SCHWEINFURT Nudging and holding them by the backs of their bulletproof vests, Sgt. Maj. Patrick Ogden guided the two-man team along the line of targets during advanced combat marksmanship training at Victory Training Center here Dec. 7.
Ogden, who leads training for the 1st Infantry Division operations division, designed the three-day exercise with fellow combat veteran Staff Sgt. Troy Hanner, also with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st ID.
The main focal point of the training is to teach these guys to engage immediately targets at 50 meters, standing and from any direction, Ogden said of the training, which differs by its tactics from basic marksmanship training.
We are in a mobile battlefield. Soldiers on convoys, Soldiers on foot patrols, Soldiers moving against moving targets. Very seldom are we in a defensive position and attacked, Ogden said, explaining the avoidance of stationary firing positions that distinguishes combat marksmanship.
You dont have that opportunity now, on the streets of Baghdad or Tikrit, in the hills of Afghanistan, he said.
Soldiers enjoyed the chance to train the way they fight.
Its high speed. Were doing reflexive fire, training for scenarios that we might come across in the real world situation and getting used to using both hands, said Spec. Kenneth Colston, HHC, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry.
Were getting to use a lot of ammunition and getting to do it several times over and over, instead of just shooting it one time and moving on, Colston said.
Allowing for the most realistic training possible, members of the Air Forces 2nd Air Support Operations Squadron joined the Soldiers, with whom they deploy and fight.
Its something that the Air Force isnt used to doing, so to be joint with the Army helps out a lot, because were downrange with them, said Staff Sgt. Chad Benjamin.
Above all, the advanced combat marksmanship training was a class full of noncommissioned officers.
The purpose of this training is to teach the NCOs the skills they need so they can back and teach their Soldiers, Ogden said. (Story by Mark Heeter, USAG Schweinfurt Public Affairs Office)