Photo By Cpl. Chelsea Toombs | A Marine with 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, gets ready to send...... read more read more
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CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Marines with 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion took to the firing line to complete a Combat Pistol Marksmanship course aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Feb. 12, 2015. The Marines spent the day running through their pre-qualification course of fire in preparation for their qualification on the M9 service pistol the following day.
All Marines are required to qualify with the M4 carbine or M16 A4 service rifle during basic training, but not all Marines are required to qualify with the service pistol until they reach the rank of staff sergeant.
“This training is important, because any Marine needs to be agile with any weapon they are within arms-reach of,” said Cpl. Erich Szymanski, a Marksmanship Training Unit coach with 2nd CEB, and Newport, Michigan native. “We should all be more adapted and more in tune with our first instinct, which is being a rifleman.”
The M9 and the M16 A4 may not look the same, but require many of the same skills to fire.
“You still use some of the same fundamentals on the pistol range as you do on the rifle range, such as your breathing and trigger control,” said Sgt. Joshua Summey, a Marksmanship Training Unit chief with 2nd CEB, and Charleston, South Carolina, native. “The biggest difference is the stability of your hold on the weapon.”
Throughout the day, Marines were taught techniques to help them accurately put rounds on their targets.
“A balance between muscle tension and muscle relaxation is needed. If you’re too tight, you’ll be throwing rounds all over the place, and if you’re too loose, the weapon will be all over the place,” Summey said.
After each course of fire, Marines must holster their weapons, as well as check their surroundings to ensure safety on the range. Time constraints are also placed on Marines for the firing portion of the training.
“With rifles, you can use a sling to steady your aim,” Summey said. “Pistols go off of you just holding it.”
Even though these are two different weapon systems, Szymanski says the fundamentals are the same.
“It’s the same concept of natural point of aim, slowly squeezing the trigger and impacting the target,” Syzmanski said.
| Date Taken: | 02.12.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2015 13:04 |
| Story ID: | 154475 |
| Location: | CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US |
| Hometown: | CHARLESTON, SC, US |
| Hometown: | NEWPORT, MI, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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