QUEENSBURY-- New York Army National Guard Major Patrick Chaisson, dressed as a World War II Airborne Trooper, explains weapons a World War II paratrooper would have used, including the Browning .30 caliber M1919 machine gun, to visitors at a weapons display held on Saturday, Feb 19, at the Queensbury Readiness Center. Chaisson, the operations officer for the New York Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Command, is a collector of historic uniforms and equipment.
About 75 people attended the event at which they got a chance to see modern weapons systems used by Army National Guard Soldiers, as well as the historic weapons. Visitors also got to fire "Airsoft" replica weapons of actual M-4 carbines, used to train recruits.