Page 139 - Wish Stream Year of 2018

Combat Pistol Shooting under
Captain John Blashford-Snell
at RMAS 1965-67
Mike Adler, Senior Cadet Corporal, Gaza Company, Intake 35. September 1963 to July 1965.
Ihave never been a particularly keen sports person in terms of ‘ball sports’ but at school shot in the first VIII with the Number 4 Mk 2
Rifle at County and Bisley competitions. At Prize Shoots I could win more in one day than my entire pocket money for a term!
At Sandhurst I joined the Academy Shooting Team, which gave me the immediate advantage of having a proper SLR (7.62mm Self Loading Rifle, the British version of the Belgian FN FAL) for shooting with whilst I kept my bulled up one for drill. I wanted to broaden my shooting experi- ence and duly saw an advertisement on the New College notice board (outside the dining room) for a P08 Long Barrelled pistol (Artillery Luger), which I bought from a certain Captain Bowie- Puddock. I kept this in my room and duly got a bollocking from my Company Commander (Major Simon Murray) for having a private weapon in my charge (it was perfectly legal as I held a firearms certificate for it).
Looking at the same notice board a few days later, I saw that Captain John Blashford-Snell (JB-S) was asking for candidates for his combat pistol course, and I signed up.
JB-S is, and was, a character as well as being a very resourceful RE Officer. At the time he was a Captain and an Old College instructor. He made a tank out of bicycle parts for use on exercises. It was propelled by a Guards Sergeant and had limited cross country ability, even if it could fire thunderflashes from its drainpipe barrel. In the cellar of his house in Chapel Square he had an impressive arsenal, which included a German Maschinengewehr 08/15. I was impressed.
The Combat Pistol Course was held on a range that he had constructed in the danger area behind the westernmost rifle range. It featured a
Mike Adler
mass of pop-up and running-man type targets, and a house with a large number of targets that swung at you as you entered, and which had to be engaged in very rapid succession. As you proceeded down the battle run you were told “Use the other hand”, “Take this (a different type of pistol) and find the ammunition for it from this box” of very mixed calibre rounds.
Battle simulation was provided not by puny little thunderflashes but by plastic explosives ignited by a detonator on the end of a very short fuse. Smoke grenades were also considered to be a bit on the light side and were replaced by 2-inch Mortar smoke rounds, which we doctored by punching holes in the disc above the propellant cartridge and inserting safety fuses through the smoke emission holes, then using a fusee match to set the thing off. I suspect that such activ-
HISTORICAL 137