Some weirdness took place out at JB Lewis-McChord back on 25 April and it’s just coming out now. A 7th ID trooper was accidentally shot by another soldier on a range run by 1st SFG (A). That trooper sustained non-life threatening injuries and is in stable condition at Madigan Army Medical Center.
It seems some live ammo made its way onto the range during an evolution that used blank rounds exclusively. It gets weirder, the weapon involved was an M-249 SAW. Your editor has a tiny bit of experience with that weapons system and has some questions.
First, how the actual f*ck did live ammo find its way onto a range that used blanks. I can see it happening, at least in the abstract, but how did the range NCOs not notice? Blanks are distinctly different looking compared to a live round.
Did the operator not realize they had just loaded live rounds? The M-249 is a primarily belt fed machine gun, and I really doubt there was a single live round in a random belt of 5.56. Could the operator have used a magazine with a single live round in it? I suppose, but the 249 is a temperamental beast when running blanks and does not feed well from the magazine at any time.
My last question concerns the BFA. For those of you who don’t know, a BFA or blank firing adapter, is necessary to run most semi/full auto firearms when shooting blanks. The BFA, at least in the case of the M-16, M-249 M-240 and M-60, creates enough gas pressure to cycle the firearm. The BFA does this by occluding the muzzle, thereby creating the pressure needed. In the case of the 249, there are two versions of the BFA, one for standard, 20″ barrelled guns and one for the 13.5″ barrelled versions.
BFAs are hefty chunks of steel that attach to the flash hider. The business end of the BFA completely blocks the end of the barrel. If you fired a live round with a BFA properly attached to your firearm it would be the same as pulling the trigger with an obstructed barrel.
The Army has ordered a 72 hour safety stand down for all units within USASOC. The pause is supposed to allow units to examine their ammunition storage SOPs and make any adjustments needed.