FORT RILEY, Kan. — Hundreds of Fort Riley soldiers braved the Kansas heat this week to qualify on their M16 rifles.
With temperatures well over 100 degrees from start to finish, soldiers with the Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division took to the range to meet their marksmanship requirements.
Shooting at the qualification range requires soldiers to shoot at least 23 of 40 pop-up targets, some at distances of up to 300 meters. Doing this throughout the week, the brigade sent about 900 shooters through the range, and racked up more than 70,000 rounds.
With the M16 range complete, the brigade already has several similar training events scheduled. In the coming weeks the brigade will conduct ranges for the M9 pistol, the M249 machine gun and other weapons.
The brigade returned from Iraq in March, and is once again at the height of its training cycle at Fort Riley. In addition to ranges, the brigade is focusing on training its aviators through gunneries and other training exercises.