Mission Complete
Once again business and life in general got the best of me and prevented me from posting to my blog. This has greatly distressed at least two people that I know of. I suppose now that I actually appear to have two people that follow my blog I am obligated to provide updated content. The humanity...
As of Friday 4 February 2005 I have successfully completed the "Master Gunner" course in which I was enrolled. I accomplished this with all first time Go scores on test day, and in a class of 24, was in fact one of only seven, that's right I said 7, seven, Non Commissioned Officers who accomplished this, and two of those were KATUSA Soldiers. (making the actual number 5) This is disturbing on several levels which I will outline here.
To begin with, there was not one thing "Master" about the course, nor did it's successful completion qualify one as a "Gunner" in any sense of the word, nor had it anything remotely to do with Gunnery as the Army, and the US Military defines it. As I had surmised before beginning the course, it was very basic refresher training that every soldier, and most certainly EVERY leader both officer and NCO should be competent in.
Of the 5 instructors present, two of them in particular displayed not only arrogance, but were extremely condescending toward the students in the class, (most of whom were wearing the same rank as they were)they consistently patronized them and treated any questions that were asked as irritations and disruptions. This was along with demonstrating themselves to be completely contradictory and not at all subject matter experts on the systems they were "instructing." The fact that they were teaching the crew served weapons, T&E, and range cards compounded their ignorance and the confusion of the less familiar students.
The class was comprised of 24 NCOs in primarily Staff Sergeants, and some Sergeants First Class in attendance. Of these many had to be re-tested 3 or more times in order to pass the course. In order to pass you were required to clear, disassemble, assemble, and perform functions checks on the weapons types mentioned in my previous post. The crew served weapons required the additional tasks of mounting them on the tripod,(with traverse and elevation mechanism) as well as mounting night vision sights on the weapons.
The M249 required mounting on a tripod with T&E and night vision sights as well, with the final task being preparing a range card using the T&E Mechanism. These were all timed events, with a maximum allowable time depending on the particular weapon. As I stated, nothing remotely advanced level training. In fact all very basic.
The majority of these senior leaders failed to properly perform these tasks to time or standard, and in many cases displayed a complete lack of familiarity with even the M16A2 rifle with which all soldiers are REQUIRED to qualify with a minimum of once a year, and which is drawn weekly for Sergeant's Time Training. Bear in mind these are the people responsible for teaching America's young men and women to survive and win in combat.
The day following the testing was range day. This was ostensibly to fire and become familiar with the operation of all the weapons systems covered in the class. In reality, we were only able to fire 7 rounds in the MK19, 15 rounds through the M9, and 30 each from the M249, and M16/M4. We were not able to fire the M2, or M203, two of the weapons in which personnel needed the most familiarization.
We neither qualified, nor conducted any structured course of fire, and the amount of rounds expended in no way provided anything but a very basic familiarization of the weapons. Once again, everything accomplished in the weeks worth of training were basic skills all NCOs are required to know and be able to teach subordinate soldiers.
To cap it off the two aforementioned instructors brought their lack of knowledge and unprofessionalism to the range. This created not only a dangerous situation, but a condition of absolute absurdity to the whole affair. These two NCOs were not only not very knowledgeable, they were literally afraid of the MK19 and the live rounds. This presented a very highly visible lack of confidence and proclivity to make mistakes in employing the weapon.
Once loaded, both of these individuals were afraid to approach the weapon and ensure everything was in proper order for firing. Good thing there were some NCOs on hand willing and confident enough to safely execute the training.
Did I mention those that failed to perform the tests correctly within the allotted time limit were simply retested repeatedly until they successfully passed the tests? With each successive test conducted more hurriedly, and with more hints and tips during the test? Did I further mention that those that failed to pass and demonstrate proficiency with the weapons were still presented with the same certificates as those that passed the first time tested, proclaiming that they were certified "Master Gunners"? Additionally this certificate was signed by both the Colonel, and the Command Sergeant Major attesting to the weapons prowess you demonstrated... Or not.
After the recent witnessed training event I intend to request that the Sergeant Major allow me to re-write and develop the curriculum, and fashion it into a real, and professional training program, and one that will in fact teach some advanced facets of weapons and employment.
It is a great and overwhelming fear of mine as a leader that soldiers will be receiving this sort of useless training more and more often. It is my hope that I can attempt to make a difference and do something about it.
As of Friday 4 February 2005 I have successfully completed the "Master Gunner" course in which I was enrolled. I accomplished this with all first time Go scores on test day, and in a class of 24, was in fact one of only seven, that's right I said 7, seven, Non Commissioned Officers who accomplished this, and two of those were KATUSA Soldiers. (making the actual number 5) This is disturbing on several levels which I will outline here.
To begin with, there was not one thing "Master" about the course, nor did it's successful completion qualify one as a "Gunner" in any sense of the word, nor had it anything remotely to do with Gunnery as the Army, and the US Military defines it. As I had surmised before beginning the course, it was very basic refresher training that every soldier, and most certainly EVERY leader both officer and NCO should be competent in.
Of the 5 instructors present, two of them in particular displayed not only arrogance, but were extremely condescending toward the students in the class, (most of whom were wearing the same rank as they were)they consistently patronized them and treated any questions that were asked as irritations and disruptions. This was along with demonstrating themselves to be completely contradictory and not at all subject matter experts on the systems they were "instructing." The fact that they were teaching the crew served weapons, T&E, and range cards compounded their ignorance and the confusion of the less familiar students.
The class was comprised of 24 NCOs in primarily Staff Sergeants, and some Sergeants First Class in attendance. Of these many had to be re-tested 3 or more times in order to pass the course. In order to pass you were required to clear, disassemble, assemble, and perform functions checks on the weapons types mentioned in my previous post. The crew served weapons required the additional tasks of mounting them on the tripod,(with traverse and elevation mechanism) as well as mounting night vision sights on the weapons.
The M249 required mounting on a tripod with T&E and night vision sights as well, with the final task being preparing a range card using the T&E Mechanism. These were all timed events, with a maximum allowable time depending on the particular weapon. As I stated, nothing remotely advanced level training. In fact all very basic.
The majority of these senior leaders failed to properly perform these tasks to time or standard, and in many cases displayed a complete lack of familiarity with even the M16A2 rifle with which all soldiers are REQUIRED to qualify with a minimum of once a year, and which is drawn weekly for Sergeant's Time Training. Bear in mind these are the people responsible for teaching America's young men and women to survive and win in combat.
The day following the testing was range day. This was ostensibly to fire and become familiar with the operation of all the weapons systems covered in the class. In reality, we were only able to fire 7 rounds in the MK19, 15 rounds through the M9, and 30 each from the M249, and M16/M4. We were not able to fire the M2, or M203, two of the weapons in which personnel needed the most familiarization.
We neither qualified, nor conducted any structured course of fire, and the amount of rounds expended in no way provided anything but a very basic familiarization of the weapons. Once again, everything accomplished in the weeks worth of training were basic skills all NCOs are required to know and be able to teach subordinate soldiers.
To cap it off the two aforementioned instructors brought their lack of knowledge and unprofessionalism to the range. This created not only a dangerous situation, but a condition of absolute absurdity to the whole affair. These two NCOs were not only not very knowledgeable, they were literally afraid of the MK19 and the live rounds. This presented a very highly visible lack of confidence and proclivity to make mistakes in employing the weapon.
Once loaded, both of these individuals were afraid to approach the weapon and ensure everything was in proper order for firing. Good thing there were some NCOs on hand willing and confident enough to safely execute the training.
Did I mention those that failed to perform the tests correctly within the allotted time limit were simply retested repeatedly until they successfully passed the tests? With each successive test conducted more hurriedly, and with more hints and tips during the test? Did I further mention that those that failed to pass and demonstrate proficiency with the weapons were still presented with the same certificates as those that passed the first time tested, proclaiming that they were certified "Master Gunners"? Additionally this certificate was signed by both the Colonel, and the Command Sergeant Major attesting to the weapons prowess you demonstrated... Or not.
After the recent witnessed training event I intend to request that the Sergeant Major allow me to re-write and develop the curriculum, and fashion it into a real, and professional training program, and one that will in fact teach some advanced facets of weapons and employment.
It is a great and overwhelming fear of mine as a leader that soldiers will be receiving this sort of useless training more and more often. It is my hope that I can attempt to make a difference and do something about it.
posted by Josh at 11:54 PM
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