Marksmanship in the Army is continually evolving, and everyone seems to be an “expert.” Leaders at all levels tend to limit their teaching to the TTPs that they think work best. Individuality has its benefits, but we can’t rely on a “shooter’s preference” mentality when teaching marksmanship. Don’t become the NCO who says “this is how I did it,” or “this is how I was taught.” Learn the standard and know the doctrine. We need to balance hard-earned experience with an understanding of our constantly developing profession. TTPs and personal experience makes NCOs stronger as teachers and trainers. But if they aren’t built on a strong doctrinal foundation, we are setting our soldiers and future NCOs up for failure.
Foundation and Marksmanship Doctrine
The 25th Infantry Division’s Basic Marksmanship Leaders Course (BMLC), taught at the “Lightning Academy,” inspired me to learn more about the Army’s teaching methodology. This course, now titled Lightning Marksmanship Instructor Course (LMIC), gives leaders a solid foundation in the Army’s basic marksmanship principles. As a graduate of U.S. Army Sniper School and various advance marksmanship courses, I was able to quickly adapt to the course expectations.
Lightning Academy instructors have attended the Army’s Marksmanship Master Trainer Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. This course gives each graduate the ability to train and develop instructors as well as assist their commander with a unit marksmanship training strategy. The instructors adopted these same principles for the Lightning Academy’s LMIC curriculum. Everything taught was derived from TC 3-22.9 Rifle and Carbine, which made returning the information back the unit extremely easy and accessible.
TC 3-22.9, officially released in May 2016, was out for nearly two years before I heard about it. And even then, I was the only one from my company that knew it existed. I was still referencing FM 3-22.9, Rifle Marksmanship M16A1, M16A2/3, M16A4, and M4 Carbine for all my training. The new TC is more easily digestible and, through its format, more easily translatable to implementation. After completing LMIC, I assumed the unofficial role of Company Marksmanship Trainer and TC 3-22.9 became my best friend.
Applied Practices and Findings
Our company had to overcome a significant learning curve. Aside from the fight to get range time, we also struggled in applying the fundamentals. We focused on the basics to improve day and night marksmanship. It may sound simple, but you build lethality by doing the little things: zero, familiarization fire, and record qualification. We ran a five-day course with three straight days of non-stop shooting. There is no substitute for repetition…doctrinally sound repetition. Practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. Some soldiers were hesitant at first, wanting to rely on previous habits. Doctrine may not be “sexy,” but the results spoke for themselves.
The end result when tallying up the qualification statistics as far as scoring Expert, Sharp Shooter, and Marksman were about the same as previous weapon qualifications. But, soldiers earned those previous results on the alternate course (ALT-C) qualification. This time all soldiers qualified on a pop-up range. At 25 meters on the ALT-C, it is extremely easy to score Expert by eliminating outside factors such as wind and trajectory. In comparison to other companies not adhering to the TC’s training guidelines, the results were substantial. During company-level certifications, our unit produced a 20 percent higher accuracy rating than the others.
Could we have achieved better outcome-based numbers and percentages? Absolutely! But it was a step in the right direction. With greater buy-in and more focus on the fundamentals, we will see our numbers continue to improve. Varying factors such as skill, “bad habits,” and lack of training all play a role in degrading our unit marksmanship. We can only fix this with more reps…doctrinally sound reps. Bottom line, we do not shoot enough and lack the knowledge, understanding, and skills of how to achieve a first round hit on a target.
Final Takeaway
Army officials want improve our marksmanship capabilities and a popular topic currently is to implement a new and better rifle for its troops. The theory is, if we have a better rifle, such as the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle, then we will shoot better. Personally, I disagree with this belief and think the money should be invested elsewhere. The Marine Corps requires all trainees shoot out to 500 yards with iron sights using a M16-A4 rifle and they effectively accomplish this. The Marine Corps has a great marksmanship program in place, living the mantra that “every Marine is a rifleman.”
Focusing on fundamentals and increasing repetitions will make the Army marksmanship program comparable, and over time will achieve better results on the individual level. Adhering to TC 3-22.9 will greatly improve our overall performance and increase unit readiness. Leaders need to dedicate time on the training calendar to shoot more than twice a year to keep the unit current for administration purposes. For that to work we need leaders at all levels to know and support doctrinal expectations. We shouldn’t overlook our experiences, but they should build on a doctrinal foundation rather than replace it.
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