Optics may join boot camp for good

[Lisa 23]

Optics may join boot camp for good


By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 24, 2011 8:22:03 EDT

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — Marksmanship experts here anticipate they’ll soon develop a plan for the Marine Corps to permanently adopt rifle optics at entry-level training, a significant change at boot camp and The Basic School.

The plan will be developed as part of a five-day combat marksmanship symposium beginning Monday. It would still need approval from Lt. Gen. Richard Mills, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, and other top Marine officials.

The Rifle Combat Optic, or RCO, has been in use by new lieutenants at TBS since June and by recruits at Parris Island, S.C., and in San Diego since July as part of an ongoing pilot program to determine whether it would improve effectiveness in combat.

Early results gathered by the Quantico-based Marine Corps Operational Test and Evaluation Activity have shown that the number of new lieutenants qualifying as “expert” has improved from about 60 percent to more than 75 percent, said Col. Timothy Armstrong, head of the Weapons Training Battalion based here. The number of recruits qualifying as “expert” jumped from about 40 to 45 percent to close to 60 percent, he said.

“We’ve had decades of refinement on how to train a shooter with iron sights,” Armstrong said. “In this concept of using the RCO at ELT, it was ‘This is your service rifle, the M16A4 with RCO.’ Recruits are issued that on Day One and lieutenants are issued that. The fundamentals of marksmanship never changed, but we really had to dig into how we instruct this.”The movement comes after years of heated debate about whether it makes sense to train with iron sights in entry-level training, only to be handed the RCO later. Advocates have said the change is overdue because Marines were forced to relearn fundamentals of marksmanship with the RCO after receiving intensive entry-level training without it. Others have said that a Marine must learn with iron sights first, rather than relying on technology.

The pilot program was established after officers with the Plans, Policies and Operations branch at Marine Corps headquarters asked marksmanship officials to assess the pros and cons of using optics at entry-level training, and whether making them the primary aiming device made sense, Armstrong said. The discussion was incorporated into a marksmanship symposium held in March.

Under the pilot program, recruits have spent nearly all of their range time using the optic, but they’ve also qualified with iron sights. New Marines receive additional training with iron sights at School of Infantry courses run by the Infantry Training Battalion and the Marine Combat Training Battalion, marksmanship officials said.

The discussion has received attention at the highest levels of the service.
The Corps announced in October 2010 that it would stick with its plan to keep scopes away from boot camp and TBS. That decision was pushed by Gen. James Conway, who retired as commandant later that month.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news...ining-102411w/

[Apache]

So the ability to pick up almost any weapon and be effective with it has just diminished ?

OPINION ONLY
Incorrect move

[Sgt Leprechaun]

I concur. You have to know the BASICS before you play with the optics. And what happens when your batteries die?

Incorrect move IMO as well.

[slug]

As already stated, boot camp is to learn the basics. Hell, I would say that most of the Marine Corps still has bare iron sights on their old M16s. I haven't seen many RCOs outside of the grunts and combat support units.

Leave the recruits with M16s, iron sights, classic hand guards, and whatever else is bare bones basic.

[SSgtRSD]

First, RCO doesn't require batteries. Second, last time I deployed (granted, Iraq in 08) I saw very few Marines without an ACOG. Even when I got out in 08, and went into the Reserves, our whole HQ Btry had ACOGs. I do agree that it may be a mistake to still not teach with iron sights in boot camp. However, if the Corps goes to all ACOGs, why teach iron sights? Are we just holding on to the history at that point? We don't teach bolt action rifle manipulation. **all hypothetical**.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Interesting. However...(and feel free to correct me) shouldn't learning the 'basics' be just that? I don't teach my LEO rookies to fire with any sort of devices at ALL until they've at least mastered the 'basics' of pistol handling. Granted, yes, this is a handgun not a rifle...but isn't it the same thing on principle?

Or maybe I'm just too old for the Buck Rogers generation LOL

[FrankTheTank]

I cannot speak to all of this, but as far as Marine's going into theatre with the RCO/ACOG...I have never seen any Marine without them on their weapon. I see them all day, every day, without fail. That being said, I do know Marines that prefer the iron sights on moving targets.