Van hadn’t fired a weapon since he’d plonked at rabbits with a single-shot .22 on his grandfather’s ranch. In Hickok’s company, though, Van put on goggles and ear protectors. He roared his way through Ingrams, Uzis, and Pentagon lab models with no names at all, just acronyms. Weapons like the boxlike "OICW," the "M249 SAW," and a futuristic, four-barreled, 15mm mini-rocket launcher from the U.S. Army’s Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts.