It still - 44 years away - pisses me off to no end that in Marine Corps Boot Camp I fired "Expert" in every pre-qual shoot....but on actual qualifying day, I hiccuped and only made Marksman; didn't even make Sharpshooter...
Pretty much the same thing a couple of years later, just before I got out (woulda been worse, but I was a short-timer) it rained and my eyeglasses got all gooed up and I actually was a Non-Qual.
I wondered about that. My qualifying day was no wind, sunny and really nice. The guy who was supposed to be scoring was also supposed to be the one handing me the magazines. He forgot one and tossed it into the sand. The M-16 never hiccupped and I shot really well.
The long range standard targets are clay birds on a dirt berm at a lasered 65-70 yards with pistols. The fun thing is you forget all the misses. LOL.
Pretty much the same thing a couple of years later, just before I got out (woulda been worse, but I was a short-timer) it rained and my eyeglasses got all gooed up and I actually was a Non-Qual.
It was (1974-1978) 28-32 years ago for me (my how time flies) from boot camp to the final time I qualified with the rifle (M16A1 for me).
I always shot Sharpshooter, except my very last time I shot a Marksman (toilet seat). So my old khaki uniform shirt and green uniform coats now forever have a "toilet seat" on them.
I wore glasses myself, and had the problems associated with wearing glasses myself.
Just goes to show how these things could have worked out in real life I guess...
44 years ago - I’m guessing that you were firing the M-14. I was fortunate to fire the M-1. Even with that, I always got messed up firing in the standing position. I just couldn’t break 40(out of 50).