Today in History, as it applies to me.

[Sentryduty]

"Zeroing PAQ-4 Lasers" Late February 2006 - Kandahar Airfield Afghanistan

Members of 1 PPCLI C-Company, 7 Platoon, 2 Section zero their C7A2 rifles with newly issued PAQ-4 Infrared Laser Aiming Devices using a boresight collimator laser and a flat surface. Since the infrared lasers are not visible to the naked eye, Corporal Nicolas Fenton holds the weapon steady on target while Sergeant Mike Reid checks laser positioning through a AN/PVS-14 Nightvision Monocular with day cap, and Master Corporal Patrick Drolet makes adjustments to the Laser Aiming Device.

The PAQ-4 was a new piece of equipment that allowed accurate rifle fire at night with the use of nightvision equipment. Collimation was challenging due to the side mounting of the laser which introduced both vertical and horizontal sighting parallax, however the PAQ-4 was a very useful piece of kit for combat shooting and target designation. The Commander's version, the PAQ-2 had an IR flashlight mode and pattern inserts for section and platoon level target designation and fire control.