So he got through the "screaming and yelling" phase and can see the light at the end of the tunnel! So far he's not having any major problems and from the pics of him on his unit's Facebook page, looks healthy. But what pisses me off - they get to go to the rifle range in a SOFT CAP! Yes, the regular ball-cap looking hat they wear on a daily basis. When I was in The Army we always had to wear our helmets at every range. But I have trained at Fort Benning with infantry units many years ago, and they didn't wear helmets either. What's up with that? Maybe Anc can explain the grunt mentality. Regardless, they are learning things I didn't learn until well out of basic training, and they have awesome facilities and training aids to boot.
They are live firing with out helmets or dry firing? As for not wearing helmets on the range, I've got no problem with that. Helmets are a pain in the ass. The one nice thing about night patrols is that we would ditch our helmets and go straight soft caps. Why? Better hearing. Yeah helmets are a good thing for protection, but fuck they are heavy and uncomfortable.
I saw the pics, they are live firing. Anyway, my son loves that M-4. I never got to use one, but for toting around in vehicles (and getting in and out of vehicles and tight buildings) that short barrel is awesome.
In his recent letter he was so excited that he could hit targets at 200 meters. He probably meant 300 unless The Army has different qualification standards now. Regardless, it is pretty amazing that they can take people who have never shot a weapon (my son has, but some kids haven't) and in a very short time teach them how to safely and accurately shoot, and the science behind why bullets/weapons do what they do.
Since when? I went through basic at Great Lakes two years ago, and we got to shoot real bullets. But anyway...I can understand why they give the kids in the Navy basic maybe three days to get used to the weapon. Unless you're a Seabee or sent to the sandbox, you'll only have to fire the thing maybe once a year.
A big part of that may be the red dot sights that they use now (Aimpoint, EoTech, and Trijicon). They make shooting a lot easier. When I teach n00bs to shoot for the first time I don't even bother with starting them off with iron sights. As for the 200m thing, he may be right. AFAIK the Army completely revamped basic rifleman marksmanship so that it actually is relevant to how the army fights now instead of how they fought almost 100 years ago.
UPDATE! He passed his final PT test (not passing is a deal-breaker/kiss of death) with flying colors! He needed 150 to pass, he scored 220. Not bad for an unathletic son of an equally unathletic father. That was the last "testable" event of basic training. Now he throws grenades and shoots different weapons just for familiarization - not qualification, so no pressure. It's all downhill from here. The best part? He didn't go to training at "Relaxin' Jackson" AKA Fort Jackson. He did his training at Fort Benning with an actual infantry unit - this was their first non-infantry group of soldiers they ever had to train. So these young fellas got their money's worth and then some! I couldn't be prouder - unless he was an MMA fighter, but that's not going to happen, so I'm extremely proud he's following thru with what he said he would do.
I was actually worried when their commander said that 20 percent of the trainees were in danger of failing! I know my son isn't a pushup expert. He did okay on his previous practice tests, but not great. But it's not uncommon to do way better when the adrenaline is pumping and the crowd is pumping you up. I can't do my best unless it's the "real deal" either. If there's one thing he learned, I hope it's that preparation and hard work pay off. He worked hard in the several months between taking the Oath Of Enlistment and actually going to basic training. If he'd have blown it off and sat on his ass (like some delayed entry recruits did) he might not have made it through, or at the least had a much harder time.
There's always a group that that teeters on the line of failing, for whatever reason...there were at least two folks that were taking their swim quals up til the last day they could do it and not get set back and one girl who passed her final PT run with two seconds to spare after failing the two before that by a wide margin. Glad your son is almost out!
And it is all over! He graduated the morning of 2 August. And he finally got his pay fixed on 1 August. He looks very handsome in his Class B uniform, but he looks kick-ass in his normal digital everyday work/fighting uniform. I don't know what they're called - The Army changes uniforms all the time, and they are soon coming out with yet another. Now he's flying to San Antonio with his other Combat Medic buddies. They had to wait about 8 hours for their departure - welcome to gub'mint efficiency, son! Anywho, he had nothing negative and many positive things to say about his experience, so that's good. He loved doing all the fun grunt activities like clearing buildings of bad guys, all the weapons, etc. All the NCO's and officers were combat experienced, a couple were pretty severely wounded, and their commander is a Ranger. So they were all the real deal! And we saw Batman on a 70 by 50 feet screen. The Infantry Museum is really great (housing the IMAX I mentioned.) My favorite parts were Ann Hathaway's leather clad perfect ass sticking up while she rose a motorcycle. Here's an example, but there were many shots of her from behind.
