Marine Combat Shooting Course in Afghanistan

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

Is it me or just anyone else see things in this vid that you would question?

 

[Shane45 807]

No.

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

So you guys don't have issues with carrying without a round in the chamber and leaving finger on trigger while assessing? And how about the Marine who muzzle sweeps his legs and crotch area with his finger on the trigger at about 42 secs? I'm not mocking our Marines at all. They're the best of the best, but I can't help buy question some of the things I saw in the vid.

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

That was the first 7-10 seconds....

 

I did not see that later on.....but frankly when I carry at home or other places where I am able to, I carry loaded mag no round in chamber........further my nightstand pistol is the same way, condition 3......   do you really want to get into THAT debate...its as bad as debating oil type in a motorcycle forum...

 

LOL. Not trying to get into a debate. I'm not a Marine and have the utmost respect for our armed forces. But I just thought Marines would have more trigger discipline and would carry with a round in the chamber. I can understand you carrying with your chamber empty at home, but these guys are in a combat zone. I just found it odd. I guess I'm the only one... What about the guy at around 43 secs who sweeps himself with his finger on trigger? Also, the guy at 1 mins also racks his slide to chamber a round. You can't see it, but you can see his shoulder move and you can hear the slide racking.

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

Just wanted to add that I'm not trying to be a keyboard warrior. If shit ever hit the fan and Marines were around, I'm pretty sure I'd be hiding behind them.

[Vlad G 345]

The camera man gets crossed a few times.

[Manny_0311 0]

With range training its common to be condition 3. Before we leave the wire we go condition 1 on all weapons.

[Sig226GuyNJ 128]

With range training its common to be condition 3. Before we leave the wire we go condition 1 on all weapons.

Why is that? Is it a safety thing? I would think you'd want to train the way you'd carry.

[Manny_0311 0]

Mostly safety. But its always at the start of the shoot of course. There are plenty of exercises that you will be condition 1 in.

[302w 83]

As for not having a round in the chamber... typically you also load mags with more than three rounds lol.

 

The only issues I have with that video is the one Marine with an M9 in a serpa right below his chin, and the use of lanyards. I think lanyards are silly and I've never seen anyone with a HG holstered right below their face, but to each his own. 

[High Exposure 5,661]

The only issues I have with that video is the one Marine with an M9 in a serpa right below his chin, and the use of lanyards. I think lanyards are silly and I've never seen anyone with a HG holstered right below their face, but to each his own.

Lanyards are silly until someone loses a pistol in the field and while everyone else gets down time you and your 12 closest friends get to look for it all night. Or you get knocked on your ass and the pistol goes flying, or you are performing helo ops and the wind rips it out of your holster because you forgot to lock it in, or waterborne ops and your hands are wet and you drop your pistol, or your a medic and have slippery hands or have to put the pistol down to treat someone, or a million other reasons that are appropriate to a Marine or Soldier in the field.

 

As far as chest mounted holster, it is great for mounted troops that spend a lot of time sitting in vehicles. It's faster to draw from than a hip or thigh rig and it is a more maneuverable weapon platform inside a HMMV than a carbine or rifle. It is also nice to get weight like that off your legs when humping mountains and you can't wear a hip holster because of armor or pack constraints.

 

As for the video itself there are a couple of WTF moments, but all in all it is a good start to the new USMC program that is teaching their regular people how to fight with a gun vs. shooting.

[raz-0 1,259]

On a scale of 0-10 with 0 being perfection, 10 being WTF that's stupid, and 5 being the inflection point where you cross over form learning mostly good stuff to mostly bad stuff,  I can't give it too bad a score.  I'm going to go with 3.5. That, however, is based on not knowing what the goals of the training actually are, nor how well these particular students score, or if what is seen is remotely comprehensive of what went on. 

 

There is the dude at about 40-43 second in where the guy crosses a major artery with the finger on the trigger on re-holster. Yeah, they ALL cross on the draw to some extent, but I'd 100% be more picky about the re-holster. On the draw, you actively have your mind set on shooting something and maximizing the gun being dangerous. The mechanical motion is also less likely to result in an accidental press of the triger until extending the gun away from you. On the re-holster, you are in the mind set of it becoming safer and not actively engaging something in particular, while nearly the entire range of motion has the ability to result in an unintentional trigger press. With that in mind though, you see one guy do it badly, and the others jsut sweep themselves with finger off the trigger. It may be he is the slow learner, and concessions to not choosing ideal circumstances covers the sweeping. I.e. In real life I'd rather sweep the dash/firewall rather than my legs, but in training that's be the back of the dude in front of me. I'd rather be responsible for my mistakes just hurting me in that situation. 

 

Beyond that, drawing the mags and reloads need some TLC. If they are being graded as awesome for what we saw there close up, I'd be disappointed in how well developed the course material was. There are multiple techniques and arguments for them, but in the military, you aren't getting away from dealing with the closed flap, and what they did there was a sloppy mix of techniques that aren't the best fit for each other. 

 

Then there's target presentation and shooter positions. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that more shooter positions were used than shown. The target positions might be an administrative requirement, but the materials available could be put to better use.