Arms and Armaments (sorry ...)
Firstly, apologies for the dreadful pun. It's my first post, please don't hate me!
Setting:
Present day (sort of), UK. Or perhaps "alternative near-future" would be more accurate.
1) Arms
One of my characters is a veteran of operations in Iraq / Afghanistan. He's a senior NCO in his late 30s or early 40s - former regular, now recalled to full-time service as a result of the "alternative" bit of the setting. Is it possible for him to serve with a hi-tech prosthesis to the right arm, severed at / below the elbow? He's naturally right handed, so he's had to re-adapt his life so that he's now effectively left handed (and therefore cross-lateral). Having seen various adaptive prosthetics during paralympics, I suspect a modification to his right "hand" so that he can hold a rifle with a pistol grip, for example, should be relatively straightforward. However, would the adapted drills he'd need to use for cocking, clearing his weapon mean he wouldn't pass the various skills tests he'd need to do? He is no longer in an infantry unit (though that doesn't mean very much in this context, because of the "alternative" thing), but his experience is invaluable in his "support" function. For clarity, weapons most likely to be L85A2 with front grip and SIG Sauer pistol.
Search Terms: "arm amputee soldier British" and similar. Lots of good stuff about former soldiers, but I don't see any about those still in service.
2) Armaments
I am familiar with the use of adaptors etc when firing blank rounds from automatic / semi-automatic weapons, and the physical difference between unfired live and blank rounds, but it's many years since I have seen an expended blank round. Is there a difference between a fired blank cartridge case and fired live one? Would it be easy enough for any military person to tell the difference, or can it only been seen by (say) a trained armourer or ballistics forensic scientist?
Search Terms: "blank spent rounds" and similar. Most seem to return only the difference between unfired ball and blank rounds.
Thanks in anticipation
Setting:
Present day (sort of), UK. Or perhaps "alternative near-future" would be more accurate.
1) Arms
One of my characters is a veteran of operations in Iraq / Afghanistan. He's a senior NCO in his late 30s or early 40s - former regular, now recalled to full-time service as a result of the "alternative" bit of the setting. Is it possible for him to serve with a hi-tech prosthesis to the right arm, severed at / below the elbow? He's naturally right handed, so he's had to re-adapt his life so that he's now effectively left handed (and therefore cross-lateral). Having seen various adaptive prosthetics during paralympics, I suspect a modification to his right "hand" so that he can hold a rifle with a pistol grip, for example, should be relatively straightforward. However, would the adapted drills he'd need to use for cocking, clearing his weapon mean he wouldn't pass the various skills tests he'd need to do? He is no longer in an infantry unit (though that doesn't mean very much in this context, because of the "alternative" thing), but his experience is invaluable in his "support" function. For clarity, weapons most likely to be L85A2 with front grip and SIG Sauer pistol.
Search Terms: "arm amputee soldier British" and similar. Lots of good stuff about former soldiers, but I don't see any about those still in service.
2) Armaments
I am familiar with the use of adaptors etc when firing blank rounds from automatic / semi-automatic weapons, and the physical difference between unfired live and blank rounds, but it's many years since I have seen an expended blank round. Is there a difference between a fired blank cartridge case and fired live one? Would it be easy enough for any military person to tell the difference, or can it only been seen by (say) a trained armourer or ballistics forensic scientist?
Search Terms: "blank spent rounds" and similar. Most seem to return only the difference between unfired ball and blank rounds.
Thanks in anticipation