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http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/sncoa/Okinawa/ACRS5-04SMMC.htm
Article that is related to a topic we had here a while ago (what training did pvt lynch's unit receive).
Article that is related to a topic we had here a while ago (what training did pvt lynch's unit receive).
CLASS 5-04
SERGEANT MAJOR OF THE MARINE CORPS
WRITING AWARD
Gunnery Sergeant Schaffer
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A Tactical/Combat Shooters Course
As warfare changes and evolves, there is an urgent need for a tactical/combat shooters course for every Marine because this will save lives. In the modern world the Marine Corps needs to change the way it thinks and trains young Marines. There is a need for more advanced marksmen on today's battlefields. They should be well versed in the art of close quarters and urban combat. The current curriculum for training Marines with their table of organization (T/O) weapons needs to go beyond the current goal of sustainment and teach advanced marksmanship.
The conflicts in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been different types of warfare fought on different types of battlefields that were unlike anything seen since Vietnam. Unlike the war in Vietnam, the majority of enemy combatants in more recent conflicts are not fighting for a country but rather for a religion or warlord who is either trying to impose his ideals or is fighting for more power and money. As we observed in Somalia, a company of well trained Rangers kept an entire city at bay for close to twenty-four hours. While this was portrayed as a defeat to US diplomacy, militarily, the Rangers held their own against a numerically superior force. They sustained eighteen killed in action (KIA) while it was estimated that they inflicted between five hundred and one thousand KIA inflicted on the Somalian Rebels (Bowden, 1999, p. 333). It is the type of training that Rangers currently use that the Marines should be pursuing. The problem is that few Marines spend any time with their T/O weapons other than when they go to the rifle range for their annual qualifications. These qualifications focus on sustainment and not advancement. How can the Marine Corps let this stand? This is an issue that could save American lives. Every Marine should go into battle with the very best and advanced training available. Marines are required to spend two hours a week training in the Marine Corps Martial Arts program but none with the weapon that is the only thing that stands between them and the enemy. The Marine Corps does not need to reinvent the wheel, just develop training which focuses on weapons manipulation and speed reloading. This should be coupled with squad and platoon immediate action drills.
Most infantry military occupational specialties (MOS) are already doing this type of training but it should be provided to all Marines. As seen in the last few years, all Marines can find themselves on combat patrols or convoy duties where the chances of meeting the enemy are very good. This was the case with the convoy that received so much press during the second gulf war that involved Private First Class (PFC) Jessica Lynch. Lynch and the other members of a convoy of soldiers from â Å“the 507th Army Maintenance Company â “ a support unit of clerks, repairmen and cooks had taken a wrong turn in the desert, stumbling into Nasiriyah by mistake. Without warning, the company suddenly found itself surrounded, an easy target for Iraqi soldiers and Fedayeen paramilitary forces armed with AK-47's, mortars, and rocket propelled grenades (RPG). The ensuing attack proved to be the Army's bloodiest day of the ground warâ ? (Davidson, 2003, p.1). Eleven American soldiers were killed and nine were wounded when the 507th came under fire. As a result of the ambush, the convoy was disorganized and many vehicles careened off of each other, including Lynch's high mobility multi wheeled vehicle (HMMWV). Most of the soldiers, who were able to fight at this point, were having trouble returning fire as their weapons jammed after each attempt to fire. These soldiers were either never taught immediate action for a jammed weapon or, under the pressure of combat and after seeing many of their friends die, they failed to utilize it. The one soldier who fought back and applied immediate action to his weapon was PFC Patrick Miller. PFC Miller, a mechanic who Lynch cited as being the real hero of the day, kept a cool head throughout the ordeal, despite being wounded. PFC Miller, after being shot in the arm, picked up a weapon and engaged the enemy applying the immediate action of tapping the magazine, pulling the charging handle to the rear and releasing it, and pulling the trigger (tap, rack, bang). PFC Miller did this seven times until the threat was neutralized. Miller was later awarded the Silver Star for his actions, the nation's third highest award for valor (Wallace, 2003, p. 1). Of all the soldiers in that company, only one applied the immediate action for a jammed weapon, and he was credited with saving the rest of the soldiers' lives.
Would a Marine convoy react any differently? Marine support personnel receive about the same amount of training, with their weapons, as these soldiers did. This is the reason that the Marine Corps needs to set up a combat shooter course, so that Marines will have the confidence in themselves, their weapons, and their fellow Marines to effectively fight back. In combat, training takes over and it is this training that will make the difference between life and death. Marines and soldiers should not have to think about immediate action for a jammed weapon; they should react. Most of the training could be conducted at the unit level and could become part of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Also, there could be two or three days added at the rifle range where the Marines could be evaluated. This is an idea whose time has come. Marines should not have to wait until they are in combat to learn how to confidently and competently handle their weapons. Confidence is built through repetition, and Marines are currently getting very little hands-on time with their T/O weapons. The benefits of this training would be immediate because Marines will continue to be sent into harm's way, in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, for the foreseeable future. The Marine Corps should strive to become more lethal at the squad and platoon levels, and this is just the start that it needs.
The United States and the Marine Corps will be in Afghanistan and Iraq for at least the foreseeable future. Marines must advance and adjust the way they think about training for combat. As warfare changes and evolves, there is an urgent need for a tactical/combat shooters course for every Marine because this will save lives. This is the type of training that is going to prepare the Marine Corps and the individual Marine to face the challenges of tomorrow's battlefields. This can only happen if the Marine Corps changes the way it trains its riflemen.
