"rangerssuck" wrote in message
...
On Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 9:37:40 PM UTC-5, Jim Wilkins
wrote:

Training videos can be interesting even if you aren't likely to
practice the skill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=0OmOQs0ziSU

Wait...What? You don't think you're likely to ever find yourself
with a 16" gun to shoot? Seriously, you'd do well to watch this
video over and over because, well, you never know...

Actually the part that interests me most is the rapid handling of
heavy and dangerous objects with a mix of automation and trained
skill. The machinery designer has to know how much he can demand from
the operator, and serving large guns pushes the limits of strength,
coordination and endurance.

The closest I've come have been running a log splitter and trying to
learn to move a backhoe bucket straight back, parallel to the ground.
Splitting firewood is a dangerous operation that combines the heavy
lifting of a powder handler and the finesse of a rammer operator.
Twisted or knotted wood can suddenly fly apart with considerable force

If I wanted to lose my hearing, sleep on the cold ground like the
homeless and and drag 1000 lbs through mud I could become a reenactor.
http://www.artilleryreserve.org/manuals.html
The second one, by Henry Hunt et al, covers the 20MB that a Civil War
artillerist had to learn and practice correctly while 10,000 screaming
enemy charged toward them with fixed bayonets. As the Union artillery
commander at Gettysburg, Hunt tricked the Confederates into launching
Pickett's Charge by withdrawing intact guns randomly as though they
had been destroyed.