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    German Soldiers earn US Weapons Qualification Badge in Kosovo

    German soldiers earn US Weapons Qualification Badge in Kosovo

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Melissa Parrish | German army 1st Lt. Lars Saextro, deputy communications officer with the German...... read more read more

    CAMP BONDSTEEL, KOSOVO

    01.06.2015

    Story by Sgt. Melissa Parrish 

    KFOR Regional Command East

    CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - The frigid temperature outside and the snow falling on the range didn’t stop the U.S. Soldiers from conducting their weapons qualification for the German contingent.

    Soldiers from the Liaison Monitoring Team (LMT), 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division conducted a M16 rifle weapons qualification range for the German contingent soldiers at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo Jan. 6.

    U.S. Army 1st Lt. Dillon Pierson, the executive officer for LMT, and a native from Leavenworth, Kansas, organized the range and said the snow wasn’t keeping them from their event.

    “We are stationed in Alaska, so training in the snow is something we are used to,” said Pierson.

    German army contingent soldiers and the LMT soldiers are a part of Multinational Battle Group-East in Kosovo and often work together on various missions.

    “We did this to support our German counterparts,” said Pierson. “They put on a great range for us with the Schützenschnur (German Armed Forces Badge for Weapons Proficiency) and we wanted to pay the favor back and put together a qualification range for them.”

    The morning started with safety instructions and preliminary marksmanship instruction (PMI).

    “We did an hour long PMI,” said Pierson. “We went over the fundamentals of the M16, and we had our task, conditions and standards translated over to German.”

    The German soldiers had a chance to earn the (from highest to lowest) expert, sharpshooter, or marksman qualification badge.

    “They were really good at shooting,” said Pierson. “45 out of 60 shooters qualified.”

    German army 1st Lt. Lars Saextro, deputy communications officer with the German contingent, said he was glad he got the opportunity to shoot the M16 although he did experience some complications.

    “Shooting with a different weapon was difficult in the beginning,” said Saextro. “I had to find a way to aim differently. It took me a little time to get to know the weapon, but I got the hang of it.”

    German soldiers laughed and cracked jokes as they competed.

    “I only shot marksmen so it is not my best day,” said Saextro as he laughed. “It just wasn’t my day.”

    Building relationships with partner nations was the goal of the range, and Saextro believes that was accomplished.

    “We had a lot of fun out here today, even in the cold,” said Saextro. “It makes working together much easier. We are getting to know each other better with events like these. We are from different nations and we do things differently so it’s good to do things like this and learn more about each other.”

    Out of the 60 German soldiers that participated there were two expert, 16 sharpshooter, and 27 marksman badges earned.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 01.06.2015
    Date Posted: 01.07.2015 12:55
    Story ID: 151462
    Location: CAMP BONDSTEEL, ZZ
    Hometown: FORT LEAVENWORTH, KS, US

    Web Views: 322
    Downloads: 2

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