11-01-2011, 07:36 PM
Before we deployed to OIF, a team from 3rd SFG took a bunch of us out to do CQM at one of the ranges on Bragg. I put over 1100 rounds through my M4 in about 4 hours or less. That was not common though, by any means. We qualified more often than CS and CSS units, and did a lot of live fires during Squad LFX's, running battle drills and such. That was in the 82nd.
In 1st Brigade, 25th ID circa 1998, I think the line dogs had a regular LFX schedule, but I was in one of the Scout Platoons. We did some fun night-fire exercises in addition to regular qualification, but nowhere near as much shooting as I did in Korea on the DMZ.
In LRS, I didn't shoot a lot, but they were secretly getting us ready for deactivation, while allowing as many of us to re-enlist as possible before doing so, since the unit was so great to be in.
I think we qualified once a quarter in 1/506th Infantry on the DMZ in Korea, and did a lot of life-fire exercises focusing on METL tasks. We did a lot of sniper ranges with the M24's, and had 1st SFG run a SOTIC MTT for us. We got a SGM from SFOD-D, who immediately had a flat range built right next to BN HQ for CQM as well.
Throughout my time on active duty, I always shot as much as I could on my personal schedule. This really started to become more of a high-volume consumption when I was in LRS, 25th, and especially the 82nd. I don't feel, from my perspective, that we shot anywhere near enough in any of the units I was in, and practically every unit shot itself in the foot by switching weapons around so much: once you had a good zero and qual confidence with your blaster, you got another one reassigned because the armor and XO decided to re-arrange the rack numbers.
Every qual range, I would double-time back and forth between the ammo shack and my firing position between iterations, just to get trigger time. It didn't matter if I scored Expert every time, I just wanted to burn targets, since the Army's qualification range is one of the funnest stages of fire (if you can turn off all the BS coming from the people running the range, which was easy for me as an NCO), and use your better shooting techniques, versus that garbage they teach in BRM.
The military can take dozens of 18-24 yr-olds, tons of assault rifles, thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition, radio-controlled pop-up target ranges with 3D figures holding AK's, and turn it into a miserable experience.
In 1st Brigade, 25th ID circa 1998, I think the line dogs had a regular LFX schedule, but I was in one of the Scout Platoons. We did some fun night-fire exercises in addition to regular qualification, but nowhere near as much shooting as I did in Korea on the DMZ.
In LRS, I didn't shoot a lot, but they were secretly getting us ready for deactivation, while allowing as many of us to re-enlist as possible before doing so, since the unit was so great to be in.
I think we qualified once a quarter in 1/506th Infantry on the DMZ in Korea, and did a lot of life-fire exercises focusing on METL tasks. We did a lot of sniper ranges with the M24's, and had 1st SFG run a SOTIC MTT for us. We got a SGM from SFOD-D, who immediately had a flat range built right next to BN HQ for CQM as well.
Throughout my time on active duty, I always shot as much as I could on my personal schedule. This really started to become more of a high-volume consumption when I was in LRS, 25th, and especially the 82nd. I don't feel, from my perspective, that we shot anywhere near enough in any of the units I was in, and practically every unit shot itself in the foot by switching weapons around so much: once you had a good zero and qual confidence with your blaster, you got another one reassigned because the armor and XO decided to re-arrange the rack numbers.
Every qual range, I would double-time back and forth between the ammo shack and my firing position between iterations, just to get trigger time. It didn't matter if I scored Expert every time, I just wanted to burn targets, since the Army's qualification range is one of the funnest stages of fire (if you can turn off all the BS coming from the people running the range, which was easy for me as an NCO), and use your better shooting techniques, versus that garbage they teach in BRM.
The military can take dozens of 18-24 yr-olds, tons of assault rifles, thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition, radio-controlled pop-up target ranges with 3D figures holding AK's, and turn it into a miserable experience.