Free Bravo two zero by Andy McNab Page A

timer that I have doubts about.
        The last item for testing was the wiring for the claymore antipersonnel mines, which was also done on a circuit tester.
        We then ran through the rigging and de rigging of the little Elsie antipersonnel mines. For many of us it had been a while since we'd had our hands on this sort of kit. We made sure we could remember how to arm them and, more importantly, how to disarm them. There might be a situation where we'd lay the explosive and Elsie mines on target, but for some reason have to go in and extract them. This makes life more difficult when you're placing them, because not only do you have to keep a record of where they are on the ground, but also the person who sets the anti handling device should be the one to lift it.
        There was a severe shortage of claymores, which was a problem because they are excellent for defense and. The solution was to go round to the cook house get a pile of ice-cream containers, and make our own. You make a hole in the center of the carton, run a det cord tail into it, and tie a knot inside the container. You make a shaped charge with PE4 and put it in the bottom of the tub, making sure that the knot is embedded. You then fill the carton with nuts and bolts, little lumps of metal, and anything else nasty you can find lying around, put on the lid, and wrap lots of masking tape around to seal it. Once the claymore is in position, all you have to do is put a det onto the det cord and Bob used to be your uncle.
        Next, we sorted out the weapons, starring with a trip down to the range to "zero" the sights. You lie down in the prone position, aim at the same place on a target 300 feet away, and fire five rounds. This is then called a group. You look where the group has landed on the target and then adjust the sights so that the next group will land where you want it to-which is where you are aiming. If you do not zero and the group is, say, 4 inches to the right of where you are aiming at 300 feet, then at 600 feet it will be 8 inches to the right, and so on. At 1200 feet you could easily miss a target altogether.
        One individual's zero will be different from another's because of many factors. Some are physical size and "eye relief"-the distance between the eye of the firer and the rear sight. If you used another person's weapon the zero could be off for you. This is not a problem at short ranges of up to 900 feet, but at greater distances it could be a problem. If this was the case and you could see where the rounds were going, you could "aim off" to adjust.
        We spent a whole morning down at the range-first to zero the weapons, and second to test all the magazines. I was going to take ten magazines with me on the patrol, a total of 290 rounds, and every magazine had to be tested. I would also be carrying a box of 200 rounds for a Minimi, which takes the same round as the Armalite and can be either belt- or magazine-fed.
        We also fired some practice 203 bombs, which throw out a chalk puff when they land to help you see if you've got to aim higher or lower-it's a crude form of zero.
        We rehearsed for many different scenarios. The situation on the ground can change very rapidly, and you have to expect everything to be rather fluid. The more you practice, the more flexible you can be. We call this stage of planning and preparation "walk through, talk through," and operate a Chinese parliament while we're doing it. Everybody, regardless of rank, has the right to contribute his own ideas and rip to shreds those of others.
        We practiced various kinds of LUP because we weren't sure of the lie of the ground. The terrain might be as flat as a pancake, in which case we'd LUP in two groups of four that gave each other mutual support. We discussed the way we would communicate between the two groups-whether it would be by com ms cord, which is simply a stretch of string that can be pulled in the event of a