Field Stripping the Bren.

[Aughnanure]

When one gets old, I'm told, incidents from the distant past suddenly pop up in the head.

Today,after lunch, as I was doing the dishes I suddenly remembered an incident from Basic Training.

We were learning about the Bren Light MG and in our platoon there was a smart-arse who had been in the School Cadets (there were also men who'd seen active service in WW II, but they never said anything (the Army in its wisdom made them do basic all over again; one of them found it fascinating because he'd never done any before, having been posted straight to a unit that was embarking for the Middle East, he just learnt as he went along)

However I digress, the S/A told us that he could field strip the Bren faster than anyone else; and he demonstrated,

Out with the Body Locking Pin,flip up the Barrel Nut, grab the gun by the body..shake forward and backwards...barrel flys off to the front and everything else falls out the back and into the dirt.

We were impressed, so was the Platoon Commander who was watching, unobserved.

The Smart-arse fronted the Colonel and got 14 days CB.

That had an even greater impression on us

[wh12725]

How does the old saying go...."better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and prove it!"

[Tom-May]

Serves him right - anyway, if he'd been that clever, he'd have worked out a way to get the bipod off too

Tom

[Aughnanure]

The bipod probably flew off as well, I don't remember seeing it go but then my greatest impression was of all the bits coming out the back--- and of those shiny pieces of internals laying in the dust.

Never to be forgotten

Bye-the- bye, Tom, a few days ago on the local ABC TV station there was an interview with Terry Pratchett, I only caught the last 15 minutes unfortunately. Very interesting to listen to him.