By Maj. John Heil
332nd Medical Brigade
NASHVILLE, TN – Medical warriors of the 332nd Medical Brigade traveled to Ft. Campbell, KY, on Aug. 23, 2008, to shoot their weapons at the zero and qualification ranges in order to maintain and improve their marksmanship skills. The end of the day proved beneficial as most everyone qualified.
The skies were overcast as officer and enlisted Soldiers received a risk assessment, a safety briefing, and marksmanship training before collecting their ammunition and range walking onto the range in preparation for qualification.
Enlisted Soldiers concentrated on zeroing their M-16 rifle prior to entering the qualification range. In order to zero their weapon, Soldiers had to obtain a close shot group of three rounds into the small black silhouette they were aiming at before being allowed to qualify. Most Soldiers spent more than one attempt to zero their weapon; nonetheless everyone was successful and entered the qualification range.
Officers went directly to M9 pistol qualification. Pistol qualification consisted of a series of tables shooting at pop up life-size green silhouettes. In order to qualify as marksman, officers had to shoot at least 16 out of 40. Most officers did not qualify the first attempt; however, by the end of the day all but three who shot did qualify. On Aug. 24, 2008, the remaining three were given another chance to qualify.
About half the Soldiers qualified on the M16 rifle on the first attempt, while the rest took a couple more times, but qualified by the end of the training day. As with the end of every training event, Medical Warriors conducted an after-action review and discussed strengths and weaknesses of the day's events and what could be done to improve future weapons training.
"It's not easy to qualify," said Master Sgt. Richard Lockhart, "We only shoot once a year."
On Aug. 24, the three remaining officers received additional weapon training on the M9 pistol from Sgt. Drew Coleman, medical training non-commissioned officer, which helped as all three improved and one qualified following the first attempt after the training.
"I was really impressed with the improvement made by the three officers," said Coleman, "Though one of the two qualified the other two were so close and I could tell their heart was in it."
"Firing weapons is something you have to practice," said Capt. Lloyd Jackson, headquarters company commander, "It's difficult to just go out there and qualify and I am sure with more training throughout the year, we will have 100 percent qualification next year."
Every Soldier seemed to think that the training was beneficial. "On Sunday we cleaned weapons," said Spc. James Wilson, human resource information systems specialist, "We worked as a team like we did at weapons training." The Medical Warriors ended Sunday as they started it – working together to ensure the mission was completed.
| Date Taken: |
08.23.2008 |
| Date Posted: |
09.06.2008 19:35 |
| Story ID: |
23314 |
| Location: |
US |
| Web Views: |
159 |
| Downloads: |
152 |
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