Photo By Lt. Col. John Hall | Danish and Latvian Soldiers side by side at the shooting-range... read more read more
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1st Sgt. Menard and his team are overly satisfied with the Danish and Latvian soldiers’ weapons handling and shooting-capabilities.
”I’m impressed with the Danish and Latvian soldiers – they are fast learners, handle their weapons with great safety and they can hit their targets.”
These praising words about the joint Danish/Latvian force at “Northern Strike 2017” do not just come from an average ”Mr. Nobody” – they are said by 1st Sgt. Menard, Shooting-Instructor of the Michigan National Guard.
1st Sgt. Menard knows what he is talking about – he and his team of brilliant instructors are used to doing pre-deployment weapons training of American Soldiers. They have also trained Afghan and Liberian forces, and they participate on the Michigan National Guard Shooting-team. His team took first place in the 2016 National Sniper Competition and also made first place in an international Sniper competition, and repeated the achievement in 2017 on both rifle and machine gun.
”The Danes are familiar with the M16, and were fast to pick up their skills on the M4, whereas the weapon was new to the Latvians. But they also got used to handling the M4 very quickly”, 1st Sgt. Menard states and continues, ”These soldiers are some of the safest guys I have worked with – they focus very much on weapons-safety and are extremely competent. They are fast a have a very professional and positive approach to things - I like that. And they have a great sense of humor – they laugh of my jokes” he adds with a wink.
Besides the capabilities of the Danish and Latvian soldiers and their professional and positive approach, 1st Sgt. Menard also praises the rest of his team of Shooting-Instructors for being a large part of the reason why the weapons training went so smoothly.
The praise from the American Shooting-Instructor pleases Company Commander of the joint Danish/Latvian Company, Captain Karsten Falck. But actually he’s not surprised at his soldiers’ capabilities,
“The capabilities the soldiers have shown at the weapons training is a result of the 6-months training we have had leading up to ‘Northern Strike’– and then of course all the training in shooting and weapons-handling the soldiers get in their own units” he says. “I am very pleased and proud of the praise from our American partners, that my soldiers perform so well, and I know that the soldiers will take the new knowledge they have acquired here in Camp Grayling and bring it to good use in their units in Denmark when they get back home.”
Danish Language Edition
Stor tilfredshed med de dansk/lettiske skydefærdigheder
Skydeinstruktør, First Sergeant Menard og hans team er overordentlig godt tilfredse med de danske og lettiske soldaters våbenhåndtering og skydefærdigheder
”Jeg er imponeret over de danske og lettiske soldater – de er hurtige til at lære, håndterer deres våben sikkert og så kan de ramme..”
Det er ikke en ”Hr. hvemsomhelst”, der kommer med den rosende bedømmelse af den dansk/lettiske enhed ved ”Northern Strike 2017” – ordene kommer fra ledende skydeinstruktør, First Sergeant (Seniorsergent) Menard fra Michigan National Guard.
First Sergent Menard ved, hvad han taler om – han og hans team af dygtige instruktører er vant til at uddanne mange af de amerikanske soldater, der skal udsendes på mission. De har også trænet soldater fra både Afghanistan og Liberia, ligesom de træner og selv deltager på Michigan National Guards konkurrenceskyttehold.
Et hold der i 2016 vandt den nationale Finskyttekonkurrence, og ligeledes tog førstepladsen i en international finskyttekonkurrence, og gentog succesen i 2017 på både riffel og maskingevær.
”Danskerne kender M16-familien, og kunne derfor hurtigt omskoles til M4-riflen, mens våbnet var nyt for letterne – men de lærte også håndteringen meget hurtigt” fortæller First Sergeant Menard og fortsætter:
”Det er nogle af de sikreste soldater, jeg har arbejdet med – de har stor fokus på våbensikkerhed, og er i det hele taget meget kompetente. De er hurtige, har en god indstilling og en meget positiv tilgang til tingene, det kan jeg godt lide. Og så har de humor – de griner af mine vittigheder” tilføjer First Sergeant med et skævt grin.
Ud over de danske og lettiske soldaters kompetencer og gode indstilling, fremhæver First Sergeant Menard også resten af hans team af instruktører, for at have haft en stor del af æren for, at omskolingen forløb så godt.
Rosen fra den amerikanske skydeinstruktør glæder naturligvis Kompagnichefen, Kaptajn Karsten Falck, men han er ikke overrasket over soldaternes færdigheder:
”De færdigheder, soldaterne viser ved våbenomskolingen, er et resultat af det halve års træning og uddannelse, vi har gennemført op til deltagelsen i ”Northern Strike” – og så selvfølgelig den træning af skydning og våbenhåndtering hjemmeværnssoldaterne får i deres egne kompagnier” siger han.
”Jeg er meget glad for og stolt over, at vores amerikanske samarbejdspartnere er så godt tilfredse med soldaternes formåen, og jeg ved, at vores soldater vil tage den nye viden, de har fået her i Camp Grayling med sig hjem, og bruge den i tjenesten fremover.”
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2017 11:41 |
| Story ID: | 243554 |
| Location: | GRAYLING, MICHIGAN, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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