The Navy usually doesn't require someone to "qualify" with a weapon unless their primary job requires one. A watchstander or a noncombatant only needs to do a familiarization fire, or famfire. They just want to know that you can safely load, unload and fire the weapon without hurting yourself.
What's up littledoc.
I'm not sure when or where you served, but for ship duty, all personnel with the exception of engineers were required to qualify on weapons and associated watchstations. This is because everyone was considered a security force member for the ship. Funding for qualifications on small arms is bad enough, so they're not gonna waste money on fam fires and not have you qualified. If you're not qualified on a weapon, you can't stand the watch, and the ship can't have the same people rotating out every other watch. Well....they CAN, but that would be VERY inconvenient. If the ship pays the money to go to a range, you WILL be shooting to qualify. Fam fires are done on your own time....or dry firing at the armory, that's the only practice you'll get from the military. The only fam fires that count towards qualifications are for crew served weapons, IE 50 cal, M60/M240 and such. There's not enough of those rounds to shoot a bunch of, so you basically pull the trigger a few times, get the PQS signed off, and you're qualified.
Funding can be an issue for some commands for qualification. By qualification, I mean to get the ribbons, there is more bureaucratic stuff involved for actual qualification. During the Clinton years there were entire years where there wasn't enough budgeted money to get qualified for "nonessential" personnel. Also, some commands just aren't friendly to the idea. We used to put the offer out to folks to tag along when we went to give them an opportunity they would not ordinarily have. A command is more likely to let you go if it doesn't cost them anything.
What you are describing is a famfire for your watchstanding requirements, not a qualification. It was a qualification in so far as you needed to pass to stay a watchstander. It's semantics, I know. But, this is coming from an organization who invents the craziest acronyms known to man.
Once you have qualified and got the ribbon, it's yours. But woe is the squid who subsequently falls below the standard he has set.
The best watchstanders' course I had was on a tin can -that's target to you- in heavy seas on the fantail. Rock and roll, baby!
Perhaps you have a different definition of "qualification" than I do, but, the way the course of fire used to go was pretty pathetic, but it was how ship personnel got qualified. There was no ribbon associated with the qual. But through MWR, you can pay a fee out of pocket to shoot the ribbon course of fire and pretend to be a super marksman. Nowadays, the qualifying course of fire incorporates the ribbon course, plus a nightfire, and practical, so if you qualify, you get a ribbon. It's *slightly* more intense, as in 11 pushups is *slightly* more intense than 10 pushups.
Qualifying for a weapon in the military is NOT becoming proficient with a firearm. The quals are set up to make sure you can operate the weapon, and hit the target consistently, whether or not you can do it in actual combat. So, I guess in a way, littledoc, you are right that it is really just a famfire by tactical standards, but it's qualification as far as the Navy is concerned.
Let the Navy teach her!
Odds are, as a civilian, you'll be teaching her things she'll have to unlearn.
And, if she goes to Iraq...I suggest she carry that sidearm, even if it isn't mandatory
I'm sorry Glockman17366, but I have to disagree with you on that, and I've already stated most of the reasons. Unless she has to unlearn loading the magazines backwards, there are not many things that can be taught
if taught correctly that will detriment ones ability to use a firearm. Operation of a pistol is the same on a civilian range, as it is on the military range. The techniques used for defensive shootings are the same as techniques used in combat shooting. The only thing that differs is individual mentality. As in, a target shooter, versus a tactical shooter. The target shooter wants to hit the target dead center. The tactical shooter wants to do the same thing...from behind cover.
