Rifle Marksmanship and Week 4 of DCC

*In this post, I discuss basic rifle marksmanship instruction during the fourth week of the Army’s Direct Commission Course. *

For more detailed information, please see my book The DCC Survival Guide: Succeeding at the Army’s Direct Commission Course and its companion work The JAG School Survival Guide: Succeeding at the Army’s Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course.

Photo* by U.S. Army is licensed under CC 2.0. This content uses referral links.*

On Friday, I finished week 4 of the Army’s Direct Commission Course. We now have only one more week of actual training followed by a week of out-processing.

Because of the weather in week 3 and the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in week 2, this week was the first full week of training. (Week 1 was primarily in processing.) Other than PT and a four-mile ruck march, we devoted this entire week to basic rifle marksmanship.

Basic Rifle Marksmanship

We spent the entire week training on the M-16. (We did not do any training on the M-9, which I understand previous classes have done.) Basic rifle marksmanship consumes three weeks of enlisted basic training. So, this week was a very condensed version of the training.

On Monday, we went to a computer simulator to help us get comfortable with the weapon. There the cadre gave us a very realistic M-16 that plugged into a computer program. We then shot at targets on a large screen. It was a lot like the old Duck Hunt game.

On Tuesday, we went to the zero range. There we shot at paper targets twenty-five meters away and zeroed our scopes to ensure that the red dot in the optic aligned with the desired target. This took all day.

On Wednesday, we went to the range where we would do our qualifications. This range had targets shaped like soldiers that would pop up from behind burns at various distances ranging from fifty to three hundred meters. Those who were unable to zero their scope on Tuesday—including myself—spent the day on the zero range again to complete the process.

Qualifications

On Thursday, we did practice qualifications in the morning. To qualify, we had to hit 23 out of 40 popup targets. Only one target would pop up at a time—except a few rounds where two would pop up at once. As the targets popped up, we had a few seconds to adjust and fire.

We only had enough ammunition to fire once at each target. Consequently, firing multiple times at a target was a good way to run out of ammo before the test was complete.

We had to shoot from three different positions: the prone supported, the prone unsupported, and kneeling. Both prone positions meant we had to fire while lying flat on our stomachs. The only difference between the supported and unsupported was that the supported position allowed us to use sandbags to stabilize our barrel if we wanted.

We had twenty targets from the prone supported, ten from the prone unsupported, and ten from the kneeling.

In the afternoon, we started qualifications. We each had two chances to qualify that day, and a little more than half the class succeeded.

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Cleaning Weapons

On Friday, those who did not qualify on Thursday went back to the range to try to qualify again. Since I qualified on Thursday, I spent Friday morning in the barracks cleaning my weapon. Then in the afternoon, I went to another basic resiliency training course.

Friday was a very slow day for those who qualified on Thursday but relatively busy for those who did not.

Several people who did not qualify on Thursday were able to qualify on Friday. It is my understanding, however, that about fifteen percent of the class failed to qualify at all. I don’t know if they’ll have another opportunity at this course. They will, however, have a year to qualify at their home units.

Thoughts on Basic Rifle Marksmanship

We had several people in our class who had never in their lives fired a gun before this week. People like me who grew up shooting weapons, however, did not necessarily fare much better.

It took me time to adjust to firing with my face in the dirt while wearing body armor. (I shot the best from the kneeling position—despite its being the most unstable—because it is so similar to how I’m accustomed to shooting.)

If you’re experienced with firearms, it’s important not to rely too heavily on your past experience. You should listen to the instruction that the cadre provides. Unless you have prior military experience, you probably are not experienced shooting an assault rifle while lying flat on the ground and wearing thirty to forty pounds of body armor, a utility vest, and a Kevlar helmet.

The other issue is finding out what works for you. The Army allows you to use sandbags to stabilize your barrel from the prone supported position. I struggled to shoot well with this. As soon as I got rid of the sandbags, I qualified.

Our instructor hated the sandbags. (He liked to point out that not once when he engaged the Taliban in a firefight did sandbags fall out of the sky for him to use.) Some people, however, swear by them. Little things like this can make a big difference.

Next Week

Next week we’re covering convoy operations. I’m not really sure what this will entail so I will provide more details in my next post. Our schedule currently says that Thursday and Friday are devoted to weapons recovery. So, training should begin to slow down next week.

Next week we also conduct our record Army Physical Fitness Test and a six-mile ruck march. We did the four-mile this week to prepare, so we should all be ready to complete this graduation requirement next week.

I will continue to post updates regularly, so please keep checking back.

I provide a more expansive account of my experience in my book The DCC Survival Guide: Succeeding at the Army’s Direct Commission Course and its companion work The JAG School Survival Guide: Succeeding at the Army’s Judge Advocate Officer Basic Course.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Army, the National Guard Bureau, the Arkansas National Guard, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

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See Also:

Week 3 of the Army’s Direct Commission Course (DCC)

Week 5 of the Army’s Direct Commission Course (DCC)