Camp Joseph T. Robinson. Wearing components of the multiple integrated laser engagement system (MILES), Sergeant (SGT) Mark Peterson, from the 314th Security Police Squadron participates in Exercise SAFE DEFENDER ONE as a member of the aggressor force. He is armed with an M16A1 rifle equipped with MILES. 29/06/1984.

Edit: Keen eyed viewers may notice the rifle lacks a forward assist, despite being labeled in all places in the original photo description as an M16A1. I suspect the rifle uses a Colt 603 (M16A1) lower given that it is fully fenced, and a USAF M16 Colt 604 upper. The military would consider this an M16A1 despite the sort of in-between configuration.

  • cobysevEnglish
    9·
    9 days ago

    I wore MILES gear in 2006 for combat readiness training in the US military. It was a lot of fun; like adult laser tag, except they paid me to spend a week in the woods, defending a base, fighting OpFor (opposing forces), and using a compass and map to find geocaches hidden in the woods.

    I was born in 1984. I’m surprised to see that MILES gear hadn’t changed much in those 22 years.

    For our final test in the combat readiness course, we had to spend 3 days in the woods, without sleep, defending our base. It was supposed to simulate the exhaustion you might feel in an actual combat environment, surrounded by enemies and not getting to sleep normal hours.

    The first day was business as usual. Fighting OpFor and keeping our base flag from being taken. The second day, OpFor left us alone entirely, because the hallucinations took over. We were all so sleep-deprived, we started seeing things in the woods. Most of our firefights were just people insisting they saw enemies approaching from the woods. One guy swore he saw a deer low-crawling with a rifle toward us.

    By day 3, we were all a delusional mess. OpFor returned and started kidnapping people right out of their foxholes. Which we welcomed, because being marched back to their camp with our rifles held over our heads like POWs helped to wake us up. They’d force us to complete some strenuous physical exercises, then release us back to camp.

    I sleep for 15 hours straight after we all graduated and went home.