Collector's Edition

Sometimes children collect the strangest things.  And in Afghanistan, a childs collection can become surreal.  As is true with most of my strange stories, it all started out innocently enough.

 

Three of us Air Force dudes (2 TACP, 1 CCT) headed to the firing range to shoot 9 mil.  However, the range was closed due to some type of construction.  Not to be deterred, we simply headed to the heavy gun range.  Of course this range was just outside the wire, but we each had an ATV.  The shoot was becoming more and more adventurous by the minute!

 

We set up our targets, loaded mags, and started to shoot.  And then, like moths to a flame, the children arrived.  Or I should say appeared.  There is a small village down the road, but the half dozen kids just seemed to materialize as soon as we began shooting. 

 

And they were not spectators.  They were collectors.

 

We would hardly finish shooting and they would begin grabbing the brass like kids picking up candy during a parade.  And in a matter of minutes we had a dozen or more all competing for the scarce resource.  By this time we had put one of us on full time crowd control while the other two tried to finish shooting.  And by now a few "grown ups" had arrived--but not to assist in any way. 

 

These grown ups were true spectators.  And they seemed to enjoy the scene: Alarmed American trying to keep crazy Afghani kids off the firing line. 

 

Although I could keep 5 or 6 kids behind my pretend line, the others were catching brass in mid air.  I soon realized this was like some kind of national sport, and I did not have the means to prevent these collectors from getting at their treasure.  So there we stood, firing 9 mil with built in brass collectors working feverishly by our side.  

 

Now, when little Johnny wants to add something strange to his collection, just think, he could be down the street playing with the neighborhood foreign fighters during target practice!

 

-K12