11-15-2011, 08:48 PM
How many Infantry NCO's can actually explain to their soldiers their trajectory on E-type silhouettes over a 300m course of fire, or the benefits of zeroing at 37m versus 25m, the concept of a Point Blank Zero, holds for winds within 300m even, etc.? The only ones I encountered in 7 different units over 10 years were Snipers, or the very rare Weapon's Squad Leader who took the time to study the marksmanship FM's after extrapolating that there might be a relationship between the wind on carbines and rifles, since it is discussed more often for the GPMG's.
In the NCO Professional Development System, the whole Army requires Infantry leaders to carry the soft-skill soldiers in PLDC, while nothing is really learned by the combat arms attendees, especially about the specific infantry leader tasks they will need to perform when acting as Team Leaders and Squad Leaders, while also failing to conduct training in performance counseling, coaching, mentoring, and developing soldiers in different environments. They also don't train on how to write an NCOER, so these schools are huge failures on all fronts, from my experience and numerous discussions with other NCO's who have attended them, to include BNCOC, ANCOC, and the Sergeant Major's Academy. Very rarely have I ever heard anyone compliment the professionalism, course content, and NCOPD schools as a whole...as a matter of fact, I have never heard good reports of them Army-wide.
Is it the best Army of its size in the world? Absolutely, but there is room for improvement in leaps and bounds. Until we fix these issues of rewarding warriors, and getting rid of camouflaged welfare recipients, introducing a Grendel carbine/rifle will not provide a significant improvement to the system. I see at least 3 problems introduced at that level, for every imaginary problem fixed.
A Grendel LMG has none of these issues, since we are already slinging lead at distance with GPMGs...they're just too heavy. Even the equal opportunity employed sergeant major can conceptualize reduced weight for the soldier in the "guns", with smaller and lighter LMG profiles than the monster that the MAG58 is.
In the NCO Professional Development System, the whole Army requires Infantry leaders to carry the soft-skill soldiers in PLDC, while nothing is really learned by the combat arms attendees, especially about the specific infantry leader tasks they will need to perform when acting as Team Leaders and Squad Leaders, while also failing to conduct training in performance counseling, coaching, mentoring, and developing soldiers in different environments. They also don't train on how to write an NCOER, so these schools are huge failures on all fronts, from my experience and numerous discussions with other NCO's who have attended them, to include BNCOC, ANCOC, and the Sergeant Major's Academy. Very rarely have I ever heard anyone compliment the professionalism, course content, and NCOPD schools as a whole...as a matter of fact, I have never heard good reports of them Army-wide.
Is it the best Army of its size in the world? Absolutely, but there is room for improvement in leaps and bounds. Until we fix these issues of rewarding warriors, and getting rid of camouflaged welfare recipients, introducing a Grendel carbine/rifle will not provide a significant improvement to the system. I see at least 3 problems introduced at that level, for every imaginary problem fixed.
A Grendel LMG has none of these issues, since we are already slinging lead at distance with GPMGs...they're just too heavy. Even the equal opportunity employed sergeant major can conceptualize reduced weight for the soldier in the "guns", with smaller and lighter LMG profiles than the monster that the MAG58 is.