Col. Oliver S. Cass, U.S. Army (Ret.), sponsored and organized a day of firearms orientation and training for Skirmisher Publishing LLC staff members Michael O. Varhola and Brenda Cass. Weapons used during the session were an AR-15 5.56mm semiautomatic rifle equipped with 30-round magazines and a SIG Sauer .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol equipped with a laser sight. They also fired the AR-15 with a .22 sub-caliber adapter. 

Col. Oliver S. Cass, U.S. Army (Ret.), sponsored and organized a day of firearms orientation and training for Skirmisher Publishing LLC staff members Michael O. Varhola and Brenda Cass in mid-June at a shooting range outside of Washington, D.C. Weapons used during the session were an AR-15 5.56mm semiautomatic rifle equipped with 30-round magazines and a SIG Sauer .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol equipped with a laser sight. They also fired the AR-15 with a .22 sub-caliber adapter. (Shown here at left is Skirmisher webmaster Brenda Cass, standing next to Col. Cass, his father, loading rifle magazines.) 

"We write about weapons of all sorts on a regular basis in our various games and publications," Skirmisher publisher Michael O. Varhola said. "So, it behooves us to have a working knowledge of how they work. There is nothing more annoying than to read an RPG sourcebook written by people who have no idea what they are talking about. And this idea of acquiring first-hand experience in the things we are writing about goes back to our earliest publications." 

Col. Cass, a veteran of the Cold, Iraq, and Afghan Wars, demonstrates the fundamentals of range safety and marksmanship. 

A good shooting stance is the key to accuracy and a tight shot group. Michael O. Varhola, in the black shirt, reveals his roots as an Army infantryman. 

Hmm, is that a good guy with a gun or a bad guy with a gun? Oh, well, doesn't matter! Either way, we lit him up.