Ft. Jackson Testing New Weapons Qualification Method

[doubleg]

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (Army News Service, March 27, 2008) -- “One shot, one kill” may be the motto of the Army sniper, but for Soldiers qualifying in Basic Rifle Marksmanship, the traditional one shot per target on the range could soon come to an end.

The Basic Combat Training Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Brigade, are testing a new BRM qualification, which combines elements they will experience on the battlefield -- movement, concealment, presence of civilians and using multiple rounds on an enemy.

“This is to give Soldiers a qualification standard that is more combat focused,” said Capt. Sammie Burkes, Company C commander. “It requires them to use those marksmanship skills they will encounter in a modern-day battlefield environment.”

L-shaped barriers have been placed in front of the berms on the firing ranges. At the start of the "Combat Shoot," Soldiers are given four 10-round magazines. As they walk down the range on a simulated patrol, targets pop up and a loudspeaker blares the sound of shots being fired at them. Soldiers are required to engage multiple targets at different distances. The targets require one to three hits before they will go down.

“Lessons learned from Afghanistan and Iraq show that you may have to engage that target more than once before it goes down,” Burkes said. “This will teach the Soldiers that lesson, versus the regular BRM where with one hit, a target goes down.”

After the first round of targets, Soldiers rush to the barrier and change magazines, and repeat the scenario three times from behind the barrier -- standing, kneeling and prone positions.

Company C drill sergeant Staff Sgt. Randall Weeks said this gives Soldiers more realistic training.

“They are actually moving, needing to find cover and reloading just like they will have to do in Iraq,” he said. “The old BRM didn’t teach them that. They are moving more. Having to run up to cover gets their heart beating. Once your heartbeat increases it actually moves your weapon and affects your aim. You have to learn how to manage it.”

During the last three scenarios a new twist is added. A target painted white appears representing a civilian. If a Soldier shoots the civilian, he or she is automatically disqualified.

“It’s teaching the Soldiers to have a little bit of target discrimination,” Burkes said.

“We’ve placed the civilian 'target' in the middle of the others,” said Weeks. “The Soldiers have to look beyond it and aim in front and behind.”

Another twist is dummy rounds loaded in the Soldier’s magazine. They can be in one, two three or all four of the magazines. The dummy rounds are designed to simulate a weapons jam, requiring Soldiers to perform SPORTS (slap, pull, observe, release, tap, shoot) to their weapon in the middle of their BRM qualification.

Burkes said he hopes the “Combat Shoot” will eventually replace the current BRM qualification.

“We would like to see this become the qualification standard versus the way we qualify now,” he said. “This is teaching Soldiers to have a little bit of target discrimination, to change magazines quickly, and that they may have to fire more than one round to put an enemy down. It keeps them more focused.”

Weeks agreed with his commander’s assessment. He said that training to the “Combat Shoot” standards makes his current group of Soldiers 100-percent better at BRM than previous cycles.

“We started teaching the techniques needed from day one of BRM. We had 100 percent of the company qualify (on the standard BRM) on the second day. In the past it would take all three days to get everybody qualified. That gives us a whole extra day of training,” he said. “When they are in Iraq, they’re not just going to be lying in a prone position or in a foxhole. They are actually going to have to learn how to get behind a car, or a wall and engage the enemy from around and over a cover.”

http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/03/27/8162-jackson-testing-new-weapons-qualification-method/

 

[rcmodel]

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

When I went through basic at Ft. Jackson, and AIT at Ft. Dix in 1964, we had what was then called Train-Fire ranges.

Sounds exactly like what they are going to do again.

The Train-Fire range had an unknown number of electronic pop-up targets at unknown ranges from point-blank out to 400 yards or so.
Hidden in brush, trees, berms, and clumps of grass & weeds.

Your job was to move foreword, spot them as they popped up, and kill them before they popped back down.

A hit knocked them down & scored them electronically.

I have always felt if you could post a high score on a train-fire range, I sure wouldn't want you shooting at me, within range of an M-14 rifle!

It was just plain excellent combat rifle training!

rcmodel

 

[sacp81170a]

We did basically the same thing in Security Police for the last 3 years I was in ('86-'89) with the Dueletron (sp?) 90 system. The exception was that in addition to sounds of gunfire instructors were throwing ground burst simulators to give us smoke and haze to shoot through. We did it first for individual score (qualified Expert) and then as 4 man fire teams, then as a squad of 3 4 man fire teams with a squad leader to practice coordinated movement. It definitely makes you communicate to keep from getting in each other's field of fire!

 

[Winchester 73]

When I went through basic at Ft. Jackson, and AIT at Ft. Dix in 1964, we had what was then called Train-Fire ranges.

Sounds exactly like what they are going to do again.

The Train-Fire range had an unknown number of electronic pop-up targets at unknown ranges from point-blank out to 400 yards or so.
Hidden in brush, trees, berms, and clumps of grass & weeds.

Your job was to move foreword, spot them as they popped up, and kill them before they popped back down.

A hit knocked them down & scored them electronically.

You are so correct.At Ft. Bragg in my Tank Battalion in Spring 1965, they switched to the method you describe for qualifying range fire.The only difference was our furthest targets were 300 yards, and by this time we had switched to the M16.
Your memory is excellent.

 

[rbernie]

When I went through basic at Ft. Jackson, and AIT at Ft. Dix in 1964, we had what was then called Train-Fire ranges.

Sounds exactly like what they are going to do again

In 1983, I went thru a similar system as you did (electronic targets hidding behind berms with unpredictable popup timing), but we did it standing still in a fighting position with single rounds on target to make it drop.

The novelty of the new system is that you qual outside of a fighting position using field positions, and you must hit each target multiple times before it will drop.

That sounds like a step in the right direction.

 

[sacp81170a]

Ya know, listening to all the ex-military from combat MOS's and AFSC's we've got around here, it makes me wonder how anybody can say with a straight face that only the police and military are qualified to have guns. There's a significant percentage of our population that has had advanced combat training, even if not all have seen combat. I got more and better training in the military than anything except what I've had to pay for as a civilian. It just doesn't make sense. Thanks for sharing your experiences guys.

 

[rbernie]

it makes me wonder how anybody can say with a straight face that only the police and military are qualified to have guns. There's a significant percentage of our population that has had advanced combat training, even if not all have seen combat.

Perhaps sadly, the inhabitants/consumers of THR do not represent a perfect slice of US demographics.

 

[alsaqr]

"When I went through basic at Ft. Jackson, and AIT at Ft. Dix in 1964, we had what was then called Train-Fire ranges."

Very good post. I went through the Trainfire thing at Ft. Jackson in 1959 when it was new.

Trainfire is/was a total debacle. Traditionally recruits spent weeks on the known distance range before qualiifying with their rifles. Then along came Trainifre and marksmanship went to pot.

For a few years I was the senior Saudi firing range advisor. We thought that the Sauds were terrible marksmen. My company had a special marksmanship program to improve their shooting skills.

When Kuwait was invaded US troops poured into Saudi. They often used our ranges. To quote my Saudi counterpart: "These US Army troops make us Saudis look like resolute marksmen."

 

[Bones11b]

At Fort Drum we had ranges similar to the one described back in 98'. Except the targets went down with one hit. I remember we used the ranges to train for Bosnia as we prepared for foot patrols in heavily mined areas. Hardest scenario was two soldiers leap frogging up adjacent lanes in total darkness with night vision goggles. We were using live amo and I remember being much more worried about where my battle buddy was and where the range safties were standing then I was about putting the targets down quickly