he's wearing ear plugs....perhaps he was trying to trash the gun, or didna give a fuck if he did??....senseless waste of ammo though

"Did no one notice the guy screaming "cease fire" for the last thirty seconds of the video?"

Probably a function of sustained fire damaging your hearing. Without hearing protection, firing live ammunition immediately causes a sharp ring in your ears coupled with slight pain, like a pin-prick but sustained over time. With each additional round fired the pain and ringing increase. The only sustained fire I've been around has involved blank ammunition, which is no where near as loud as live, but I have to imagine that after a 10-15 minute firefight your hearing must be absolutely shot.

I recall being on the M-16 qual range and realizing to my horror that I had forgotten to insert my earplugs when I fired the first shot. Since targets are continuously popping up, and whether or not I qualified on the weapon depended on me hitting each one of them, I had to wait until the first 20 round magazine was expended before inserting ear plugs. At the end of that my hearing was pretty well shot, almost as badly as coming out of a rock concert, and bothered me for the next few days. I have to imagine that a sustained fire fight must leave you in a near deaf state, and unable to immediately hear commands.

Ok, Danimal, I know you meant no disrespect - but have you ever loaded a 155mm Howitzer? Unless you're Ahnold, you simply aren't strong enough seat the round in the bore with a good seal without ramming it - not to mention that the tray is faster. Also, yes, the chief is supposed to jump around. How else would he verify the data? The fact that you call it a "rail" and not a trail is either a typo, or tells me that you really don't know what you're talking about. What exactly did you do?

Big Bigbikeman: Deflection 3288 is a reading in mils. A mil is 1/6,400th of a complete circle, or .056 degrees. So deflection is left and right - the number he read before that was quadrant - that is the elevation of the cannon. On the right is the quadrant - there is a dial that is set to whatever number is called off and when the cannon tube is elevated, there is a level vial that must be leveled out - that tells you that you are at the set quadrant. On the left is the PanTel, or Panoramic Telescope. On this there is also a dial that is set to the number called off for the mission. When the Gunner sets that number, the head rotates, and he must then traverse the cannon back so he can see his aiming point through the PanTel.

Spoco: I don't know much about the cost of all that, but it's relatively inexpensive. You'd have to find an ammo technician for that.

Dag: Yes, ear protection is actually mandated by the SOP. However, it also hinders your ability to properly hear the data being called off and verified. You'll find that most Marines don't wear it, rather than just use their two forefingers - they work better than anything else. Hearing protection is mostly in the form of in-ear plugs.

Here's the chords and lyrics for you prospecting musicians
A PIRATE I WAS MEANT TO BE
Capo II

[Am]
We're a band of vicious pirates!
A sailin´ out to sea.
When you hear our gentle singing...
You'll be sure to turn and flee!
[F] [E]
Oh, this is just ridiculous.

Bridge: [F] [C] [E] ×3

[Am]
Come on, men! We've got to recover that map!
[F] [E] [Am] [A7]
That pirate will be done for, when he falls into our trap!
[Dm]
We're a club of tuneful rovers!

We can sing in every clef!
[Am]
We can even hit the high notes!

It's just too bad we're tone deaf!
[E] [F]
A pirate I was meant to be!
[C] [E]
Trim the sails and roam the sea!

Bridge: [F] [C] [E] ×3

[Am]
Let's go defeat that evil pirate!
[F] [E] [Am] [A7]
We know he's sure to lose, ´cause we know just where to fire at!

[Dm]
We're thieving balladeers.

A gang of cutthroat mugs.
[Am]
To fight us off ye don't need guns!

Just jolly good ear plugs!

[E] [F]
A pirate I was meant to be!
[C] [E]
Trim the sails and roam the sea!

Bridge: [F] [C] [E] ×3

All right, crew, let's get to work!
Our vocation's a thing we love
A thing we'd never shirk!
We'll fight you in the harbor.
We'll battle you on land.
But when you meet singing pirates...
They'll be more than you can stand.
Oh! That was a good one!
No, it wasn't.

No time for song! We've got to move!
The battle will be long,
But our courage we will prove!
We're a pack of scurvy seadogs
Have we pity? Not a dram
We all eat roasted garlic
Then sing from the diaphragm.

A pirate I was meant to be!
Trim the sails and roam the sea!

Less singing, more sailing.
When we defeat our wicked foe,
His ship he will be bailing!
If ye try ta fight us
You will get a nasty whackin'!
If ya disrespect our singin'
We will feed ya to a kraken!

A pirate I was meant to be!
Trim the sails and roam the sea!

I'm getting so sick of you guys and your rhyming.
We're ready to set sail,
though the cannons need a-priming.
We're troublesome corsairs!
And we've come to steal your treasures!
We would shoot you on the downbeat
But we have to rest five measures.

A pirate I was meant to be!
Trim the sails and roam the sea!

Stop! Stop! Stop!
The brass is what we'll polish
And the deck is what we'll mop.

You say you're nasty pirates...
Scheming, thieving, bad bushwhackers?
From what I've seen I tell you
You're not pirates! You're just slackers!

A pirate I was meant to be!
Trim the sails and roam the sea!

We'll surely avoid scurvy if we all eat an orange.
And...!
...um...
Well...
...err...
Door hinge?
No, no...
Guess the song's over, then.
Guess so.
Hokay, back to work.
Well gee.
I feel a little guilty, now...