Army Marksmanship Unit Trains Cadre for Advanced Camp’s Basic Rifle Marksmanship Training
Fort Knox, KY – Basic Rifle Marksmanship standards have changed within the past year, which will now affect the incoming Advanced Camp Cadets this summer.
Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) instructors came to Fort Knox, KY to train the Cadre on the updated standards so that those Cadre could later train the Advanced Camp Cadets.
Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) covers the basics on how to shoot with a rifle. It covers learning how to position, how to find and hit a target, and how to be accurate.
With previous standards, the Cadets were instructed by the tower for functions like changing a magazine. With the new standards, Cadets are having to take matters into their own hands.
“It keeps you on your toes and makes you guess what is next: ‘When is the next time I’ll have to reload or react to that next target?’” said Pfc. Jonathan Arango from 3rd Cavalry Regiment.
The BRM standards were changed to focus Soldiers more on real-life combat scenarios, meaning what could actually happen in the field. The standards also help teach Cadets practical measures on how to make critical decisions when necessary.
“Soldiers and Cadets are so focused on somebody telling them what to do,” said Sgt. Maj. Alfred Losey, who determined how the new standards would be taught during Cadet Summer Training and also brought in the AMU instructors. “In combat, there’s not going to be someone to tell you what to do. This helps them [Cadets] with that transition from being a civilian to becoming a military soldier and understanding that there’s not always going to be somebody to tell you what to do.”
Besides the changes with making decisions individually, those decisions will also need to be made quickly. This is because the standards have changed the allotted time to complete each firing iteration from 10 minutes to only four minutes in total.
According to Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Rose, an AMU instructor, the training for the new standards will not be too different than it was before. The Cadets will still need to engage, or fire at, targets ranging from 50 up to 300 meters.
AMU’s Instructor Trainer Group are subject matter experts on rifle marksmanship.
“We wanted the best of the best to teach our Cadets how to do it right,” said Sgt. Maj. Losey. “Only way to do that is to bring the best of the best here.”
Annually, the AMU Instructor Trainer Group runs anywhere from 50 to 60 training missions around the country.
“We will train anybody from Cadets through special operations,” said Rose. “Our 10 man team roughly trains 1,200 soldiers a year.”
Some advice for new Cadets is to practice before coming to camp.
“Practice your magazine changes, practice changing positions,” said Losey.
