With morning sun getting hotter and beating down the necks, the NCC cadets finished their breakfast and lined up to try their hand at firing a 0.22 rifle under the all-seeing eyes of Army men deputed to 13 Andhra Battalion NCC.
All classroom instructions and demonstrations were forgotten as the cadets plonked on the earth without a thought to how they were supposed to handle the rifle. The inexperience was visible as most did not understand the basic fact that they were supposed to lift the rifle in both their hands with one hand on the stock and another at the trigger.
There were some who in their confusion did not even bother to set the butt to their shoulder.
Since it was a 0.22 rifle the recoil was not high and the cadets did not get hurt. Result was visible only a few could get a shot at the target. Most bullets went astray. “You should concentrate on the target and target alone and not get disturbed,” Commanding Officer, 13 Andhra Battalion NCC, Col V.N. Bhardwaj, said. He gave a demonstration on how to lie down with the right leg in line with the target and the left leg pushed out at an angle, body resting on the elbows and rifle held in both hands with only the barrel lightly touching the sand bag for alignment. Junior Commissioned Officers deputed to NCC went around trying to explain the right method.
“It was exciting to be able to handle firearms. This was the first time. Most of our group could manage three shots at the target board. One of us actually had all the five bullets in the bullseye,” girl cadets from Bullayya College explained.
