Anyone come across this policy? I’ve just been told by Brize that cadets can’t fire 5.56 at weekends due to ‘station policy’. New since I last went there (2013).
As it’s already a pretty crummy range I’m probably going to cancel and rebook elsewhere; but I did want to escalate this. I’m guessing ranges come under OC Eng?
I wonder if it’s because they are only thinking of ATC (who will need to draw wpns and ammo from stn) rather than CCF (who will bring our own of both)…
Not something that is in place on my parent stations, just some stupidly short range timings for a Sunday.
I think each establishment have their own rules on shooting hours. Increasingly more locations are restricting Sunday shooting for a variety of reasons, such as late start times to prevent disturbance of church services, to total shooting bans to respect the wishes of nearby residents (most of whom would have moved to the location knowing full well what went on!). Another common reason is lack of overtime for armoury staff etc. There are many other reasons for lack of weekend shooting as well.
I will contact BZNs Station Shooting Officer and try to find out why shooting is banned there.
Noise issue presumably…
As there are now five RAuxAF units at Brize, I wonder what they’re expected to do wrt CCS?
Use Otmoor - it’s a 30min drive away probably.
RE timings - our local army barracks doesn’t allow ANY shooting at the weekends. Including .22 - it’s rubbish as they’ve got a decent range and you can hardly hear the ping ping of a .22 over the chavs their Corsa’s with more wattage than horsepower, and motorcross bikes ragging it around the exercise area!
BZZ have had plethora of noise complaints (aircraft, engine ground runs, etc), & made a major push last year to minimise noise (even won an award!), so maybe linked?
[quote=“tmmorris” post=24708]
I wonder if it’s because they are only thinking of ATC (who will need to draw wpns and ammo from stn) rather than CCF (who will bring our own of both)…[/quote]
I know of Sector run L98A2 IWT and LFMT run from Brize on the weekends.
as such L98A2 can be drawn on the weekends and LFMT is conducted in the DCCT - which happens to be adjacent (almost) to the training rooms…
Thanks all - yes, Brize have confirmed it’s a noise issue. I know most of the residents on the south side of the base and I can probably name the complainant… That said, the arrival of the Hercules and basing of ac on the south side has made a huge difference to the noise impact down there so I have some sympathy.
I’m hoping we can get Dalton Barracks (aka the ghost of RAF Abingdon) instead - the range there is not particularly near housing.
Interesting that sectors have run DCCT, as the current FS was concerned that cadets weren’t allowed to use DCCT. I’ve hopefully set his mind at rest on this - I’ve sent him the relevant policies and the ACLO has spoken to him - so I suspect it’s just a new chap with no prior experience of this. Fingers crossed we are on the DCCT as well later on the same day.
They did say no cadet firing of 5.56, not no firing, so I guess RAuxAF are allowed to do it (operational necessity) but cadets not. Someone needs to explain that cadets are a Defence task, not a ‘nice to have’…
I love how people buy houses next to military bases and then complain about the noise…
Just for a giggle…
My mate in glasgow was telling me that where their new wing activity centre is, it is a preWW1 training camp with ranges.
The ranges have been cut down to just a Barack and clay target from what used to be 3 large gallery ranges and used really only by cadets but the area is still utilised by the reserves for training, during the 70’s 4000 ta troops were in camp under canvas for a fortnight so you can guess the size of the area!
Anyway…
Across the road they are finnishing the first part of a new housing development £250k+ Per house (which is expensive for houses up here)
The builder showhome is only open during the week and they are not telling anyone about the ranges.
The best thing is it’s only 10weeks before the local army cadets have their annual week long field camp on the range complete with night firing and night ex using blanks and pyro!
We already checked with the local authority and as the range has been the so long it won’t need to curtail the firing!
Anyone buying a new house who doesn’t check the surrounding area physically or on a map only has themselves to blame.
It like when people buy a house called airfield view (or something similar) then complain about the constant noise of aircraft?!!
Dalton Bks booked - full marks to the Army for once! Still need to do a recce - last time I used it it was pretty basic (no phone, water, shelter, stretcher, FAK, if it rains you get wet, if it shines you get sunburned*) but it’s a range…
*yes, badly one year as I made the mistake of standing in the same classic RCO position all day with no suncream on… burned all down one side!
It was like that back in 2000, surprised that something hasn’t happened by now; but then again…