Optics added for entry-level rifle training - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Optics added for entry-level rifle training

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — In a significant reversal, the Marine Corps has begun using optics at entry-level training, and could do so on a permanent basis beginning next year.

The scopes will be used by recruits based at Parris Island, S.C., and San Diego beginning in July as part of a pilot program, said Col. Timothy Armstrong, head of Weapons Training Battalion based here. Two companies of new lieutenants here at The Basic School already have trained with them, and shown dramatic improvements in how they shoot, Marine officials said.

“There’s going to be about 8,000 Marines at entry-level going through this pilot study,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to take a look at where the data takes us, and have an organized discussion to bring marksmanship forward.”

The decision is one of several changes recommended during the 2011 Combat Marksmanship Symposium, held in March. Other training changes include launching a combat pistol program and developing online classes for combat marksmanship coaches and trainers.

The pilot program was developed after officers with the Plans, Policies and Operations branch asked marksmanship officials to assess pros and cons of using optics at entry-level training, and whether making them the primary aiming device there made sense, Armstrong said. The discussion was incorporated into the marksmanship symposium, which brought together some of the service’s top weapons experts and marksmanship educators.

It’s a significant change of course, considering the Corps announced last October that it was sticking with its plan to keep scopes away from boot camp and early training for new lieutenants. That decision was pushed by Gen. James Conway, who retired as commandant about a week later.

“If there’s a more emotionally charged debate within marksmanship, I don’t know what it is,” said Chief Warrant Officer-4 Martin Dankanich, a range officer with the battalion. “You don’t want to make a decision based on that. At the end of this proof concept, I think there’s going to be some Marines on both sides of the discussion who are surprised, one way or the other.”

Under the pilot program, recruits will spend nearly all of their entry-level training using the optic, but also will qualify with iron sights, said Chief Warrant Officer-3 Christian Wade, a gunner at Weapons Training Battalion. New Marines will receive additional training on the iron sights at the School of Infantry or Marine Combat Training, he said.

The Corps-wide marksmanship symposium was the first held since 2005, and will become an annual event. Recommendations will be made annually to the rest of the Corps and briefed to the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, currently Lt. Gen. George Flynn.