Quantico
I believe I mentioned this in the last post...last drill I was asked to be a shooting range coach for our Marines who have volunteered to go to Iraq. So last Saturday (the 28th), I flew out of Moline and into Washington Reagan and rode a bus down to Quantico to teach some Marines how to improve their shooting. Evidently, they're raising a battalion of volunteers from within a number of different Reserve battalions to be sent to Iraq this summer, so they're spending two weeks in Quantico getting some boxes checked off their pre-deployment list, beginning with Table 1 and Table 2 marksmanship.
Table 1 is essentially their BZO (zeroing their rifles) and then prequalification in a standard known distance course, which is very similar to the service rifle target competitions Dad shoots. We started Sunday night with remedial courses on shooting fundamentals and about three hours of snapping in and dry firing. Monday we got them BZOed and ran through the prequal, in which I had five relays of three to five targets (so between 15-25 Marines and sailors) to assist. Many of them were pretty rusty, so it took plenty of catching up, but thanks to a great deal of advice from Dad and my fellow range coaches we ended each relay on a pretty promising note. Tuesday we went through rifle qualification, in which I was on the same targets more as a judge and safety official, and wasn't allowed to give direct advice. Most of my Marines and sailors did pretty well, including several expert quals and few unqs (unqualified).
Table 2 is a shorter version of what I used to call EMP, and it's essentially combat shooting with flaks and kevlars. They BZO at the 300 yard line and then move up to the 100 for moving targets, then up to...25 or something for multiple-target engagements and rapid position changes, standard combat shooting stuff versus the slower, more regimented Table 1 stuff. It's a bit more stressful because it's much faster and they stay locked and cocked the whole time, so there's more jamming, double feeds of rounds and just more safety issues to be concerned about, but it went off without a hitch. I felt it was pretty outstanding training for them all.
Thursday they had the grenade range, and our part as rifle range coaches was essentially over, so we did almost nothing all day, which was a pretty nice change of pace. We'd been standing in the hot sun all day (we were all redder than a Budweiser bottle by Wednesday) for three days, and had 3:30 a.m. reveille every day and worked til roughly 6 p.m. (hitting the rack around 7 p.m. out of pure exhaustion), so it's been a long and tiresome week.
Two of us had only signed on for the first week (those other poor fools haven't got anything to do but sit on a bus waiting for Marines to leave the field for the next week), so we flew back today, but that proved to be much more complicated than it ever needed to be. The sergeant who was supposed to drive us back to Washington Reagan pretty much doomed us by taking much longer than we had time for to get off base and head to the airport, and then we got stuck in the to-be-expected D.C. morning traffic and didn't even get to the airport til 9:45 a.m., five minutes after our flight was leaving and probably an hour or better after we should have arrived. We were originally slated to be back in Moline by noon, but since we missed that flight we couldn't fly back out of there til 6:30 p.m. and didn't get home til after midnight.
Part of me (a very small part) wishes I would have stuck around to participate in the rest of their training, because they've got some fun stuff going on. Today was ostensibly the gas chamber, which I haven't gotten to do since boot camp, Sunday's the crew-served machine gun range including the M240-G, M2 .50 cal., and supposedly the Mk-19 automatic grenade launcher (I'm going to be pretty furious if I missed getting to shoot the Mk-19, since I've never gotten to shoot it and those opportunities come rarely). It sounds like they've also got some urban combat training (MOUT) next week and probably land nav...and the biggest thing I feel like I'm missing out on is next Friday they're going to see the Marine Corps Museum on mainside in Quantico. That's something I've been infatuated with getting to see since I first heard about it, so I'm a little upset that I won't get to see it. I did, however, get to see the Commandant's building, most of mainside, and TBS (in fact, we did all our rifle qual stuff at the TBS ranges).
Downsides of this week: extremely sore feet from standing and walking around all day long, nasty sunburn, and just straight exhaustion from long hours and early mornings.
Upsides of this week: pretty much everything else. As Support Platoon, we were much more on our own program with significant responsibility and authority, as we had a significant billet (I was teaching a Marine captain who hadn't shot in years how to shoot again). Also, we had the great privelege of training a large group of Marines with limited time left in country before their deployment to a warzone, and that group was entirely volunteers, which is extremely motivating in and of itself. Having that billet of authority, I also was afforded the chance to really improve my bearing among seniors and develop a good deal of confidence in my own abilities as a Marine. I was able to essentially send off a great group of Marines feeling good about the training they'd just received with respect to what they might have to do in Iraq. It was a long week, but I'm extremely glad I got the chance to go help out.
P.S. I took the initiative to preemptively thank as many of those Marines as I could, because I knew you'd want me to.
Table 1 is essentially their BZO (zeroing their rifles) and then prequalification in a standard known distance course, which is very similar to the service rifle target competitions Dad shoots. We started Sunday night with remedial courses on shooting fundamentals and about three hours of snapping in and dry firing. Monday we got them BZOed and ran through the prequal, in which I had five relays of three to five targets (so between 15-25 Marines and sailors) to assist. Many of them were pretty rusty, so it took plenty of catching up, but thanks to a great deal of advice from Dad and my fellow range coaches we ended each relay on a pretty promising note. Tuesday we went through rifle qualification, in which I was on the same targets more as a judge and safety official, and wasn't allowed to give direct advice. Most of my Marines and sailors did pretty well, including several expert quals and few unqs (unqualified).
Table 2 is a shorter version of what I used to call EMP, and it's essentially combat shooting with flaks and kevlars. They BZO at the 300 yard line and then move up to the 100 for moving targets, then up to...25 or something for multiple-target engagements and rapid position changes, standard combat shooting stuff versus the slower, more regimented Table 1 stuff. It's a bit more stressful because it's much faster and they stay locked and cocked the whole time, so there's more jamming, double feeds of rounds and just more safety issues to be concerned about, but it went off without a hitch. I felt it was pretty outstanding training for them all.
Thursday they had the grenade range, and our part as rifle range coaches was essentially over, so we did almost nothing all day, which was a pretty nice change of pace. We'd been standing in the hot sun all day (we were all redder than a Budweiser bottle by Wednesday) for three days, and had 3:30 a.m. reveille every day and worked til roughly 6 p.m. (hitting the rack around 7 p.m. out of pure exhaustion), so it's been a long and tiresome week.
Two of us had only signed on for the first week (those other poor fools haven't got anything to do but sit on a bus waiting for Marines to leave the field for the next week), so we flew back today, but that proved to be much more complicated than it ever needed to be. The sergeant who was supposed to drive us back to Washington Reagan pretty much doomed us by taking much longer than we had time for to get off base and head to the airport, and then we got stuck in the to-be-expected D.C. morning traffic and didn't even get to the airport til 9:45 a.m., five minutes after our flight was leaving and probably an hour or better after we should have arrived. We were originally slated to be back in Moline by noon, but since we missed that flight we couldn't fly back out of there til 6:30 p.m. and didn't get home til after midnight.
Part of me (a very small part) wishes I would have stuck around to participate in the rest of their training, because they've got some fun stuff going on. Today was ostensibly the gas chamber, which I haven't gotten to do since boot camp, Sunday's the crew-served machine gun range including the M240-G, M2 .50 cal., and supposedly the Mk-19 automatic grenade launcher (I'm going to be pretty furious if I missed getting to shoot the Mk-19, since I've never gotten to shoot it and those opportunities come rarely). It sounds like they've also got some urban combat training (MOUT) next week and probably land nav...and the biggest thing I feel like I'm missing out on is next Friday they're going to see the Marine Corps Museum on mainside in Quantico. That's something I've been infatuated with getting to see since I first heard about it, so I'm a little upset that I won't get to see it. I did, however, get to see the Commandant's building, most of mainside, and TBS (in fact, we did all our rifle qual stuff at the TBS ranges).
Downsides of this week: extremely sore feet from standing and walking around all day long, nasty sunburn, and just straight exhaustion from long hours and early mornings.
Upsides of this week: pretty much everything else. As Support Platoon, we were much more on our own program with significant responsibility and authority, as we had a significant billet (I was teaching a Marine captain who hadn't shot in years how to shoot again). Also, we had the great privelege of training a large group of Marines with limited time left in country before their deployment to a warzone, and that group was entirely volunteers, which is extremely motivating in and of itself. Having that billet of authority, I also was afforded the chance to really improve my bearing among seniors and develop a good deal of confidence in my own abilities as a Marine. I was able to essentially send off a great group of Marines feeling good about the training they'd just received with respect to what they might have to do in Iraq. It was a long week, but I'm extremely glad I got the chance to go help out.
P.S. I took the initiative to preemptively thank as many of those Marines as I could, because I knew you'd want me to.
posted by Roger W. at 12:23 AM
3 Comments:
Sounds like your dad's advice really came in handy. How lucky to have had his help at your disposal!
...too bad you missed out on all of that stuff, but I sure am glad you're home.
Roger,
Thank you for thanking those Marines. It must be extremely humbling to be able to assist in the training of people who possess enough strength of character and love of country to volunteer to go into harm's way. It was a pleasure to help tune up your skills, and I am grateful for the chance to do my small part to assist in the war on terror. God bless you and all soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who serve our country.
Love,
Dad
I still can't believe that Sergeant didn't know his way around D.C. and knew that the traffic was horrendous. Even I know that and I live 2-3 hours away from the Capital... Terrible logistics. I don't see why you could have flown into Richmond International Airport instead. Much easier on gas and time.
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