By Spc. Richard A. Daniels Jr.
1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division
TIKRIT, Iraq – For more than 50 years, the M-16 has been the United States Army's weapon of choice. From Saigon to Salah ad Din, the M-16 rifle family has become the symbol of the Infantry and is used by 15 NATO countries.
The rifle is a lightweight, .223 caliber, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed assault rifle, which is lighter in weight, more accurate, and more ergonomic than the AK-47.
Recently, Iraq has purchased more than 50,000 M-16 assault rifles from the United States to replace their primary rifle, the AK-47.
During a two-week training course, Sept. 7-22, 2008, 4th Iraqi Army Division soldiers have received M-16 weapons training from 426th Brigade Support Battalion Soldiers at Forward Operating Base Dagger.
The hands-on training, detailed the various aspects of the M-16 rifle.
The initial portion, Iraqi soldiers learned how to assemble, disassemble and clean the rifle.
"They were very attentive while we were instructing them on how to assemble the M-16," said Don Nottingham, Bravo Company. "They were also very interested on how the M-16 functioned." Steady position, aiming, breath control, and trigger squeeze: these four fundamentals of marksmanship were also instilled in the minds of the Iraqi soldiers.
"Most of them had the basic fundamentals of shooting using their assigned AK-47," said Nottingham. "They learned quickly in the classroom portion about the M-16."
"Taskmaster" instructors brought the Iraqi soldiers to the range to practice firing their new rifles to enable them to put their knowledge to practical use.
"The range itself was the biggest success," said Sgt. Andrew Chard, Bravo Company. "It allowed the other instructors and me to see how the information we imparted to them was received and utilized," he said. "They performed magnificently through the zero and qualification phase."
Chard said the progress throughout the course was outstanding. He and fellow Taskmaster Soldiers had to improvise and become creative to communicate with their Iraqi partners.
"The language barrier was a difficult portion to overcome, said Nottingham. However, "their enthusiasm to learn overcame the problem with Iraqi soldiers trying to interpret one of three languages that we found to be in the class," said Nottingham.
The Iraqi army soldiers were able to successfully move through the course, learn the basic fundamentals of the M-16 rifle, and possibly become a more proficient fighting force.
"This was beneficial to the IA soldiers," said Sgt. Daniel Walker, Bravo Company. "They got firsthand instruction on how to operate, breakdown, and fire the M-16 rifle by American Soldiers that have experience."
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