The M-79

One of my duty stations was a forward headquarters battalion supporting an infantry division. As a result of the proximity to actual war, and the remote possibility of a ground attack, weapons were everywhere.

We had "free fire" times on the perimiter of the base so anyone who wanted to could fire their, or any other hand-held weapon.
My personal favorite was the M-79 grenade launcher, because of the diversity of uses and type of rounds it could fire.
One of the shells it could fire was a tear gas grenade. The M-79 was so versatile if you knew the coordinates you wanted to hit you could put a round within a few feet of an aimed for target, up to about 75-100 yards.

Every now and then, some of us Med-Evac Medics and the Helo Mechanics would be sitting around after dinner with nothing much to do but play.

The first time I witnessed this fun, I was told that it was a "Ritual" that was practiced every month or so. Always being careful not to be too predictable about time of month, the location of launching site, or the perps.

OK, the guys did the math and were able to build a "firing platform" of sorts that was zeroed in on the deck outside the Officer's Club. After the round was fired the evidence was disposed of and we sat back to listen.
The Officer's Club was just far enough that we wouldn't get any of the tear gas, but close enough that we could hear their music and laughter.

As the Tear gas dispersed we heard all manner of explatives not really befitting Officers.
Because of the music, plus the fact they were so busy yelling and cursing, they couldn't hear our uprorious laughter just across the compound.

War does have it's fun moments.

(c)2008 Walt Hardester