Getting Back on Target; How to Get Back After it

How do you get back to what you know you should be doing after a lapse in time?

Have you ever hit a goal and then just stopped doing things you know you should be doing? Or worse, in my case, have you given up lots of things you know you should be doing to hit a goal and now have to restart all those things that you shouldn’t have given up.

It’s like getting back on target after a hit or miss with a rifle, handgun, or even a mortar system. As a U.S. Marine, I was an 0341, infantry mortarman. I worked with the little tubes, the 60mm man-portable gun systems.

A mortar system is an amazing weapon that can fire an (in the case of the 60s) 3-pound exploding projectile out miles and hit within 25 yards of where it is intended. Which is plenty close enough with your projectile is basically 2 pounds of high explosive wrapped in a pre-cut metal tube. The weapon is devastating when used correctly.

But you have to use the system correctly to get consecutive, repeatable results. We fire a round to seat the base plate which is almost a throw-away round because it probably won’t be accurate or repeatable.

After that everything has to be repeatable to adjust from. Mortarmen do this by setting the weapon up to the exact same position after the round was fired as before. Then they wait.

When we did direct lay, meaning the gunner could see the target and was firing without outside direction at the target, once the round was fired and the gun is back up (or bubbled up as we would say) he would wait with his eye in the site, on the target waiting to see the round to hit.

The time of flight on a mortar round is between 15 and 45 seconds. So the gunner gets to wait a while. When firing live rounds even in training that seems like forever. And the rest of the team is prepping for the next shot or doing other things in combat waiting for that round to hit.

In the real world when we fire something out into the world it could take weeks, months, or even years to see where that round impacted. We still have to watch our target and wait.

What happens, if you are like me, you take your eye off the site (or our goal) and nothing happens. Then we stay out not looking for longer. And nothing happens. Then something happens and we miss where that round impacts and we try to adjust anyways, or just give up.

In the real world, everything has gone cold and we need to reseat our base plate to start again.

That is where I am with this blog. I started it to help people and then let distractions get in the way. Then I missed where my last couple of rounds hit entirely. I even ignored one I sent out in January even though people were pointing it out to me when I asked if anyone wanted to do a 75 Hard Challenge for the new year with me on the podcast associated with this website.

Now I’m throwing away time, effort, and rounds trying to reseat the base plate and get going again. It’s all because I let things get in the way of what I’m trying to do. I took my eye out of the site.

How often do you let things get in the way of what you are trying to do?

How often do you have to reseat your base plate to start again?

I don’t know a different way because just jumping in there and starting again. We are all looking for the easy button, but there really isn’t one.

When it comes to firing a mortar system, every time you pick up and move you have to start all over again, set up your system, reseat the base plate, and fire another round to adjust from. Not to mention the actual work of moving the system. Even the 60mm (by far the lightest weight at about 50 pounds for the gun and all the accompanying stuff plus ammo at 3 pounds per round) is a lot of work to move from one spot to another.

Maybe, if possible, you should dig in where you are, keep your eye on the site, and adjust instead of moving, resetting up, reseating your base plate, and starting your mission again.

Do the work,

Ben Branam
75Hard.biz

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