July 29, 1997 - More Rifle Training

970729 - Yesterday was just like yesterday minus PT. We learned some new positions and practiced them all day. Easy but fun. 31 days left...
When qualifying on the rifle range, Marines fire from three distances (200, 300, and 500 yards) and in four different shooting positions (standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone). A large portion of Grass Week was spent learning how to sit, kneel, stand, and lay properly in order to maximize your stability for shooting. We would form a large circle around a 55-gallon drum that was painted white with lots of mini targets painted onto it. We would then "dry fire" (aim at the barrel target, practice all of the fundamentals of shooting, pull the trigger, repeat) for hours and hours. This had two functions. First, it would hopefully get us used to practicing the fundamentals of shooting. This wasn't really possible though, because firing an actual rifle is vastly different from dry firing. The only real way to get used to shooting is actually shooting. The second reason was to get our bodies used to holding the various positions for long periods of time. Some of the shooting positions, particularly sitting and kneeling, weren't very comfortable, so the more time we spent acclimating our legs and knees to these positions, the better. When Grass Week began, DI Sgt. H__ told us that this was also why, every time we had a class in the squad bay and were sitting on the floor, we were required to sit cross-legged with our left leg in front: that is the basic foundation for the sitting shooting position and we had been training our knees to hold the position all summer without knowing it. Well, it's the foundation for right-handed shooters. Once I learned of this, I began sitting with my right leg in front since I'm left-handed. The DIs didn't seem to mind.

I've included a video which shows what happens during Grass Week. It's pretty similar to my experience, with the exception of the fact we didn't have scopes. The Marines with the green shirts are the Marksmanship Instructors. They served as our teachers throughout the two weeks that we were on the rifle range.

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