Thread: 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!

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!!..

National Guard - No, Regular Army - OK, especially with reflex firing and other live fire drills at Fort Campbell and Germany, Marine Corps - The Best.

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.

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?

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.

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.