The military (pre-"star wars") also liked soldiers from rural America
because they could fix machinery in the field and even "formulate" their
own parts from available materials, skills developed while growing up on
the family farm.  Not to mention their work ethic, which is what this post
was about in the first place.

John Lee




At 12:09 PM 8/19/05 -0500, Denys Beauchemin wrote:
>That may be, however some of the most celebrated shooters in history are
>Carlos Hathcock, Alvin York and Audie Murphy.
>
>Carlos Hathcock (Vietnam War) from Arkansas, was the very best USMC sniper
>and an incredible shot, with until recently, the longest recorded kill. He
>was arguably the greatest sniper ever.
>
>Audie Murphy (WWII) from Texas, was the most decorated US combat soldier of
>WWII.  He was an excellent shot.
>
>Alvin York (WWI) from Tennessee, single handedly killed 25 enemy soldiers
>and captured 132 others.  He was also an excellent shot.
>
>What do they all have in common, they were all excellent shots before they
>joined the military.  They all started shooting at a very early age, putting
>food on the table for their families.
>
>In fact, it is my understanding that sniper schools usually look for
>long-time hunters as recruits.
>
>I have never been in the military but I have competed alongside US and
>Canadian soldiers at many matches over the years (decades?)  Some had only
>started shooting when they joined the military while most were long time
>shooters, before the military.
>
>What you say may be correct in order to train the most people to a proper
>level of expertise.  Then again, one has to remember that people who join
>the military are relatively young and nowadays are probably not exposed to
>shooting like the recruits were 20-30 or more years ago.  At least not for
>food.
>
>I attended the US Army's Small Arms Firing School recently and whilst I
>learned things, my long-time shooting experience was NOT a handicap; I can
>assure you of that.
>
>On a more technical or practical level, I read some time ago that, given the
>current state of technology, computer games skills are useful in today's
>military.  Something to do with eye to hand coordination and fast pace of
>"play."
>
>
>
>Denys
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
>Of Heasman, David
>Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 10:40 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: farm humor
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Lee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals
>
> >for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a
> >chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the
> >Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable
> >and hit it You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.
> >
>
>  I seem to recall that in the US Army the best shots are in fact not the
>guys/gals who did a
>  lot of shooting prior to joining. The services prefer to train from
>scratch; they have
>  great expertise at teaching this sort of skill, and it's better taught
>to people who don't
>  have bad habits at the outset.
>
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