from the rotor wash of the helicopters. The workers climbed up top of the barriers and sat on them to attach the chains from the crane. They would step from one barrier to the next as they set them. When they were done they would just grab onto the crane chains and ride them to the ground. Also, I had to get a picture of the helicopter while I was out on the flight line.