Are troops this ill-prepared?

[275RLTW]

do they count practice munitions like this

http://utmworldwide.com/Products.aspx

Unfourtanately not. Most units will never see UTM or Simunition rounds. Force on force (with the MMR rounds) is unlikely in non combat units although the word is spreading.

[ldmaster]

We, as a culture, re-emphasize shooting sports as a valid sport.

As many people point out, by the time someone joins the Army he's 18, if he/she hasn't shot a gun in their entire life, it's a LONG journey to competence.

The CMP wasn't formed to let us collectors hoard weapons, it was created to encourage the civilian population to train.

Training facilities for hundreds of thousands of military members? How many could train/shoot a day? How many positions are at the range? 100 max? If there were an army training fac in every state that trained 2 shifts of shooters a day on a fixed range, that would be 200x50 a day, or 10,000 riflemen a day. If that happened, it would mean roughly (very roughly) 2 training days a year.

Facilities are limited. I qualify regularly, but qualifying is ridiculous when it comes down to tactics - inservice helps, but in a good 4 hour training session if I put 200 rounds downrange then I'm about maxed out in the sense of making each shot count and not just putting holes in paper.

We need to change the way we train our troops, they need to be issued one rifle that is always in their possesion, not laagered away in an armory. They need to be allowed to shoot the rifle outside of the military, like at local competitions, without all kinds of paperwork. When they get out of the service, they need to keep their rifle. In this way we can create a better rifleman's culture - but we don't... Gee, the Swiss do though...

Ammunition should be ENTIRELY tax exempt. Ammunition manufacturers need to get 1/100th of the amount we subsidize farmers to NOT PLANT A DAMN THING.

I do think non-gun training (like airsoft) has definite value. Wasn't it a Japanese guy who won the Steel Challenge a few years back, he's ONLY shot airsoft his entire life, until he came to the USA to compete in the steel challenge, where he touched a real pistol for the first time in his life. He beat all the big boys. Airsoft COUNTS. But hey, we can't let kids run around wearing goggles and airsofting themselves, gee - oh wait, that IS a crime in every city I can name - "unlawful discharge of a firearm" because a firearm is defined as any device meant to propel a projectile. So even if you wanted to play around as a kid, your parents would be hauled into court for you shooting at paper targets with your plastic beads in your own backyard.

Argh...

[Colorado Pete]

If you want to see how the Army used to train infantry to shoot, Google "Rifle Marksmanship with the M1 Rifle", Parts 1 & 2. Training films from 1943. Sit through those for a couple of hours and see if compares to what you received in the Army the last 10-20 years. Very good stuff, and is almost exactly what today's Appleseed Project teaches at our shoots.

[Byte Stryke]

Judging from last nights news... though unequal by department, I would say that our Military is getting enough training.