Pneumatic shooting competitions. Careful preparation and extreme concentration! GTO standards for air rifle shooting. GTO standard for air rifle shooting

Raising a healthy nation is one of the main and most important tasks of every state.

That is why in Russian Federation a program and regulatory framework has been developed physical education entitled “Ready for labor and defense” (GTO).

This program includes a number of physical exercise based on strength, dexterity, coordination, accuracy, and intended to develop a love for sports among the population.

GTO shooting rules

Shooters can shoot from different distances. For example, if the shooter belongs to the third stage, he fires from 5 meters, while participants with a higher rank - from 10 meters.

Guns must be loaded strictly on the judge’s command, as well as firing. If these rules are not followed, the shot is not counted.

Shooting is allowed from several positions:

while standing at the counter, fully standing;
sitting, leaning against the counter.

GTO standard for air rifle shooting

The GTO test program includes shooting from air rifle. However, this type of test is not mandatory, and the participant can refuse altogether. This standard can be passed within the framework of the third and ninth steps for age groups from 11 to 59 years.

For schoolchildren

For persons school age related to the first and second stages (under 11 years old) there are no air rifle tests. Schoolchildren related to the third stage (over 11 years old) pass the standard for shooting from an air rifle from a distance 5 meters.

Photo 1. A schoolgirl over eleven years old fulfills the GTO standards for shooting with an air rifle.

For women

Significant differences between the GTO standards for air rifle shooting men and women do not.

Men

Men fire from a distance 10 meters. Taking the test is allowed up to 59 years old.

What competitions are held

Air rifle shooting competitions have certain regulations and procedures.

Order of conduct

Competitions can be local, regional and international level.

All competitions in this discipline must be held in specially equipped shooting ranges, shooting ranges, training grounds or in any other specialized premises.

Every month there is a new tournament. In general, the competition order includes the following stages:

participants' application;
qualifying round;
conducting briefings;
holding competitions in shooting from pneumatic weapons.

Important! Internal competition order may change at your look panel of judges or the organizing committee.

Goals and objectives

Competitions are held in order to popularize shooting sports in the Russian Federation among the younger and older generations, as well as to develop patriotism and strong-willed qualities among those participating. The calculation is made that the participants will subsequently be at professional level defend the homeland.

It is based on propaganda healthy image life, defense of the fatherland, and formation of shooting skills and the will to win.

Basic Rules

Each participant has three test shots, the result of which is not included in the report card. Next, the arrow is given 5 shots, for which it is allocated 10 minutes. The shooter also has three minute preparation before starting the test.

Photo 2. Air gun brand IZH-38. Similar weapons are used in shooting competitions.

The fire is carried out from pneumatic weapons of the brand VP(type IZH-38, IZH-60, MR-512, IZH-32, MR-532, MLG, DIANA) standing or sitting. The distance to the target depends on the rank of the participants. For the third degree, fire is fired from five meters, for the rest - from ten meters. The organizer provides weapons for performing the test.

Venues

For competitions, a shooting range or other site is used, which must meet the requirements of the competition. A shooting range or area includes the following elements:

line of fire, as well as position for firing;
a line or series of targets;
a specially fenced area where participants prepare;
a storage room where rifles, ammunition, medals or other items used in competitions are stored;
area for the panel of judges.

The line of fire itself should be divided into two zones:

The firing line itself, with positions for shooters, is up to one meter wide and one and a half meters deep.
An area for coaching staff, competition leaders, and spectators. In this case, the territory must be separated by a barrier from the firing line.

Shooting positions must be in the same plane. The front boundary of the firing line is indicated by a colored line on the floor (the width of this line is not included in the firing range).

Reference. No part of the shooter's body must be in contact with the surface of the shooting range lying in front of the firing line.

In addition, shooting positions are equipped stand with stand, on which an observation tube, a chair or stool for the participant, and a chair or stool for the judge are attached.

Shooting exercises

Within the framework of the “Ready for Labor and Defense” standard, namely in performing air rifle shooting when the target is removed at a distance of five and ten meters the following are provided:

shooting while standing;
prone shooting;
shooting from the knee;
shooting from a position similar to the location of the target.

Manufacturing

An important aspect for successful shooting is the correct starting position. In general, you need:

take the appropriate position for shooting;
aim at the target;
hold the breath;
close your eyes for a short time;
after opening them, check again with the shooting target.

In most cases, after opening the eyes, the original aiming point is lost. While holding your breath and closing your eyes, third-party muscle groups can negatively affect your aiming accuracy. You need to understand which muscles will have a greater influence on accuracy.

Photo 3. Setting up for shooting while standing with an air rifle. The position of all body parts is shown.

Next, you need to find the most stable position of all parts of the body, while the shooter should not feel muscle tension. Good result stabilization can be achieved by performing a similar operation repeatedly.

Shooting from a standing position is considered the most difficult. In this case, the shooter has only two points of support, which in turn are quite far removed from the center of gravity of the shooter and his rifle.

Attention! Practice shows that first of all need to practice shooting techniques while sitting before moving on to firing while standing.

Standing shooting starts with: The shooter comes close to the line of fire, without stepping on it, approximately half a turn to the right in relation to the aiming line.

The shooter's legs must remain straight, with his feet at shoulder level. The weight of the body must be distributed on both legs, but at the same time maintain a slight tilt of the body forward towards the toes. It is worth bending your back a little to compensate for the weight of the rifle, while spreading your toes.

The rifle is mounted right hand followed by placing the rifle in the notch of the right shoulder. Left hand while holding the gun by the fore-end. Depending on the physique of the shooter, he either presses the elbow of his left hand to chest and stomach, or rests his elbow on hip joint.

Targets

A classic target is used for shooting at number 8. At the same time, for shooting from a distance of five and ten meters the same target is used.

Blowjob number eight has a common size eighty by eighty millimeters.

Reference. The diameter of the target itself is forty-five and a half millimeters. A black apple has a diameter thirty and a half millimeters. Ten - about half a millimeter.

General requirements for weapons and equipment

The following samples are allowed for air rifle shooting competitions: spring-piston (SPP), multi-compression (MK), compression (K), pre-pumped (PCP), carbon dioxide (CO2).

A collimator and optical sight can also be used. Pneumatic gun muzzle diameter - 4,5 millimeter. The bullet also has a caliber 4.5 millimeters.

Prohibited use various options bipod or other mechanical stops.

Security measures

To ensure maximum safety for participants, judges, and observers, it is important:

fire strictly at the judge's command;
shoot, making sure that there are no people on the line of fire;
exclude pointing a weapon at participants, judges or spectators;
check the rifle before use, in case of malfunction, contact the organizers;
avoid eye contact with the muzzle;
Do not place foreign objects into the barrel or chamber.

Responsibilities and rights of participants

The shooter must not rely on additional objects or structures while firing. The rifle at the same time must be firmly secured with both hands, and rested on the shoulder, shooting from the hip is prohibited. Slings cannot be used on rifles.

Attention! Participants must strictly follow the instructions of coaches and judges. Refusal or violation will result in disqualification. The participant is responsible for any physical or material damage resulting from careless and thoughtless handling of equipment.

Sports shooting- a sport in which athletes compete in shooting accuracy from different types weapons.

History of the emergence and development of sports shooting

Shooting sport is considered one of the most ancient applied sports. It appeared back in the distant times of bows and crossbows. In the middle of the 14th century, bows and crossbows evolved into firearms, after which bullet shooting began to actively develop.

In 1449, the first shooting societies began to appear in France. firearms, later they appeared in England and the USA.

In 1896, rifle and pistol shooting competitions were included in the program of the first Olympic Games in 1896, and since 1897, World Shooting Championships began to be held regularly.

Types of sports shooting

Bullet shooting - one of the types shooting sports, in which athletes compete in shooting from air, small-caliber, large-caliber rifles and pistols. Bullet shooting is Olympic form sports, in particular, the Olympic program includes 5 rifle shooting exercises (MV-5, VP-4, MV-6, MV-9, VP-6) and the same number of pistol shooting exercises (MP-5, PP-2, MP -6, MP-8, PP-3).

Abbreviations indicating the type of weapon:

VP- pneumatic rifle
MV- small-caliber rifle
AB- standard large-caliber rifle
PV- any large-caliber rifle
PP- air gun
MP- small-caliber pistol
RP- revolver-pistol of central combat.

Exercises:

MV-5— shooting from a small-caliber rifle, distance 50 m. Position — prone, standing, kneeling, 3x20 shots.

VP-4- Pneumatic rifle. 40 shots standing. Time 1 hour 15 minutes. An unlimited number of test shots are allowed before taking the scoring shots.

MV-6- Random small-caliber rifle. Distance 50 m. Target No. 7. Shooting is carried out in the following sequence: 40 shots prone (1 hour 00 minutes), 40 standing (1 hour 30 minutes), 40 from the knee (1 hour 15 minutes). In each position, an unlimited number of test shots are allowed before performing scoring shots. The winner is determined by the sum of points scored in three positions.

MV-9- Random small-caliber rifle. Distance 50 m. Target No. 7. Shooting is carried out in the following sequence: 20 shots while lying down, 20 while standing, 20 from the knee. The total time for shooting from three positions is 2 hours 30 minutes. In each position, an unlimited number of test shots are allowed before performing scoring shots.

VP-6- Pneumatic rifle. Distance 10 m. Target No. 8. 60 shots standing. Time 1 hour 45 min. An unlimited number of test shots are allowed before taking the scoring shots.

MP-5- a standard (sports) small-caliber pistol (in the international classification the pistol for exercise MP-5) is usually called sports, although this is the same pistol from which exercise MP-10 is performed. Distance 25 m. The exercise is divided into two parts. The first - 30 shots - is fired at a stationary target No. 4, the second - 30 shots - at an appearing target No. 5. Shooting is carried out in series of 5 shots at one target. In the first half, each series is completed in 6 minutes; in the second half of each series, the target appears 5 times for 3 seconds, during which the shooter fires one shot (pauses between target appearances are 7 seconds). First, all participants perform the first half of the exercise, and then the second.

PP-2— shooting from an air pistol, distance 10 m, 40 shots.

PP-3— shooting from an air pistol, distance 10 m, 60 shots. Time 1 hour 45 min. An unlimited number of test shots are allowed before the start of scoring shots.

MP-6- any small-caliber pistol. Distance 50 m. Target No. 4. 60 shots. Time 2 hours 00 minutes. An unlimited number of test shots are allowed before taking the scoring shots.

MP-8- rapid-fire small-caliber pistol. Distance 25 m. 5 simultaneously appearing targets No. 5. 60 shots. Shooting is carried out in series of 5 shots; The shooter fires one shot at each of the five simultaneously appearing targets. The exercise is divided into 2 halves, each of which consists of two sets of 8 s, two of 6 s, and two of 4 s. Before the start of the test shooting, one test series is performed in each half of the exercise for 8 seconds. First, all participants perform the first half of the exercise, and then the second.

The numbers in the abbreviations indicate the serial number of the exercise in the national sports classification in bullet shooting.

Skeet shooting- one of the types of shooting sports in which athletes compete in shooting at open shooting ranges. Shooting is carried out with shot from smoothbore shotguns at special skeet targets.

The Olympic Games include 3 skeet shooting disciplines:

Round stand - athletes fire at clay pigeons, moving from one shooting station to another (8 in total), and also changing the shooting angle relative to the trajectories of flying targets.
Trench stand - athletes fire at clay pigeons thrown out of a trench in a random direction.
A double trap is the same as a trench stand, but the skeet is thrown out in pairs and the shooting is done in doublets.

Practical shooting- one of the types of shooting sports, the goal of which is to master and develop techniques that best suit various cases of using firearms.

Shooting skill is assessed as a balance of three main components:

Accuracy - points for hitting targets;
Speed - time from the start signal to the last shot;
Power - the use of weapons of greater power is encouraged by a large number of points awarded for hitting the scoring zones of targets, in addition, a minimum caliber and a minimum power factor are established.

The result is the sum of points for hitting all targets, including penalties, divided by the execution time.

Benchrest shooting is one of the types of shooting sports, the goal of the athletes is to fire five (or ten) shots at the scoring target; The smaller the group size, the higher the shooter’s place in the competition. In this case, shooting is performed while sitting at a special table with the rifle placed at point-blank range for shooting.

The following table shooting disciplines are distinguished:

benchrest BR-50 - shooting from small-caliber devices;
short benchrest - shooting at a distance of 100, 200 or 300 (meters or yards);
benchrest Long Range - shooting at distances: 500, 600, 1000 (meters or yards) and mile.

Varminting is one of the types of shooting sports in which athletes compete in shooting at long and ultra-long distances, mainly at rodents. It is allowed to use artificial targets that imitate the silhouette of marmots.

sniping- one of the types of shooting sports in which athletes compete in shooting from sniper weapons.

It is divided into pistol shooting, rifle shooting, and rifle shooting at a moving target. It is produced by a bullet from rifled weapons: pneumatic (4.5 mm), small-caliber (5.6 mm) and large-caliber (6.5 mm - 7.62 mm for rifles and 7.62-9.65 mm for pistols).

Targets are printed using a printing method on dense white or cream-colored material. When pierced by a bullet, such a target retains the outline of the bullet hole without excessively rough distortions and tears along the edges of the hole. The sizes and dimensions of the hole advantage zones are different, depending on the type of weapon and the distance from the line of fire to the target line.

Nowadays, all major international competitions are held using electronic target systems that determine the value of a hole by acoustic, optical or combined methods.

Every year, shooting competitions at various levels are held: from regional tournaments to world and European championships. Currently, the rules of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) for bullet shooting provide for 15 men's and 9 women's exercises that are included in the programs international competitions. The compulsory Olympic program includes 6 men's exercises and 4 female. Within the framework of the Russian Shooting Union, competitions are held in 46 exercises.

In official ISSF documents and results reports of international competitions, short names of exercises are used, including the shooting distance, type of weapon and number of shots (for example: “50 m Free Rifle. 3x40 shots”).

In Russia, an abbreviation has been introduced for each exercise - two letters and numbers. The letters indicate the type of weapon (VP - air rifle; MV - small-caliber rifle; AB - (army) standard large-caliber rifle; PV - arbitrary large-caliber rifle; PP - air pistol; MP - small-caliber pistol; RP - large-caliber pistol (center fire revolver), and the numbers are the serial number of this exercise in the national sports classification for bullet shooting.

Types of shooting

Rifle shooting

Rifles for performing sports shooting exercises are divided by type: pneumatic (caliber - 4.5 mm), small-caliber (caliber - 5.6 mm) and large-caliber (caliber - from 6.5 mm to - 7.62 mm). All types of rifles must be single-shot (except large-bore standard rifles, which may have a magazine). The distance from the firing line to the target line is from 10 to 300 meters.

To shoot from a rifle, the positions taken are “prone”, “kneeling” or “standing”.

“Lying” position: the athlete lies on the ground or a special mat, leaning on his elbows. The weapon must be held with two hands and the right shoulder (for a left-handed athlete - the left). While aiming, the shooter's cheek can be pressed against the butt of the rifle. The forearms are clearly separated from the mat. The forearm of the left hand supporting the rifle must form an angle of at least 30 degrees with the surface of the firing position. The use of a gun sling is permitted.

Kneeling position: the athlete sits on bent leg, under the rise of which a roller is placed. The foot of the leg in front, the knee and toe of the other leg are on the ground or on the mat. The weapon is held with two hands and the right shoulder. The elbow of the left hand holding the rifle must rest on the left knee and cannot be displaced from the kneecap more than 100 mm forward or 150 mm back. The use of a gun sling is permitted.

Standing position: the athlete is standing. The weapon is held with two hands, the right shoulder, the cheek and part of the chest near the right shoulder. The butt rests on the shoulder of the opposite hand. The use of a gun sling is not permitted.

Athletes are given at least 10 minutes to prepare for the exercise.
The use of special shooting suits and boots is permitted.
The use of optical sights is prohibited, but the use of a vision-correcting lens is possible.

Pistol shooting

Pistols for performing sports shooting exercises are divided by type into pneumatic, small-caliber and large-caliber (revolver). Air pistols of 4.5 mm caliber are permitted, operating on compressed air or compressed gas and loaded with only one bullet when firing. All air pistol pellets must be made of lead or a similar soft material. Small-caliber pistols - 5.6 mm caliber chambered for side-fire. Large-caliber pistol (center-fire revolver) - caliber from 7.62 to 9.65 mm.

Pistols and revolvers can only be fired while standing, holding the weapon freely outstretched arm.
In speed exercises, the competition rules impose a special requirement on the preparation before starting the exercise: the hand with the weapon must be tilted down, at an angle of at least 45 ° to the direction of fire.

When performing the exercise, the shooter must be in his assigned shooting position (firing position), without moving beyond the front boundary of the firing line and without leaning on anything during shooting.

Before the start of the exercise, shooters are given time to prepare depending on the type of exercise. The use of optical sights is prohibited, but the use of a vision-correcting lens is possible.

Shooting at a moving target

Shooting at a moving target is carried out from single-shot rifles. For shooting at 50 m, a small-caliber rifle (5.6 mm caliber) chambered for a side-fire cartridge is used. For shooting at 10 m - an air rifle (caliber 4.5 mm), operating on compressed air or gas. The use of optical sights is permitted. At 50 m the magnification of the sight is not limited, at 10 m the magnification is limited (4x). The use of special shooting jackets is permitted.

For shooting at 50 m, a “Running Boar” target is used with a drawn silhouette of a boar and a target located in the middle of the body.

For shooting at 10 m, a target is used, like for shooting from an air rifle, but with aiming points located on the left and right (electronic target), or a paper target with an aiming point between two targets.

The targets move alternately from right to left and from left to right, passing through an open space - a “window”. The passage of a target through a “window” is called a run. The target must pass the “window” in 5 seconds when running slowly, and in 2.5 seconds when running fast. Only one shot is fired in each run. In each half of the exercise, before the scoring runs, the shooter is given 4 test runs - 2 on the right and on the left side of the movement. In trial runs, the target moves at the same speed as in the subsequent test series. Shooting at moving targets is carried out only from a “standing” position and occurs from a dismounted position, and before the target appears in the run window, the butt of the weapon must be at the belt.

Shooting sport is one of the oldest applied sports. At first they competed in archery and crossbow shooting, with the advent of firearms in the mid-14th century, they began to compete in shooting from smoothbore rifles. The creation of rifled weapons led to the emergence of bullet shooting.

Besides practical shooting, about which you can learn a lot from our previous articles, to the main types sport shooting include: bullet, clay pigeon shooting, benchrest, varminting and sniping.

1. Bullet shooting

A type of shooting sport in which athletes use rifle: pneumatic, small-caliber and large caliber rifles and pistols. The goal is static and moving targets in the shooting range. Shooting can be done lying down, standing or kneeling.

Bullet shooting was included in the program of the first Olympic Games in 1896. One of the initiators was Pierre de Coubertin, who himself was a seven-time French champion in bullet shooting. Now at the Olympics in this sport, medals are awarded in 10 exercises: 5 in the rifle and 5 in the pistol.

Olympic exercises:

VP-6(men) – air rifle. Distance 10 meters, target No. 8, 60 shots standing.
VP-4(women) – air rifle. Distance 10 meters, target No. 8, 40 shots standing.
MV-6(men) – small-caliber rifle. Shooting from three positions (prone, standing, kneeling). Distance 50 meters, target No. 7. It is necessary to fire 40 shots from each position.

MV-5(women) – small-caliber rifle. Shooting from three positions (prone, standing, kneeling). Distance 50 meters, target No. 7. It is necessary to fire 20 shots from each position.
MV-9(men) – small-caliber rifle. Distance 50 meters, target No. 7. 60 shots prone.
PP-2(women) – air pistol. Distance 10 meters, target No. 9. 40 shots.

PP-3(men) – air pistol. Distance 10 meters, target No. 9. 60 shots.
MP-5(women) - standard small-caliber pistol. Distance 25 meters. The exercise is divided into 2 parts. The first is 30 shots at a stationary target No. 4, the second is 30 shots at a appearing target No. 5.
MP-6(men) – a random small-caliber pistol. Distance 50 meters, target No. 4. 60 shots.
MP-8(men) - standard small-caliber pistol. Distance 25 meters, 5 simultaneously appearing targets No. 5. 60 shots.

Besides Olympic disciplines The shooting program includes a number of non-Olympic ones.

2. Skeet shooting

Skeet shooting is shooting at special flying clay pigeon targets. Shooting is carried out at open shooting ranges with a smoothbore, but not an air gun.

Skeet shooting dates back to the Middle Ages. Back then, hunters held bird shooting competitions. First medals Olympic Games skeet shooting was played in 1900. Then the fire was directed at live pigeons thrown into the air; a little later the birds were replaced by saucers.

IN Olympic program includes competitions in 3 skeet disciplines: trench skeet, round skeet and double trap.

trench stand (TRAP). Athletes shoot at clay pigeons, which are thrown out of a trench in a random direction by 15 throwing machines. Until the moment the target takes off, the shooter does not know where it will fly. Each target is given 1 cartridge.

double ladder The competition is held on the principle of a trench stand, only the plates are thrown out in pairs rather than one at a time. Shooting is carried out in doublet.

round stand. Shooters move from one shooting station to another (there are 8 in total), changing the shooting angle. The skeet takes off at different heights, the targets fly towards each other.

There is another discipline of skeet shooting that is not included in the Olympic Games program - sporting.

Sporting (hunting shooting) is a type of clay pigeon shooting that unites almost all sports and hunting disciplines. Athletes need to shoot at targets flying through the air and moving on the ground, simulating the flight of birds and the running of animals.

3. Benchrest

A shooting and technical sport based on high-precision shooting. Benchrest appeared during the shooting process small arms from a sandbag.

Benchrest- This is shooting for accuracy. The shooter's main task is to fire 5 (or 10) shots at one point. sits at a special table, the rifle is mounted with the fore-end on the front stop. Athletes in this type of shooting sport must be able to “read” and compensate for the wind, without this skill high results You can't achieve it in benchrest.

Benchrest competitions are held for both short and long distances.

benchrest BR-50– shooting from small-caliber devices;
short benchrest– shooting at a distance of 100, 200 or 300 (meters or yards);
benchrest Long Range– shooting at distances of 500, 600, 1000 (meters or yards) and mile.

4.Varminting

A type of high-precision shooting, which is based on the type of hunting for rodents (marmots, rats and other small animals).

For varminting, there is a special type of weapon designed specifically for this sport: the Varmint Rifle. This is a small-caliber rifle (5.6 mm), equipped with a heavy barrel and a strong optical sight (tenfold or more magnification).

Shooting is done from a rest (tripod or stand). Artificial targets that imitate the silhouette of marmots are used as targets in varminting.

5. Sniping

Sniping is shooting for accuracy from different positions, at previously unknown distances, in a limited period of time in the field. Athletes shoot from sniper rifles.

Sniping is divided into sports and practical.

1) sporty– this is shooting at targets in order to achieve the best result and receive prizes;

2) practical- the lot of military personnel and law enforcement officers. Practical sniping in turn is divided into:

police officer- competitions in urban areas, at distances where objects are located in the city (on average 50-300 meters;
military– shooters have to shoot at a distance of 500 to 1500 meters in mountainous and wooded areas

Again I was drawn to the hardball theme. Today we will consider such a phenomenon in our sports shooting world as bullet shooting.

I would like to start with historical information. The shooting movement in Russia began to develop at the end XIX century, and the first shooting competitions took place in Khabarovsk May 25, 1898. So, gentlemen, fellow club members, we live next door to the birthplace of shooting sports in Russia.

Types of sports shooting

And now about bullet shooting. Shooting is highlighted:

from a pistol;
from a rifle;
on a moving target.

At the same time, the spread in the choice of weapons is also quite large:

pneumatic (4.5 mm);
small-caliber (5.6 mm);
large-caliber (6.5-7.62 mm for rifles, 7.62-9.65 mm for pistols).

In the Russian Federation, bullet shooting is supervised by the Shooting Union of Russia, in the world - by the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF).

Rifle shooting

Rifles from air to large-caliber are used. Distance to target – from 10 m to 300 m.

For shooting, the following positions are used: “prone”, “kneeling”, “standing”. The use of optical sights of any kind is prohibited.

Pistol shooting

Pistols, again, are used in all three types - pneumatic, small-caliber, large-caliber. Shooting is carried out only from a standing position, the weapon is held in one hand outstretched. Optics are not allowed here either.

Shooting at a moving target

Shooting is carried out from an air rifle (10 m) or a small-caliber rifle (50 m). The use of optics is permitted. At 50 m - any magnification, at 10 m - up to 4 times. Shooting is carried out only from a standing position.

At 10m a modified conventional target is used with an aiming point between a pair of targets:

Moving target 10 meters

At 50 m they shoot at the “boar”:

Moving target 50 meters

The targets move in both directions (left-right). When the target passes through an open space (“window”), one shot is fired.