Over the weekend of the 23rd to 25th of March, Pilot Officers Asbery and Brown from No. 41 Squadron attended the Central Area ‘Range Safety Officer’ (RSO) course at RNZAF Ohakea. Here they were taken through the drills, preparations and skills required to safely take cadets target shooting on a range.
After a morning of theory it was down to the on base shooting range to put theory into practice. Here the correct setup of the range was followed by each course student taking turns to act as Range Safety Officer and control the shooters.
The course staff threw in the odd spanner to check the RSO at the time was on the ball, with things like soccer/footballs appearing on the range mid shoot! The Sergeants (poor!) acting skills were also put on display when they attempted to remove the designated emergency vehicle to “nip up the dairy for a pie” at one point, along with other skits to test the RSO’s reactions.
On day 2 it was back down to the range, where each prospective RSO was assessed before it was time to pack up for a wrap up session and tidy up back in the classroom. All the attendees were successful in completing the course and have been recommended to perform as RSO’s back at their unit.
Photographed:-
i) Initial range briefing by Chief Petty Officer Hannah, ii) Setting up the range firing point, iii) Pilot Officer Brown looking down range, iv) Aiming, v) Pilot Officer Brown taking aim, vi) Pilot Officer Asbery takes aim, vii) Looking at the results (grouping), viii) At the ammo point, ix) Looking down the sights, x) Pilot Officer Brown takes his turn as RSO, xi) Weapons ready to transport on day 2, xii) Course photo – L to R – Pilot Officer Asbery, Pilot Officer Brown, 2LT David Pettitt, LT Hilda Hurinui, Sgt Steve Main (Staff – Hiding!), ENS Harley Benton, Sgt Terry Munro (Staff), 2LT Santana Franklin-Browne, 2LT Terry Hikawai, Sgt Danni Passi (Staff), PLTOFF Kirstyn Rolfe, Staff Sgt Noel Swift, LT Karen Browne, Not Pictured – FG OFF Anthony Christenhusz, CPO Wayne Hannah (Staff – Behind the camera!)
