thedrifter
08-30-05, 12:58 PM
September 05, 2005
Range changes
Updated rifle course brings new scoring system, tougher field firing, additional phases
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
Want to qualify with your M16A4 or even your M4 carbine? Go ahead. Got a new three-point sling? Bring that, too. But the Corps’ new rifle marksmanship program will require you to take the field-firing portion a lot more seriously than you do now and you can forget about qualifying on Tuesday and going home early.
The program that goes into effect Oct. 1 is longer, tougher, more flexible, more realistic and has more “teeth” in it now, to hear one gunner tell it. But when you finish it, you’ll be better prepared for combat shooting than ever before, officials say.
It’s all part of a plan to vastly improve the Corps’ marksmanship program. After a couple false starts over the last year or two, Corps officials are making big changes they say will improve the way Marines requalify with the rifle each year.
The five-day program that kicks off in October is only an interim program; range officers, gunners and others will work to make a broader, even more systematic marksmanship program over the next year or two. But for now, the new program is considered head and shoulders above the old one because it’s far more attuned to combat and holds Marines more accountable for the training each year, officials say.
“This is a huge step in the right direction,” said Capt. Dan Griffiths, assistant marksmanship coordinator with Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico, Va.
What’s downrange
Soon, you won’t be able to speed through rifle requalification like you’re running a PFT. The new program keeps you on the range for a full week — no exceptions — because you can’t qualify early anymore. And the field-firing portion now has an effect on your bottom-line score. Also, the scoring system for the known-distance course has been totally revamped too — scoring is once again based on a total of 250 points, a system that Marines who have been around the block a few times will remember well.
Now, rifle qualification will be full of learning moments, and not just a yearly tasker that drags you away from that ever-growing stack of work back at the shop.
Officials say the new program also:
• Focuses on basic marksmanship by creating a more logical progression of training.
• Changes targets, replacing the “dog” targets used in the hit-or-miss scoring system with circular targets appropriate for the new scoring system.
• Allows Marines to qualify with the weapon they carry — whether it’s the M16A2, A4 or M4 carbine, and lets shooters use the new three-point “tactical” sling that is gaining popularity among Marines.
• Minimizes the number of Marines who can “opt out” of requalifying if they’ve shot expert previously.
• Requires units to conduct their own combat-related courses of fire starting Jan. 1.
“The program is going to be a phenomenal improvement,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Jones, the head of Training and Education Command at Quantico, who will retire Sept. 8. “It more closely represents how they’re using a weapon in combat.”
The aim is to bring Marines back to the basics: It’s no longer a check-the-box-and-move-on evolution — it’s becoming an annual training session that focuses the shooting skills Marines will need in combat, according to those who helped put the new program together.
“There is more of a focus on training than there is on just getting a score,” said Griffiths, who spoke on a Quantico range as he watched gunners and range officers from around the Corps shoot the new program Aug. 25.
Apart from the scoring changes, one of the biggest — and perhaps most intimidating — differences Marines will see is in the field-firing portion. What Marines will notice first is that the targets are a lot closer. Instead of shooting the “Table 2” program at distances of 200 and 300 yards, the focus is on plugging targets from just 25 yards.
And here’s where it gets interesting: The field-firing portion is now a tested event. Marines will shoot for a pass/fail grade and if they pass, good on ’em. But if they fail, they’ll have to go through remedial training and no matter what their K-D score was, it drops to 190, the minimum passing K-D score.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 John Bennett, Quantico’s range officer, said he has noticed that since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Marines began to get serious about the field-firing portion. Still, this new phase — actually, it’s not called a phase anymore, it’s called a table — with its two days of instruction and qualification and its effect on the Marine’s bottom-line score has a lot more meaning.
“It’s got big teeth and people will take it more seriously,” Bennett said.
Fewer exemptions
There are other aspects of the program Marines may — or may not — like.
Under the current rifle requal program, Marines who shoot expert for two consecutive years don’t have to go back out to the range. Now, that exemption will be a bit harder to get, Griffiths said. If a Marine shot expert, but only has a score of 220, for example, his commander now has more authority to order him out to the range the following year.
“I think it was defined more as a right than a privilege,” Griffiths said of the prior exemption.
The Corps is also allocating up to 67 million rounds for the combat-related aspects of the marksmanship program found in the updated field-firing portion and two new unit-level training packages — tables 3 and 4 — that debut Jan. 1. More ammo means fewer headaches for range officers and unit commanders, who in the past have had to hunt down enough rounds to conduct combat shooting, he said.
The new program also applies to the Marine Corps Reserve, but the tables will be modified to reflect the needs of Reserve training. Officials are now working out the details on that, Griffiths said.
All Marine units will be required to shoot an additional course of fire over two- or three-days’ time at some point each year called Table 3. Infantry units will have yet another program to shoot now known as Table 4.
These two programs are new. When they are incorporated into the marksmanship program this winter, all Marines will get an additional three days of close-combat shooting experience and grunts will get as many as six days of marksmanship training.
Not every Marine a rifleman?
As a whole, the new course looks like it finally answers the mail on long-standing concerns among enlisted leaders about the state of the Corps’ marksmanship skills.
A group of noncommissioned officers visited Washington in the summer of 2001 to propose ways to improve the Corps, and chief among its gripes was the notion that that non-infantry Marines were neglecting basic rifleman skills.
The Marines, who discussed issues with the then-commandant and sergeant major of the Marine Corps at the NCO Symposium, said the Corps was unwittingly loosening its standards on those skills and they recommended changes to tighten things up.
The mere suggestion that the Corps’ “every Marine a rifleman” ethos was beginning to ring hollow freaked out some senior Corps leaders, some of whom dismissed the concerns as the usual NCO grumbling.
But it turned out the concern had some legs. In the last few years, officials have attempted to improve marksmanship training by incorporating changes that would force units to spend more time at the rifle range.
Corps officials proposed radical changes to the marksmanship program in summer 2003, dropping the field-firing portion of the exercise and turning it over to individual units, instead emphasizing on pre-firing exercises the week before. However, Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee shot those changes down in March 2004. Corps officials said it was the wrong time to implement a new marksmanship program, especially with thousands of Marines overseas in Iraq.
Fast-forward to April of this year, when the Corps held a marksmanship conference in which new interim changes were proposed, approved and put on a fast track to prepare Marines for the combat they’re seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s more realistic,” said Bennett, referring to the new program as a true “meeting of the minds” of range officers and infantry weapons officers.
Another gunner said he thinks the new emphasis on close-combat shooting should help Marines who in real-world operations are more likely to experience close-in urban fights than long-distance shoot-outs with enemy troops hundreds of yards away.
“It’s more combat-orientated,” said CWO-3 Reynaldo Vellido, the gunner for 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa, Japan, who was shooting the program at Quantico. “It’s the way Marines are going to be shooting in combat.”
The Corps’ new five-day marksmanship re-qualification program adds some events, eliminates others and bears little resemblance to the current program. The new lineup allows Marines to fire not just the M16A2, but also the M16A4 or the M4 carbine. Portions of the new program debut Oct. 1, with additional events joining the lineup starting Jan. 1.
The lineup starting Oct. 1:
Ellie
Range changes
Updated rifle course brings new scoring system, tougher field firing, additional phases
By Gordon Lubold
Times staff writer
Want to qualify with your M16A4 or even your M4 carbine? Go ahead. Got a new three-point sling? Bring that, too. But the Corps’ new rifle marksmanship program will require you to take the field-firing portion a lot more seriously than you do now and you can forget about qualifying on Tuesday and going home early.
The program that goes into effect Oct. 1 is longer, tougher, more flexible, more realistic and has more “teeth” in it now, to hear one gunner tell it. But when you finish it, you’ll be better prepared for combat shooting than ever before, officials say.
It’s all part of a plan to vastly improve the Corps’ marksmanship program. After a couple false starts over the last year or two, Corps officials are making big changes they say will improve the way Marines requalify with the rifle each year.
The five-day program that kicks off in October is only an interim program; range officers, gunners and others will work to make a broader, even more systematic marksmanship program over the next year or two. But for now, the new program is considered head and shoulders above the old one because it’s far more attuned to combat and holds Marines more accountable for the training each year, officials say.
“This is a huge step in the right direction,” said Capt. Dan Griffiths, assistant marksmanship coordinator with Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico, Va.
What’s downrange
Soon, you won’t be able to speed through rifle requalification like you’re running a PFT. The new program keeps you on the range for a full week — no exceptions — because you can’t qualify early anymore. And the field-firing portion now has an effect on your bottom-line score. Also, the scoring system for the known-distance course has been totally revamped too — scoring is once again based on a total of 250 points, a system that Marines who have been around the block a few times will remember well.
Now, rifle qualification will be full of learning moments, and not just a yearly tasker that drags you away from that ever-growing stack of work back at the shop.
Officials say the new program also:
• Focuses on basic marksmanship by creating a more logical progression of training.
• Changes targets, replacing the “dog” targets used in the hit-or-miss scoring system with circular targets appropriate for the new scoring system.
• Allows Marines to qualify with the weapon they carry — whether it’s the M16A2, A4 or M4 carbine, and lets shooters use the new three-point “tactical” sling that is gaining popularity among Marines.
• Minimizes the number of Marines who can “opt out” of requalifying if they’ve shot expert previously.
• Requires units to conduct their own combat-related courses of fire starting Jan. 1.
“The program is going to be a phenomenal improvement,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Jones, the head of Training and Education Command at Quantico, who will retire Sept. 8. “It more closely represents how they’re using a weapon in combat.”
The aim is to bring Marines back to the basics: It’s no longer a check-the-box-and-move-on evolution — it’s becoming an annual training session that focuses the shooting skills Marines will need in combat, according to those who helped put the new program together.
“There is more of a focus on training than there is on just getting a score,” said Griffiths, who spoke on a Quantico range as he watched gunners and range officers from around the Corps shoot the new program Aug. 25.
Apart from the scoring changes, one of the biggest — and perhaps most intimidating — differences Marines will see is in the field-firing portion. What Marines will notice first is that the targets are a lot closer. Instead of shooting the “Table 2” program at distances of 200 and 300 yards, the focus is on plugging targets from just 25 yards.
And here’s where it gets interesting: The field-firing portion is now a tested event. Marines will shoot for a pass/fail grade and if they pass, good on ’em. But if they fail, they’ll have to go through remedial training and no matter what their K-D score was, it drops to 190, the minimum passing K-D score.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 John Bennett, Quantico’s range officer, said he has noticed that since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Marines began to get serious about the field-firing portion. Still, this new phase — actually, it’s not called a phase anymore, it’s called a table — with its two days of instruction and qualification and its effect on the Marine’s bottom-line score has a lot more meaning.
“It’s got big teeth and people will take it more seriously,” Bennett said.
Fewer exemptions
There are other aspects of the program Marines may — or may not — like.
Under the current rifle requal program, Marines who shoot expert for two consecutive years don’t have to go back out to the range. Now, that exemption will be a bit harder to get, Griffiths said. If a Marine shot expert, but only has a score of 220, for example, his commander now has more authority to order him out to the range the following year.
“I think it was defined more as a right than a privilege,” Griffiths said of the prior exemption.
The Corps is also allocating up to 67 million rounds for the combat-related aspects of the marksmanship program found in the updated field-firing portion and two new unit-level training packages — tables 3 and 4 — that debut Jan. 1. More ammo means fewer headaches for range officers and unit commanders, who in the past have had to hunt down enough rounds to conduct combat shooting, he said.
The new program also applies to the Marine Corps Reserve, but the tables will be modified to reflect the needs of Reserve training. Officials are now working out the details on that, Griffiths said.
All Marine units will be required to shoot an additional course of fire over two- or three-days’ time at some point each year called Table 3. Infantry units will have yet another program to shoot now known as Table 4.
These two programs are new. When they are incorporated into the marksmanship program this winter, all Marines will get an additional three days of close-combat shooting experience and grunts will get as many as six days of marksmanship training.
Not every Marine a rifleman?
As a whole, the new course looks like it finally answers the mail on long-standing concerns among enlisted leaders about the state of the Corps’ marksmanship skills.
A group of noncommissioned officers visited Washington in the summer of 2001 to propose ways to improve the Corps, and chief among its gripes was the notion that that non-infantry Marines were neglecting basic rifleman skills.
The Marines, who discussed issues with the then-commandant and sergeant major of the Marine Corps at the NCO Symposium, said the Corps was unwittingly loosening its standards on those skills and they recommended changes to tighten things up.
The mere suggestion that the Corps’ “every Marine a rifleman” ethos was beginning to ring hollow freaked out some senior Corps leaders, some of whom dismissed the concerns as the usual NCO grumbling.
But it turned out the concern had some legs. In the last few years, officials have attempted to improve marksmanship training by incorporating changes that would force units to spend more time at the rifle range.
Corps officials proposed radical changes to the marksmanship program in summer 2003, dropping the field-firing portion of the exercise and turning it over to individual units, instead emphasizing on pre-firing exercises the week before. However, Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee shot those changes down in March 2004. Corps officials said it was the wrong time to implement a new marksmanship program, especially with thousands of Marines overseas in Iraq.
Fast-forward to April of this year, when the Corps held a marksmanship conference in which new interim changes were proposed, approved and put on a fast track to prepare Marines for the combat they’re seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s more realistic,” said Bennett, referring to the new program as a true “meeting of the minds” of range officers and infantry weapons officers.
Another gunner said he thinks the new emphasis on close-combat shooting should help Marines who in real-world operations are more likely to experience close-in urban fights than long-distance shoot-outs with enemy troops hundreds of yards away.
“It’s more combat-orientated,” said CWO-3 Reynaldo Vellido, the gunner for 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa, Japan, who was shooting the program at Quantico. “It’s the way Marines are going to be shooting in combat.”
The Corps’ new five-day marksmanship re-qualification program adds some events, eliminates others and bears little resemblance to the current program. The new lineup allows Marines to fire not just the M16A2, but also the M16A4 or the M4 carbine. Portions of the new program debut Oct. 1, with additional events joining the lineup starting Jan. 1.
The lineup starting Oct. 1:
Ellie