Page 137 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

6 RIFLES Combat Shooting Team
Combat marksmanship within the Battalion has been steadily evolving over the last few years, with lessons learned from previous training packages being incorporated into each training year.
Previously the culmination of the Live re marks- manship training had always been the attendance at the Army reserve operational shooting compe- tition (AROSC) at Bisley, and the standards of the Battalion being gauged by how many Ri emen were placed into the top 50 rers, A very dif cult task, mainly due to the effort and extremely high standards of teams who train solely for the AROSC, To compete at this level requires putting all our effort in a select 8 Ri emen, this would drastically improve the units chances of bringing home the top prizes, I felt this was the wrong way to go for us, and we would bene t more by adopting an approach to training that seeks to give equal instruction and opportunity to even the most junior ri eman and the ability to learn ,adapt and then pass on the skills to the next Ri eman once back in his platoon/company.
To do this the programme was split into 3 training phases and a test phase.
This consisted of the following:
1. Short range – Pistol/Ri e CQM and moving
targets.
2. Mid-range – Ri e 100-400m
3. Long Range – LSW 4-600m
4. Con rmation - Competition Shooting
The Short range phase brought in additional numbers, and some welcome new members to the team. OC E Coy Maj Tony Freeman was very keen to show off his pistol skills and Rfn Kirby and Rfn Frost often exchanging places at the top, many of those ring a pistol for the rst time realising that it’s not like the Hollywood lms and unlike Mel Gibson even Maj Freeman couldn’t bring down an enemy helicopter with a Glock 17!, next switching to ri e CQM lessons over a weekend prepared the team to move onto the advanced operational assessments the Ri emen relished the oppor- tunity to conduct the Urban contact and close combat assessment.
Over the course of Oct, Nov and Dec the team saw no less than 25 rers complete the phase.
Early 2017 saw the team move from Gloucester to Warminster ranges, for phase 2 where by the focus switched to elementary and advanced appli- cation of re, blowing out the cobwebs for some when remembering how to calculate wind speed and direction but more importantly giving everyone the chance to coach each other, and learn from each other’s mistakes HQ Coys Rfn Barker and Rfn Rich putting in ne performances, and quickly adapting to shooting in very cold temperatures, Following Jan, Feb and March weekends the team moved to phase 3, Yoxter and Langport ranges provide the team to shoot on a gallery range, and collect valuable range data that can be utilised anywhere, knowing your points of aim from the alternative shooting positions is key for our Ri emen to understanding their capabilities, Particularly worthy of note was Rfn Beer during the re team advance to contact on Langport ranges,
following a great bit of route selection from our PSI Sjt Glenn Low ( Via a 5ft deep river crossing) I didn’t read that one in the AOSP!
Attending the Army shooting championship knowing you are not going to win may seem backward to some, but Competition brings the best out of the team, and is essential to the training, it serves as a benchmark for us to reach, knowing the other teams have been on the competition ranges for several weeks prior to the competition takes the competition to a level where it’s not about preparing soldiers for operations, it becomes about shooting targets for points to win and it serves us better to approach the compe- tition with our own goals!
First of these competitions was 1 Div OSC, held at Wrathgill Ranges, using a template of 4 new rers 6 Ri es put in a strong performance and gained some valuable competition experience Rfn Beer again showing some great determination of the section advance to contact.
This really sets the scene for the AROSC that occurred just a few weeks later, again we were able to eld a team with several slots being lled just a few days before, but with Ri emen who have completed a solid build up in the previous phases. Cpl meadows who by now is our most experi- enced competition shot was delivering a solid performance, although reluctantly giving back the Machine gun trophy from 2016, and just missing out on the eeting encounter, the remainder of the team following suit and putting in consistent scores across the 3 days.
Just a month later the team were back in action again, this time at the International Military shooting competition Germany, 29 teams from 9 countries came together consisting of regular and reserve forces, police and special units to shoot German weapons over 3 days, the Bavaria night was almost a Competition in itself as we fought the US and Swiss team over the space to enjoy our bratwurst and beer, but was an excellent opportunity to exchange information. Our US friends were also reservists, but also members UTAL state police SWAT!! A great couple of days shooting at an international level, with the team nishing 5th overall but winning the Machine pistol (MP7) an especially impressive feat as the main rivals were the German border police who use this as their personal weapon.
The team are now preparing to attend the Army pistol champs in Sept 17, and will then begin the season again with short range phase 1 in Oct 17. Csjt Jones
UNLIKE MEL GIBSON EVEN MAJ FREEMAN COULDN’T BRING DOWN AN ENEMY HELICOPTER WITH A GLOCK 17!
THE RIFLES
SIXTH BATTALION 135
Practice makes perfect. “an approach to training that seeks to give
equal instruction and opportunity to even the most junior Rfn and the ability to learn, adapt and then pass on the skills to the next Rfn once back in his Platoon/Coy”
Close Quarter Shooting is now becoming a major part of the Competition scene, re ecting Operational demands