4 days or shooting... 4 different weapons.

Intel_Airman · 11-13-2007, 22:10

First, I would just like to say again how awesome my Army training experience has been at CST. I have learned so much more about marksmanship the past 6 days than I have in almost 6 years of active duty AF. Hell, I've fired more rounds the past 4 days than I have all my career, lol. Anyways, I am now qualified on Army ranges for the M2, M249, and M9. Prior to this trip I had never held a SAW or gripped and M2. Here's a quick rundown of the last 4 days.

Day 1: Just zeroed my GUU-5 again. I did at home station, but the Army made us go back through to double check, one minor adjustment and i was set. It was a long day as a lot of us AF don't shoot much and had a lot of trouble zeroing. Some individuals took about 80 rounds to zero.

Day 2: The M249. I've know a lot of people who have carried it and used it. After our PMT/PMT I was really stoked about shooting it. The range went well. I zeroed and qualified first time out and went on to shoot 9 out of 11 on my pop up targets. When we switched ranges we didn't stay on the same guns we were on earlier. The gun that I ended up on was way out, so I just listened to my AG and rocked some Kentucky windage. Overall, it was great. I qualified 1st class on it; I think I'm in love with this weapon. Or until I shoot the 240B.

Day 3: Veteran's day on the M2. What a nasty day, it was mid 40's and raining all day with gusts of wind up to 70mph. The range instructors had us stop loading ammo, cause they were pretty sure that the range would have ot shut down. We couldn't shoot the 1000m targets due to fog, so we settled for extra 800's. I hit all 9 of my targets and had about 30 rounds left over to shoot some extra targets. What a great invention, hard to believe that Mr. Browning machined this weapon in his barn. It is one bad mother, but I still like the 249 more.

Day 4: We did the M9 alternate qualification, which was ridiculously easy (we're going to do the walk and shoot later). In the AF you have to hit inside circles for your shots to count as hits, even if it hit the silhouette. So, when all we had to do was hit the paper, i had to do a double take. Granted somewhere in there I missed 3 shots, but ended up expert 36 out of 39.

Man, kudos to Army instruction, weapons, and ranges. I've wish I would have been this well prepared going to Iraq the first time. It's just awesome that we are getting the training we need to do the job right and bring everyone home. Hooah!