View Poll Results: Dis the Army teach you to shoot well?

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  • Absolutely!

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  • Not nearly well enough

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Thread: Did the Army teach you to shoot well?

  1. #1
    Senior Member Grunt Medic TXARNG's Avatar
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    Default Did the Army teach you to shoot well?

    For those who have completed Army BCT - do you feel they did a good job teaching your Primary Marksmanship Instruction?

    And I'm trying to figure out how to do a poll on this...

    Hmm - looks like I can't go back and correct the misspelling in the poll question. Looks like we're stuck with it as-is. Chalk that one up to experience, I guess!
    Last edited by Grunt Medic TXARNG; 03-28-2010 at 06:04 AM.
    68W4P, 31B4P, 0341, 0844
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Exo1's Avatar
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    Yes Doc, I had my Opera moments on the range, when in the reserves, one of my platoon mates got an IA, and swivelled around 180 degrees to ask for help with the jammed weapon pointed parallel to the ground, we all hit the deck including the CO... That was my very first range practice!!.. LOL... When I graduated as a regular army soldier, I was a first class shot with 5.56mm (Steyr) and 7.62mm (FN Iron sights) weapons, the Light Machine Gun (Bren) and the General Purpose Machine Gun (MAG GPMG).

    I havent fired in 12 years, but do miss it...

    Anyhoo, in answer to your question, I got quality instruction in weapons and marksmanship which is still with me today... the instructors in my neighbourhood blew it out of the water (excuse the pun).. They did a great job!!..
    "Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."

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  3. #3
    101st ABN DIV Combat Vet CWO Sharkey's Avatar
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    National Guard - No, Regular Army - OK, especially with reflex firing and other live fire drills at Fort Campbell and Germany, Marine Corps - The Best.
    Iraq/Afghanistan War Veteran
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  4. #4
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    They taught me pretty well. I had never fired a weapon outside of a paintball gun before basic. Chief, how does the Marine Corps BRM differ in boot camp? Just more of it, or a different approach?

  5. #5
    101st ABN DIV Combat Vet CWO Sharkey's Avatar
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    You spend two weeks at the rifle range and learn how to snap-in with using a sling so you get into the habit of having a nice tight weapon hold. The course is known distance with various positions that I never did in the Army. Army was pop up targets from the foxhole and prone position with a sandbag and then without (supported and unsupported). In the Marines, you shoot from the sitting, kneeling, standing and prone.

    The Army has changed alot of its BRM and emulated alot of it to the way the Marines are doing it (e.g. Weapons 24/7 with soldiers and hung on bunks and doing alot of reflexive firing). They are trying to do more realistic training on the range so when you fire, you have your K-pot and Vest. Marines are just soft cover and uniform.

    When I started as a soldier first, I only qualified as sharpshooter. I transferred to the Marines and was expert for 3 years in a row. When I came back into the Army, I always shot expert afterwards with the M16.

    But then as an MP, I became more adept to the M4, 9MM and MP5.
    Iraq/Afghanistan War Veteran
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  6. #6
    Senior Member Grunt Medic TXARNG's Avatar
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    Point worth stressing - Marines are still shooting 'Hollywood' and Soldiers are shooting in combat gear.

    The Marines have kept the M16A4 as their standard rifle for its slightly increased accuracy and its perceived advantage in close combat, while the Army has gone to the M4 for its compactness and maneuverability - though both platforms can be found in both services. And even my beloved Corps has changed its rifle Qual to focus less on precision and more on hits - and now includes a pop-up 'field fire' phase in qualification. Soldiers can qualify with iron sights, red dot sights or magnified sights - all count the same.

    Not quite the way we remember it as Jarheads - eh, Chief?
    68W4P, 31B4P, 0341, 0844
    24 years and counting...

    "Even if you know that a certain illustration in an art book is from the Kama Sutra, don't point that out to your art history class. They will think you're a pervert." - seen at learnfrommyfail.com

  7. #7
    101st ABN DIV Combat Vet CWO Sharkey's Avatar
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    I think both services have evolved to deal with the current conflicts but you still have active units that have M16s in their MTOE (like mine). I was just saying that since I been to both basic trainings and that the amount of time and care that was stressed in Marine BRM, made me the high speed shooter that I am today. If you look at this week's Army Times soldiers are doing live fire training in BCT that I never had the experience of doing. It was infantry OSUT at Fort Benning. Well I was a combat engineer when I went through OSUT and times have changed.
    Last edited by CWO Sharkey; 03-31-2010 at 05:22 AM.
    Iraq/Afghanistan War Veteran
    Former US Marine
    Former US Border Patrol
    Presently US Army
    12B, 4063/4067, 42A, 31B

    Member of the American Legion, VFW, IAVA and MOAA

    The Most Dangerous Phrases in the US Army
    A Second Lieutenant saying "Based on my military experience..."
    A Captain saying "You know, I was just thinking..."
    A Warrant Officer saying "Watch this shit..."

  8. #8
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    The trick is to go in knowing how to shoot and study Steady aim, postion, breathing and trigger squeeze I got 39-40 1st time qualifying

  9. #9
    Senior Member Grunt Medic TXARNG's Avatar
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    bangbang - you forgot the most important part: practice, practice, practice! That's where the Marines' emphasis on dry fire drills pays dividends. Without going into details since we're deployed, I'll say I am less than pleased with my current level of training.
    68W4P, 31B4P, 0341, 0844
    24 years and counting...

    "Even if you know that a certain illustration in an art book is from the Kama Sutra, don't point that out to your art history class. They will think you're a pervert." - seen at learnfrommyfail.com

  10. #10
    Senior Member gunbunny13's Avatar
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    Spoke with the step son tonight. He's started BRM this week. He told me that they were told that they were one of the first classes being taught a new way of shooting.
    They were told it was more along the lines of a Marine style. No K-pots, all soft caps. Several firing positions and a strong empathize on weapon control. He hasn't fired a shot yet as of tonight, so they seem to be going in different direction.
    I know things were shaken up considerably at Ft.Knox recently with BRM. Not sure if that new training doctrine will be in their long term plans as the Armor Center will be moving to Ft. Benning. As of now most of the BRM taught at Knox is being done by civilians.

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