Rifle Qual takes two weeks. The first week is Grass Week, which consists of safety classes, learning the firing positions, aiming, and how to use your log book. The second week is Qual Week. Monday through Thursday are practice days, Friday is Qual Day. There are three badges for Rifle Qualification: Expert, Sharpshooter and Marksman. Marksman is the lowest score that counts. The badge is a silver square with a target rings inside it. It is referred to as the "pizza box." Sharpshooter is a silver x with a Marine Corps emblem embossed on it. Expert is a pair of crossed rifles embossed on a wreath. Everyone has to qualify or shoot at least Marksman to continue with training. If you "UNQ" (pronounced 'unk') then you have to return to the range the following week and try to qual again. If at the end that week you don't qualify then you are dropped back 3 weeks in training. Needless to say that NOBODY wants to get dropped back. Tension is very high at the range. The DIs have told us horror stories of accidents, suicides and attempted murders at the range. Our Senior told us a story of how an Iraqi soldier shot him in the ass before he shot the Iraqi in the face. His point was simple: you can try to shoot me, but you better kill me, cause I won't miss! Each day when we are done firing we get frisked with a metal detector to make sure nobody sneaks any live ammo off the range. You have to turn out your pockets, take off your boots and belt, and shout "Sir, this recruit has no brass, trash or live rounds to declare at this time, Sir!" God help you if they find anything on you later!!!
I have shot guns before in my life, but nothing like my M16A2. A .22 is nothing like it. In the movies they always show the advanced scopes and silencers. The basic issue M16A2 has no scope and it is loud. The first time I fired it, it scared the hell out of me. I didn't have a tight enough grip and my cheek wasn't firm enough on the butt stock. The recoil hit me in the face. It hurt!!! Anyways, zeroing the weapon means that you take 3 shots from 300 yards and see where they hit. If the group is tight but off target then you need to adjust the sights. The rifle has a front sight post and rear sight aperture. When you look through them it looks like a circle with a pole in the middle. If you are low then you lower the front sight post. If you are high then you raise it. The rear sight goes left to right. My initial grouping was low and to the right. My coach told me to lower my my front sight three clicks and to adjust my rear sight three clicks to the left. When I fired again I was on target.
The rifle range is broken down into stages. Stage 1 is at the 200 yard line. You have 15 minutes to take fifteen shots; 5 sitting, 5 kneeling, 5 standing. Stage 2 is rapid fire: 10 shots in the sitting position in sixty seconds with a magazine change. Stage 3 is at the 300 yard line; 5 shots kneeling in five minutes. Stage 4 is rapid fire: 10 shots in the prone position in sixty seconds with a magazine change. Finally Stage 5 is from the 500 yard line; 10 shots in ten minutes from the prone position. So every day you go through the progression of firing at each distance and recording how you did and any adjustments you make to your rifle. The biggest thing you need to make sure that you do every day is reset your sights when you are done firing. If you made wind adjustments, or distance adjustments and don't fix them, then you'll be all over the place the next day. And you wouldn't believe how many guys F--- this up!!!
The company is broken into two groups. One group will fire in the morning, the other will work the pits. The guys in the pits raise and lower the targets and mark hits and misses. Once the first group is done shooting, they switch. The group that fires first has an easier time because there is less sun and wind. I was lucky I got to fire in the morning group. I shot really well on Monday. I shot piss poorly on Tuesday and Wednesday. I shot a little better on Thursday. On Qual Day I shot Sharpshooter. I was happy with that. I was excited to be done with this stage of training. I got left on gear watch after qual with Throck. Throck was a mess because he UNQ'd and because Throck is always a mess. The Heavy came over and started to mess with him. He asked Throck if he had seen The Matrix? Throck told him that he had. The Heavy then spent the next ten minutes informing Throck that none of this is real and that we have been in the Matrix for the last nine weeks. Then he told him that bootcamp actually starts tomorrow. Throck was on the verge of tears. To be honest, I was too. I really don't think I could take it if this is just a dream and we're still in receiving.
