Advanced Rifle Marksmanship: Final Day!

8 August 2011
Day 51

Wake up at 0400 (back to normal), PT at 0500 and breakfast chow at 0730. Today was the last day of ARM. What a day it turned out to be. From 0900 to 1200 we were observed on our three positions of fire: standing, kneeling, and prone position. We shot ten rounds from each at targets ranging from 50-300m. We also conducted concurrent training and were introduced to our topic for tomorrow: hand grenades!

Lunch chow was at 1230 and then the fun began.  While in our "full battle rattle" (bullet proof vest, fighting land carrier, and our helmet), the Drill Sergeants divided the company into 9 man teams and had 5 stations set up for us.
         Station 1: PT smoking--> doing 5-7 PT drills without rest
         Station 2: Carrying Rifles and ammo cans around a field
         Station 3: Dragging sand bags in a litter (field stretcher)
         Station 4: More PT smoking
         Station 5: Shoot 30 rounds at moving targets
The objective of this drill was to create chaos and adversity of being in battle to see who could keep their composure at the end to make good shots. I was about to hit 22/30, which I thought was good. I literally thought I was going to pass out. There was not a dry thread on my body! My boots were even wet with sweat! The temp was in the upper 90s today, but everyone made it through okay! I didn't eat much dinner because I was so hot/overheated. A good night's rest is much needed!

To cap off the evening, a drill sergeant decided to come in around 22:30 to check on us. A few guys were up doing who knows what, so he turned on all the lights and proceeded to give us PT for 20 minutes. I was not a happy camper! What a day! Hand grenades tomorrow!

Matthew