SITREP

   The call on the radio was loud and clear.  "Bravo 52, SITREP."  I'd heard it many times before.  Actually it seemed like 5 seconds ago. SITREP means literally situation report.  In this case, our 25mm main gun on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle had jammed.  As far as the last time I heard the tower call for a SITREP, I was right, it was 5 seconds ago.  My Gunner closed the door to the 25mm chain gun and said, "We're up." This indicated that the jam was corrected and the gun was now operational.
   "Tower, this is Bravo 52, we're up. Ready to continue the table," I said into the microphone.  We were doing a Bradley Gunnery Table, part of qualification for gunner and Bradley Commanders.  Our main gun had malfunctioned and we were now ready to continue with the gunnery qualification table.  This wasn't the first time I had been asked for a SITREP and it wouldn't be the last. 


   Here is the current SITREP on the Clay Hunt SAV Act, Senate Bill 167.  It was introduced last week by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).  It has 18 co-sponsors and has been read twice on the Senate floor and has been referred to the Veteran Affairs Committee.  That is where we are at.  The Clay Hunt SAV Act has been here in the senate before.  It was shot down by a no vote of one senator.  Sen. Coburn has since retired.  But that's all recent history.  Let's get to the down and dirty, as the saying goes.
    I am asking that my readers (and anyone else you can talk to) call the members of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee.  Clicking on the committee link will bring you to a page I created with phone numbers and D.C. addresses for the committee members.  To contact them by email you have to go to their individual senate profile pages and fill in a form to email them.  You can find their email pages here.  I have recently contacted the D.C. office of Sen. Johnny Isakson, the chairman of the committee, and it is one of his priorities to pass the Clay Hunt SAV Act.  I want to make sure that all of the members of the Veteran Affairs Committee know that We The People want it passed as well.  The Clay Hunt SAV Act was passed in the House of Representatives as House Resolution 203.  In the senate it is Senate Bill 167.  I would ask that all keep up the pressure on our elected officials, it seems to be the only way to get stuff done.  In the mortars, this is what we would call Fire For Effect (FFE).  Once a mortar platoon or artillery battery has positioned its rounds to where the forward observer (FO) wants them, the FO calls for FFE, and then all tubes/guns fire. When I find out the vote will happen in the senate, you can expect one more FFE.  Until then, please mention the Clay Hunt SAV Act as much as you can on social media and also see if your local media will pick up the story as well.  As usual, the more this is in the public eye, the better.
   One last point, FFE isn't to be confused with Final Protective Fire(FPF) where all rounds are expended on a target that has been predetermined.  The figurative FPF for our call/email mission will be once the Clay Hunt SAV Act is passed by the senate and sent to the White House for President Obama to sign it into law.  Stay tuned for that.
That is all.