Wartime Rifle Training Returns

[thedrifter]

Wartime Rifle Training Returns
Strategy page

February 28, 2007: As has happened several times in the past century, combat experience has caused rifle training to get more realistic. It works like this. In peacetime, there's a tendency for marksmanship training to become rather sterile, with troops graded on their ability to hit obvious targets (often the traditional bull's-eye) at specific distances. When a war comes along, and a lot of people realize that you don't shoot at obvious targets, at known distances, in combat, the rifle training and testing tends to change. It becomes more realistic. So the U.S. Marine Corps has changed its rifle qualification procedures. Marines will now wear combat gear, and fire at the kind of unexpected targets they would encounter in combat. There's still some of the old "known distance" firing, but the "combat firing" performance counts a lot more towards your qualification score. If you cannot demonstrate a certain degree of accuracy firing a rifle, at annual "qualifications," you can no longer be a marine. The army has a similar program, but in the navy and air force, only troops in jobs that require the use of small arms, are rules like this imposed.

Ellie

[SkilletsUSMC]

Theres nothing new about this training, other than they are including it into KD ranges. Maybe its that non combat MOSs are doing too. I may a have a skewed view being in the grunts and all.

[FistFu68]

I HEAR YOU ON THAT ONE!NON RIFLEMAN,STUMBLING AROUND;WITH THE SAFETY OFF AND FRIGGING FINGER ON THE TRIGGER???

[PerXes]

We did this in Boot Camp, but it wasn't really truly required that we pass anything, although they told us we would be scored. I'll actually be doing it again next month for my drill weekend. I seem to recall from the rundown I heard last weekend, that there might be a couple extra things in there that we didn't do in Boot Camp, but I don't remember for sure.

[sgt tony]

Well in 1982 I was shooting with the 2nd MAW rife team and we done a similar course and they called it rattle battle. We was in full gear and started at the 500 yrd line and we had to change our dope and reloud as we was doing different movements and the targets would come up at any time and drop at there choice. This was fun and my unit came in 2nd. This was not a easy course to get a good score. I was on the rife team for the 2nd Marine Air Wing. But I was a a 0311 for four years and I shoot on a many team.

[ZSKI]

This could be fun, but i probally won't do it unless we do it at AT, my unit is to broke to afford the rounds for the regular qual.