http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2...airmen-090511w/
Air Force introduces new rifle course
Airmen now will have to qualify before each deployment
By David Larter - Staff writer
The Air Force is toughening its firearms training with a mandatory three-level course that requires airmen to qualify every time they deploy.
Weapons experts are putting the finishing touches on the new Rifle Carbine Air Force Qualification Course and expect to start teaching it later this year, perhaps as early as next month. Airmen will take the course at their home base.
The course, according to officials, combines basic firing positions with advanced tactical movements and is yet another way to prepare airmen for downrange.
Members of the Combat Arms Training and Maintenance team started work on the course in 2008, according to Staff Sgt. Ryan Bell, a combat arms instructor who has taken the course and given his impressions to the developers.
“There has been a lot of feedback and tons of changes,” said Bell, who is assigned to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. “The most recent change was as of last week, and based on the input we gave them, there may be even more changes.”
Airmen have complained about not being trained adequately for dangerous places, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Roy has made that concern one of his priorities. Roy was instrumental in the development of Combat Skills Training, which will not change and will still be required to go the war zones.
“Deployment training was one of the most talked-about items,” Roy told Air Force Times last year. “They want the right mix of skills so they can operate in a deployed environment. Our deployments are a lot different from the ones 25 years ago. Our airmen are on the leading edge, fighting terrorists alongside our joint and coalition partners.”
THE CURRICULUM
The course is divided into what the experts call “tables.” The number of levels that an airman has to complete depends on his deployment and professional duties, according to Bell, who laid out the details for Air Force Times. All airmen will take tables one and two. Table three will be a requirement for security forces airmen, battlefield airmen such as combat controllers and pararescuers, and airmen deploying with Army ground forces.
The qualification requirement depends on the Air Force Specialty Code, but “no matter what career field you are in, you will fire before you deploy,” said Tech. Sgt. Sheryl Stone, also a combat arms instructor at Lackland, where basic military training takes place. Most airmen will need to qualify before they deploy, she said; security forces airmen will have to qualify every six months.
· Table one: Airmen will learn parts of table one in boot camp, including zeroing and firing from four stationary positions.
Trainees will zero their M16s by shooting 12 rounds in the lying position with a support under the rifle. Then, they will shoot 24 rounds from four positions: lying down with a support, lying down without a support, kneeling with a support and standing behind a barricade. Recruits won’t have to shoot while wearing gas masks as they have before.
Next come qualifications. Recruits will shoot another 24 rounds from the same positions; 17 rounds, or 70 percent, must hit the targets. An accuracy rate of 92 percent — 22 rounds — makes an airman an expert shooter. Today’s recruits qualify if half of their rounds hit their targets.
Failing to qualify will not keep an airman from graduating BMT because all airmen will have to qualify on table one again when they go to their home bases and before they deploy.
On base, airmen will shoot the rifle they will take downrange — either the M16 or the M4 — and will learn the skills they need for their individual assignments. If an airman is going to carry an M16 into the sandbox, for example, then he won’t have to perform drills with the 9mm pistol.
All airmen on base will have to learn remedial action techniques, or ways to react to weapons malfunctions and still maintain accuracy. They also will have to shoot with a gas mask on.
· Table two: The second level is for airmen who carry the M4 carbine, a 9mm pistol or both. Much of the course is devoted to M4 tactics and procedures, and transition from rifle to sidearm.
First, airmen will learn how to switch firearms. They will start with their M4 — unloaded — in a standing firing position, then lower the rifle, take out their pistol and shoot two rounds. The exercise is repeated five times.
Next will be tactical engagement with the M4 equipped with the M68 optic attachment. Airmen bring the rifle up from a low ready position to a firing position and shoot at both the chest and the head of the target in single rounds and controlled pairs.
The M4 shooters then will take on multiple threats and will learn how to differentiate threats, a skill that firearms instructors consider critical. If an airman fails threat discrimination, he fails table two and has to retake it at another time.
Finally, as part of tactical engagement, airmen will shoot three-round bursts from the standing position and then will shoot both standing and low-kneeling from behind barricades, moving and firing from another position.
· Table three: Only airmen who require the sharpest firearms skills will take table three. Skills to be taught include shooting in low visibility with no aids, shooting with night-vision scopes and flashlights and shooting with laser aiming devices. Again, airmen will have to qualify only on the weapons and gear they will use downrange or stateside as part of their duties.
Airmen who complete all three tables will shoot 276 rounds with a rifle and 10 with a 9mm pistol. The breakdown by table: 102 rifle rounds in table one, 94 rifle rounds and the 10 pistol rounds in table two and 80 rifle rounds in table three.
Bell spent five hours completing tables one and two, what he considers “a long time.” He predicts, though, the course will take less time as trainers get more familiar with teaching it.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Bell said. “There are going to be some challenges but there are enough measures in place and they’ve spent enough time developing it that I’m sure we can get it done. We just have to make sure we have quality trainers in place.”
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19-04-2008, 18:51
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