Since he was a Sargent in the army, I'm guessing bad reporting.
@thackney Just don't bet money on it. Most of the Sergeants in the army are barely aware of which end the bullet comes out of. Probably 90 percent are support troops who never see their rifles but once a year.
I have know of junior NCO's in security company that amongst other duties provided camp security for our camp in VN that didn't know how to load or fire the belt fed 30 and 50 caliber machine guns used at strong points. They didn't know because they had never been in the infantry,and were too embarrassed to admit it to ask for help.
Had a Staff Sergeant E-6 transfer to my FOB from the 173rd Airborne Brigade in VN. Since he was SSG,came from the 173rd ( a VERY professional hard core unit),and was wearing a CIB,we all assumed he knew the basics,so didn't worry about him. On our first operation in Laos I told him to set up a claymore mine with a good field of fire when we sit up our RON at the end of the first day,and he said "ok". Imagine my surprise when I came by to check on him before dark to make sure his position was secure,and caught him looking through the sighting glass on the claymore like it was a rifle scope,and holding the detonator in his hand. The sighting glass is so you can look through it when you emplace it,and see what ground it will over. It has a backblast that goes back up to 15 yards that will take your head off. It starts out as wide as the mine,and tapers off to a point. There is no way he would have survived the blast if he had squeezed the detonator.
BTW,a Claymore mine has a blasting cap to ignite a KILO of plastic explosive that then sends 700 steel ball out in a 45 degree arc. I can't remember know if the effective killing range is 30 feet or 45 feet,but it is not something to play with.
Come to find out he had been a cook in the 173rd,and had a buddy in personnel add his name to a list of CIB awardees. He had never fired a shot in anger in his life,or been shot at in his life. That was the first and the last mission he went on. His orders transferring him back to the regular army were waiting for him when we got back to the FOB a few days later.
Good thing I caught him before we sent him out on to lead a patrol of yards. Chances are he would have gotten them all killed. The man honestly had no idea how much danger he had put himself and the rest of us in by pretending to be something he wasn't. There was nothing "special" or exotic about setting up a claymore. It was common knowledge to everyone in the infantry.
Crazy,but true. I don't understand it. There is no shame in admitting you don't know something. Nobody knows everything,and we all have to learn.