KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Nov. 22, 2005 — Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade helped sharpen the marksmanship skills of Afghan National Army soldiers during Operation Atal Wali Nov. 12-19 at Kandahar Airfield.
"Now they understand that they control their ammo, they control their posture, and when they fire they know they will hit the target,"
Staff Sgt. Edward King, marksmanship instructor. |
Soldiers from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), along with Romanian and other Coalition soldiers took the lead in teaching Afghan soldiers from the 1st Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps basic rifle marksmanship. We split it up into three phases, said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Eric Nelson, 2nd Platoon Leader and Officer-In-Charge of the range. The first phase was pre-marksmanship instruction. We taught them much the same as what our privates get taught in basic training. We taught them the four fundamentals of marksmanship using some of the same techniques like the dime and washer drills, the shadow box, and blocks of instruction. Then we went on to the second phase which was zeroing, said Nelson, which was something new for them. We had a lot of help from our international allies, especially the Romanian Black Wolf battalion that is here (at Kandahar Airfield). Then we went into the third phase which was our close-quarters marksmanship classes, said Nelson. On Nov. 18 the Sky Soldiers ended the days exercises with an eye-opening demonstration for the ANA soldiers, showing the effectiveness of firing two-round controlled pairs versus firing a spray of bullets in full automatic mode. Now they understand that they control their ammo, they control their posture, and when they fire they know they will hit the target, said Staff Sgt. Edward King, marksmanship instructor. Everyone knows that in full auto you kind of spray and slay in every direction and you really cant tell where the bullets are going. “This gives them an idea of what it’s like to shoot controlled pairs versus full auto and understand that they are more likely to hit the enemy or the Taliban,” King added. King believes the message hit home when the ANA soldiers saw the paper target silhouettes after the demonstration. Twenty rounds were fired by one ANA soldier at a silhouette in controlled pairs, while 30 rounds were fired at
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