AROTC Marksmanship requirement?

NewCollegeParent

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I am seeking some advice. DS recently transferred AROTC battalions. His last battalion did not have access to a rifle range and the only time he has shot a gun was when handed one during Ranger Challenge last year. (Didn't do so well.) He came home this weekend and said he miserably failed on marksmanship at his new Battalion. I didn't ask a great deal of questions, but it seems reasonable since I know he had not shot a gun except for the Ranger Challenge experience.

I had assumed the Army would train him on this and provide the resources for practice. Maybe I assumed wrong.

Is marksmanship something they are evaluated on within Battalion or at LDAC?
If practice is what he needs there are local ranges that rent AR15. Is that what we should do for practice over the holiday break?

Is there any special technique he would need instruction on for Army marksmanship versus ????. (I don't know, just don't want him to learn bad habits, then have to break them)

Thanks for the advice
 
To the best of my knowledge, the only marksmanship requirement for ROTC is that cadets zero before they commission. With recent changes to LDAC within the last year they will get a chance to do this at camp. This chance at camp will include teaching as most cadets are like your son and have probably never shot or even held a weapon before. He also should have more chances to shoot with his battalion which will help him learn.

It does not affect their performance at camp is not evaluated on their CER throughout ROTC, but practice and familiarization is always beneficial.

As far as special techniques go, I am no expert myself and will not attempt to give advice here.
 
My daughters unit never shot either and LDAC was her first shooting experience with a military rifle. She was concerned a bit but passed with no problems. Bottom line...I wouldn't worry too much.

I can tell you that based on my experience in law enforcement, people coming in with zero firearms experience frequently are some of the most accurate shooters in the academy. They haven't developed any bad habits and are a blank slate.
 
Thanks for the info. I did not think that shooting was part of the evaluation. I suspect it has more to do with a bruised ego, especially since we live in the south. We will see what we can do over the holiday break. Ironically we live in the only town in the U.S. that requires each household to own a gun and ammo.

Just out of curiosity what does the term "Zero" mean that Ghost rider spoke to?
 
Just out of curiosity what does the term "Zero" mean that Ghost rider spoke to?

Was wondering the same thing. Ghost_rider said: "The only marksmanship requirement for ROTC is that cadets zero before they commission." What does this mean?
 
"Zeroing" a weapon is the process of aligning the front and rear sights to the shooter.
 
"Zeroing" a weapon is the process of aligning the front and rear sights to the shooter.

Is this a physically challenging thing for some people, like some people are color-blind and so therefore can't make out certain flags and symbols?
 
No. Someone who can only see black and white can do this.
 
In quick and general terms, zeroing is the process of adjusting a weapon to hit where you are aiming.

You fire a group of shots and then adjust the sites to bring your group into the center bullseye

The skill comes in shooting well enough to get a tight group and in understanding the sights well enough to adjust them.

I have NO IDEA if this source is applicable to today's Army, but here is description of the process...

http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/m16a2/zero-and-m16a2-rifle.shtml
 
I would not think it would be a problem for someone who is color-blind as the target is a black silhouette against a white background. To my knowledge the only colored markers on a range are the flags denoting the range limits which should not affect the actual shooting.

A picture of the target can be found by googling "US Army Zero Target". I would post a link but I do not have that privilege yet.

Edit: Too slow to get the first answer. But the link USMCGrunt gives is a more than adequate description of the process.

I have NO IDEA if this source is applicable to today's Army, but here is description of the process...
 
No. Someone who can only see black and white can do this.

Ok -- see -- I was shooting an M-16 at a range recently for the first time and it was not physically possible to hold the rifle the way you're supposed to hold it and have everything line up right. The instructor finally made me hold the rifle in some convoluted way to get the sights aligned. That's why I was wondering. I have really bad eyesight, by the way. One eye is far dominant over the other.
 
Marksmanship for officers?! Bwahahahahahah

There is a reason a lot of batts don't ever qual or zero until a cadet goes to LDAC.
 
Ok -- see -- I was shooting an M-16 at a range recently for the first time and it was not physically possible to hold the rifle the way you're supposed to hold it and have everything line up right. The instructor finally made me hold the rifle in some convoluted way to get the sights aligned. That's why I was wondering. I have really bad eyesight, by the way. One eye is far dominant over the other.

I am a leftie that's right eye dominant....worst possible situation. I have to shoot leftie and use my left eye because arching over to get my right eye lined up isn't practical.

You get used to the positioning with time, suck in that shoulder, slowly squeeze the trigger with the upper portion of your fingerpad till it startles you and slowly release till it clicks. Blurry rear sight and target, your front site should be lined up and clear!
 
Just curious, is availability to throw stuff downrange battalion dependent (ie: size, funding, distance from nearest base, etc)? I know for us, the only time we get to shoot it is just prior to LDAC (unless your on the Ranger Team). We get weapon familiarization throughout the year, but that's about it.
 
Just curious, is availability to throw stuff downrange battalion dependent (ie: size, funding, distance from nearest base, etc)? I know for us, the only time we get to shoot it is just prior to LDAC (unless your on the Ranger Team). We get weapon familiarization throughout the year, but that's about it.

DS's NROTC unit is the same. DS did get to fire M9, M16, .50 cal machine gun during summer training aboard the USS Ashland. Weapon familiarization occurs at the unit but no shooting (I doubt they have firing pins). Evan when at Parris Island for some training there was no live weapons stuff going on. I would think they ROTC units with live weapons are probably limited to those who still might have shooting teams, which ain't many.
 
Just curious, is availability to throw stuff downrange battalion dependent (ie: size, funding, distance from nearest base, etc)? I know for us, the only time we get to shoot it is just prior to LDAC (unless your on the Ranger Team). We get weapon familiarization throughout the year, but that's about it.

Everyone in my batt shot once a year even the non contracted kids. Then again my school was rather close to a major base.
 
Also, as far as methods go, you'll learn a few. I show around once a year and twice during MSIII year. Then we got to LDAC and they had us shooting a whole new way taught by the Asymmetric warfare group. Either way, it'll be easy to pick up.

We had a cadet at LDAC who fired 200 shots to qualify... and he eventually made it. [Context: Most cadets take 12-20 to group and zero and qualify in 40]
 
Also, as far as methods go, you'll learn a few. I show around once a year and twice during MSIII year. Then we got to LDAC and they had us shooting a whole new way taught by the Asymmetric warfare group. Either way, it'll be easy to pick up.

We had a cadet at LDAC who fired 200 shots to qualify... and he eventually made it. [Context: Most cadets take 12-20 to group and zero and qualify in 40]

Let me guess, he's going infantry....
 
Thankfully no. Going signal in the reserves.

But I managed to stay far away from him during the Live Fire Exercise...

Yeah that wasn't a real live fire at least so smaller chance of something bad happening haha
 
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