Small Arms Readiness Group helps troops improve weapons marksmanship skills

      Many mobilizing soldiers training at Fort McCoy have taken advantage of the First Army Small Arms Readiness Group to improve their weapons marksmanship.

Sgt. 1st Class Lance Espinosa fires an M-203 grenade launcher while Sgt. 1st Class Robert Riesterer observes. (Photo by Rob Schuette)

      Group members were activated in March and support the installation's mobilization mission, said Sgt. 1st Class Jack Pardy, the team's Training and Operations noncommissioned officer.  The unit is comprised of Army Reservists headquartered at Fort Gillem, Ga.

      The first step in the process is a one-hour briefing, followed by use of the Laser Marksmanship Training System (LMTS). 

      "The training reinforces and teaches the basic skills a soldier would apply to their weapon systems," Pardy said.

      "The unit takes the skills from there and applies them on the ranges," Pardy said.  "We train the soldiers to standard for everything the soldiers are expected to do."

      Generally, units mobilizing through Fort McCoy Troop Command automatically are scheduled to receive this training, Pardy said.   

Members of the First Army Small Arms Readiness Group fire M-2 machine guns at Range 34. (Photo by Rob Schuette)

     Other units must request the assistance, which also can include assistance with or operation of ranges during the qualifying sessions at Fort McCoy.   In between the training sessions, soldiers from the Small Arms Readiness Group went out to Fort McCoy ranges to accomplish their annual qualification on the weapon systems.

      Pardy, one of several group members on the Army Reserve Rifle Team, along with Master Sgt. Steve Slee, the McCoy group's NCO in charge, said the group members incorporate many of the marksmanship techniques they learned into the training program.

      "It's nice to be able to give back and share some of the marksmanship skills with Army soldiers," Pardy said.  "Every soldier gets knowledge that may save someone's life in combat or training."

      Sgt. 1st Class Lance Espinosa, a member of the McCoy group, said the LMTS works much like a multiple integrated laser engagement system (MILES) that records target hits using an electronic system.

      "The idea is to stress the fundamentals and reinforce them so the soldiers fire the weapon correctly every time," Espinosa said.  "The units who have been coming to our building are doing better in qualifying than units that don't.  The training saves them shooting ammunition and time and is a good training opportunity."

      Staff Sgt. Timothy Jelinski of the Small Arms Readiness Group at McCoy said members of several units have told them they have never shot better than after they came to the LMTS facility.  Soldiers are required to qualify on their primary weapons once a year, and, he said it appears that some units do not make weapon marksmanship training a high priority because of other priorities and time limits.

      "We always are looking at our training and updating it to meet the needs of our customers," Jelinski said.  "That includes doing train-the-trainer sessions in our LMTS."

Unit members also made the training available to other units at Fort McCoy as the mission allows, he said. 

      The list includes personnel from the Canadian Army, several military training courses, the Naval Seabees and military personnel conducting weekend or annual training at McCoy.