04-01-2013, 05:08 AM
Thanks Stan. One thing that is really pinging with me from the article is the 1949 Qualification Course, and the old TO&E of a 12-man Rifle Squad with 2 Scouts and a Sharpshooter (DM), and how the capability was lost and forgotten until Afghanistan. I had been pushing for a DM in the 1990's, but I was way too low on the enlisted rank totem pole to be listened to. I even have TO&E proposals that I had drafted and diagrammed in the early 1990's with most personnel carrying Colt Model 727 Carbines, and DM's with free-floated M16's & SR-25's with optics.
I also suggested to my Brigade Commander in the 82nd that we build representative structures from the Pacific theater, Middle East, South/Central America, and Europe in Area J on Fort Bragg to train on, using Infantry as muscle with our Engineers as the brains, which would double as a cross-training opportunity to get to work with our slice elements. I also drafted a new qualification range arrangement that incorporated piles of rubble, damaged walls, and a whole separate system to address another aspect of combat that was only present on a certain MOUT site at Fort Knox at the time (Universal Studios was contracted to help build it.) I see that the barricades, rubble, and windows had been done before in 1949.
The prone and foxhole positions should be very minimal on the Rifle/Carbine Qualification Course.
I also suggested to my Brigade Commander in the 82nd that we build representative structures from the Pacific theater, Middle East, South/Central America, and Europe in Area J on Fort Bragg to train on, using Infantry as muscle with our Engineers as the brains, which would double as a cross-training opportunity to get to work with our slice elements. I also drafted a new qualification range arrangement that incorporated piles of rubble, damaged walls, and a whole separate system to address another aspect of combat that was only present on a certain MOUT site at Fort Knox at the time (Universal Studios was contracted to help build it.) I see that the barricades, rubble, and windows had been done before in 1949.
The prone and foxhole positions should be very minimal on the Rifle/Carbine Qualification Course.