• Question: Are you ever scared of the weapons you carry?

    Asked by missalice to Emma on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Bould

      Emma Bould answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I think when you do something for the first time, you are always a little bit scared!

      We spend a long time training so that we know exactly how to do our jobs and we practice things like firing a personal weapon (SA80 or 9mm Pistol) on a practice range against a paper target so that we are familiar with using them (we practice drills when they aren’t loaded to make sure we do all the right things to use them safely).

      All that being said, I don’t often carry a personal weapon. Our boarding team, when we were boarding possible pirate vessels during out deployment, were armed but only for their own personal protection.

      The weapons systems fixed onboard the ship are much the same. We spend a lot of time training and get the opportunity to practice in safe areas, again on specially marked range areas, so that we can operate them safely. There are LOTS of rules around how we do drills, when we can and can’t fire, so by the time we do actually use them we have practiced and checked so many times there is no reason to be scared.

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