SAN DIEGO, Calif. – A firearm stationed aboard the USS Boxer (LHD-4) has been charged with negligence, reckless endangerment and assault after it wounded a sailor on watch, sources reported Friday. Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Jesse Boyer was standing the ship’s midnight topside rover watch when the M4 rifle suddenly opened fire, striking Boyer in the left foot. Doctors at Bob Wilson Naval Hospital stated that Boyer is in stable condition, but will probably never skate again.
Y'all gotta watch them there Army guns, Navy. They got a mind of their own.
“The weapon was in Condition 3 when I sent [Boyer] off,” said Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Travis Dyson, the ship’s armorer and clearing barrel supervisor that day. “It must have charged itself and taken itself off ‘safe.’ These rifles have a mind of their own.”
“I would never deviate from clearing barrel procedures,” he quickly added.
The M4A1 carbine — a 5.56mm, magazine-fed, gas-operated, air-cooled, shoulder-fired weapon — had no previous history of indiscriminate violence, firing only attargets it intended to shoot.
“I certainly never tried to pass the time on watch by playing around with the weapon, or pulled thecharging handle at any point, and I most certainly did not squeeze the trigger when I was startled awake,” Boyer said.
Just ask the Civilian what owns one!
(Note: DuffleBlog is a SATIRICAL website focusing on the U.S. Military.)
3 comments:
Usually these sorts of events occur while cleaning the weapon, I suppose it could happen while simply carrying it. Firearms of any type of inherently dangerous to the ones carrying them and to innocent bystanders.
Many years ago I had a retired Navy Captain tell me one of the most dangerous things in the world was a sailor with a loaded rifle.
Did the Geek break down and watch the Super Bowl. He is close to Seahawk land.
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