Here’s How The Marine Corps Will Train Future Snipers

Task and Purpose ^ | 11 Aug, 2917 | SARAH SICARD

[MtnClimber]

First-person shooter is one of the most popular perspectives among gamers, but these simulations can be used for much more than entertainment — specifically military training. And thanks to new the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer III, Marine Corps marksmen are about to take their sharpshooting skills to a whole new level.

Though the Corps has been using virtual reality to train Marines for two decades, the systems for marksmanship have become exponentially better.

With the ISMT III, Marines have access to multiple weapons: the M9 service pistol, M4 carbine, and wireless weapons, including the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, M32A1 Multi-Shot Grenade Launcher and M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon.

This latest iteration, modeled off the Firearms Training Simulator (FATS), also boasts three-dimensional projections and features enhanced training modes, “giving Marines a better, more realistic training experience as they prepare for the complexities of modern warfare,” the release said.

[Bryanw92]

>>You ever kill anything with a rifle? Noise and recoil are absent.

Thanks. I’m glad someone corrected that post! A great shot is pure zen. The noise and recoil happen after the bullet leaves the barrel. People who pooh-pooh simulator training have not used a modern simulator. You mix simulator time with real range time and you get a multiplication of training.

[bunkerhill7]

heck up`n here mountains we`uns done been trained since 6 years old`n to hit .22 a groundhog`s ear shadow at 1/4 mile spit in the wind spitshine sight. I think America losing
homegrown kid snipers.

“These militia, trained and disciplined in their own houses; not practised in the field, but BRINGING THEIR GUNS
WHICH THEY WERE TAUGHT TO USE WHEN CHILDREN..” p.111, p.168 are sourced from “Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”, Vol. 4, by the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1837-8
“

[Pollster1]

It’ll be second-best training. But it’ll be a lot cheaper.

If they can make the parts amenable to simulator training excellent, then they can focus on fewer goals during real-world training. The result (if done right) is first-class training for the price that would produce lesser training if it was all done in the real world. If one of my kids is going into combat, and whatever the training budget, I want the right parts of it done in simulators to get the most bang for the bucks available.

[M1911A1]

I’m with you on the value of simulators, to a point. I’ve used them, although I’m sure the ones we used before I retired are sort of quaint by now. They did simulate recoil through an air pressure system, and magazine changes and stoppage drills were included. I’ll assume the current version is even better.

However, keep in mind that had they had simulators in 1939, the US military would have put our Soldiers, Sailors and Marines thousands of hours of simulated trench warfare, battleship engagements and cavalry charges.

Technology is awesome, but the real problem is to overcome the human tendency to train for the last war and not the next one.

[Chainmail]

Horsehockey: there is no substitute for firing live ammo from real weapons in real-life conditions.

Lazy leaders who like gimmicky solutions and want to avoid maintaining rifle ranges want this garbage - as well as bloodsucking vendors of the expensive and ultimately low-value systems.

[2nd Amendment]

I used to play a computer 1st person shooter game called gook nukem or something like that .....

[gundog]

The things I remember from kills are the things I don’t even notice when shooting. Muzzle flash, and smoke indicating wind direction...and instead of the roar of the shot, the sound of the bullet’s impact.

[MtnClimber]

I clean my gun. And I dream of Galveston. G. Campbell

[Gay State Conservative]

The only experience I have here is having scored two or three point below "Expert" in BCT almost 50 years ago.That was pretty amazing because before my arrival at Fort Knox I had never even *seen* a firearm,let alone fired one.

It seems to me that unless a bullet is somehow laser guided or GPS guided (like most long rage missiles are) hitting a person at any more than a 100-150 yards is as much luck as anything else.

[Axenolith]

That, and ants crawling around your gonads, the fer de lance hanging next to your head and x days on a couple pints of water and 1/2 an MRE etc...

[gwjack]

I saw the tracking-point at SHOT show a couple of years ago. THey were giddy about Taya Kyle receiving a win in a contest with an expert sniper. After a small amount of training, she did not miss one shot.

https://www.tracking-point.com/american-sniper-shootout-2015/

Gwjack

[itsahoot]

That video was a couple years ago. No spotter needed practically no training needed, make anyone a sniper that has the mental attitude to handle it.

[af_vet_rr]

I wonder if this will really work. The noise and recoil will be absent.

Spoke to my son this morning about it - we used to play a lot of FPS games together, and he's a Marine who served in Afghanistan. They did something like this before shipping out - it may have even been this system, or more likely a beta or the older version mentioned (he deployed to Afghanistan a few years ago).

He said the noise and recoil is not really something you need to simulate in digital training, because you know it's not real, and you get the actual noise and actual recoil on the live-fire ranges anyways. He also said that the "crack" as he described it, of an actual round going near your head is a lot different from a live-fire exercise where they are firing rounds well over your head.

He said the good thing about these simulations, is that you can practice team work, and you can do a large amount of repetitive actions in a short amount of time. He said the repetition was most helpful to him. It was almost like muscle memory/autopilot when they got into combat, because of their training.

[Retain Mike]

It makes sense to me. I immediately thought of dry firing and putting simulated and real round randomly in a magazine.

[Openurmind]

“Hidden and Dangerous” was one of the first good real time mission games. What it did most was teach patience. Patience is the skill that can be hammered home with a simulator.

[doorgunner69]

access to multiple weapons: the M9 service pistol, M4 carbine, and wireless weapons, including the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, M32A1 Multi-Shot Grenade Launcher and M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon

Train "snipers"??

Sounds more like basic infantry.

[Pollster1]

Technology is awesome, but the real problem is to overcome the human tendency to train for the last war and not the next one.

In terms of recreation, shooting is my primary hobby. I fire over 200 rounds a day, almost every day, not counting a lot of dry fire and a lot of air pistol/rifle. I rarely meet someone who can shoot as accurately as I do in competition. Put me in a tactical shooting class, and a whole lot of people who have been through similar training will be much better than I am. However, no matter how limited my tactical training might be, I'll be much better in a tactical shooting class than someone with no training in any kind of shooting. Even if we're training for the last war, some skills will carry over in a similar manner.

[ctdonath2]

And you can repeat it, exactly the same way, many times!

[PreciousLiberty]

“It seems to me that unless a bullet is somehow laser guided or GPS guided (like most long rage missiles are) hitting a person at any more than a 100-150 yards is as much luck as anything else.”

You’re beyond misinformed. Sniper kills have been made at over 2400 yards, with zero luck involved. A hunter with a decent modern rifle can routinely make shots at 400+ yards.

[Bryanw92]

>>It makes sense to me. I immediately thought of dry firing and putting simulated and real round randomly in a magazine.

Nothing brings your trigger discipline shortcomings home faster than that dummy round in the middle of a magazine.