My experience at Ft. Benning

leadcounsel said:
I actually didn't care much for the way they train on weapons, though. A lot of talking and theory, and very little actual shooting. This is where I disagree with the military training model. Too little doing and too much talking. I suppose it's a money saving measure... Lot's of standing around, watching someone shoot...
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At least when I went through in mid-2010, there was actually no live fire for the Army OCS course at Ft Benning. We fired blanks during squad/platoon lanes in the field but that was all. OCS is more about leadership than mastery of a particular specialty or weapon(s).
 
My BCT in 1974 saw me issued with and M16E1, basically the trials version of what became the M16A1. I have to admit that round hand guards on M16A2, M4 or clones feels odd.

Looks like you had similar daylight qualification with optics that we had without. But we had a night time component that was expected to be fired on auto though short bursts were instructed. That's night fire with iron sights, no laser, no thermal, no IR not even luminous paint. The lucky guys for that part of the qualification were on the end of the range that some tracers set on fire so their targets were back-lit.

I predate the AT4 but the LAW rocket launcher was fun. We had one range at Ft Hood with lower than expected attendance so everyone got to fire 5 or 6 of the 20mm sub-caliber rockets, which indicate hit with a large white cloud of smoke, and a live round. The targets, old armored hulk, were all stationary but it was fairly easy to pick where on the targets to hit at up to 200 yards.

If you the Ma Deuce is impressive wait until you get to work around tank gunnery.
 
That's night fire with iron sights, no laser, no thermal, no IR not even luminous paint. The lucky guys for that part of the qualification were on the end of the range that some tracers set on fire so their targets were back-lit.
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wow, now I bet that was difficult. I remember when we did our nighttime range session, it was pitch black, and I believe it was a new moon. Without the aid of our night vision we couldn't see the targets at all. Makes me feel lucky that in this day in age we get to use all the "high tech" gadgets like night vision, lasers, and optics to help us out.

If you the Ma Deuce is impressive wait until you get to work around tank gunnery.
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This is actually something i've always wanted to experience, seeing an M1A2 abrams tank fire. In fact I originally wanted to join in as a 19K M1 Armor Crewman, but the NH NG just doesn't have the opportunities for that mos, and joining the infantry was really growing on me, so here I am now. I'm sure at some point in my career i'll get to work around some tanks.
 
Bart Noir said:
I find it interesting that they didn't teach any handgun shooting. Is the Army having a hard time finding 9mm ball ammo

Really, though, it is a bit disturbing since there will be some soldiers who will be issued those M9 pistols. I hope that further training is accomplished by our soldiers once they are in active units, or get assigned to specialties that may require caring the pistol. NCOs, tankers, artillery, are there not a lot of people with a pistol in today's army?

And if we have MPs that are not well trained in use of the M9, I just don't want to hear about it.

Bart Noir
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No, there's no time to do handgun shooting, and no real need. MPs will do it during their AIT for MOS certification. Everyone else who is issued an M9 on the TOE will qualify with it prior to deploying with it. In my old company that was officers, the first sergeant, the medics, and the M240 gunners. The M240 assistant gunners would also qualify on the M9 but not carry one (They qualified because the gunners and AGs were expected to be interchangeable). All but the M240 gunners carried M4s as well.

Most soldiers in roles that traditionally would have been armed only with a pistol now carry a carbine.

ballardw said:
The targets, old armored hulk, were all stationary but it was fairly easy to pick where on the targets to hit at up to 200 yards.
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That reminds me of the day when we got a whole pallet of AT4s during an annual training. Almost half the company got to shoot one. But in typical fashion, we were shooting at targets on one of the M2/Mk19 ranges and for safety purposes were not allowed to shoot at any of the targets closer than 300 meters.

Since 300 meters is the book maximum effective range against a point target with an AT4, and training also dictated for safety purposes that we shoot from the standing position... only one guy actually hit the target.

It's kind of funny, if you miss with an AT4 at that range into the kind of backstop we had, the rocket would usually richochet up and detonate 50-150 feet in the air.
 
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If you the Ma Deuce is impressive wait until you get to work around tank gunnery.
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Tank gunnery is weak as turkish lemonade next to General Support Artillery ......

A late 1980's CALFEX* was truly impressive. A Ft. Sill CAPEX** was more bang, but had less manuever .....

Desert Storm was a 2 week Air/NavalBombardmen/Artillery CAPEX with a 3 day unlimited ammo and fuel budget CALFEX at the end ..... yessir, I have seen some truly amazing sights ........


* Combined Arms Live Fire Excercise

** Capabilities Exercise
 
I saw a few at Benning, you know, there is probably a youtube video of a CALFEX somewhere., like on Youtube maybe ;)

Yup, just looked and there are a few, happy viewing.
 
Third week of this past April, I met with other Vietnam vets of the 2/47th Bn and one WWII vet for our unit's reunion held in Columbus, next to Ft. Benning. Just curious if you were in the 2/47, which is now a Basic Training Bn at Benning and they co-hosted our reunion. Had opportunity to meet with and share a few beers with the senior NCOs and officers of todays Bn. I was impressed with these guys. One morning we vets attended a graduation ceremony of a Basic Training company of the 2/47th held on parade field next to the Infantry museum. As mentioned already, one should visit the Infantry Museum, displays and exhibits in it are worth seeing, as are the monuments for outstanding infantry units that are a short walk from the museum building. Following the graduation ceremony and visit to the museum we ate lunch in one of the mess halls of the 2/47th, sitting with soldiers undergoing basic training.....nice to chat with them as we ate. LOL, mess hall and food wasn't anything like I recall when in Basic.
 
Nope, I was in Charlie Company, 2-54th Infantry Regiment, although the 2-47 barracks are right across the street from where I was. You likely ate at the same chow hall I ate at though, that's quite an experience in itself haha.
 
Is there anywhere on Sand Hill that isn't all uphill?
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It certainly does seem like they picked the location they picked to put sand hill, simply to make our lives that much more difficult when doing those ruck marches :D
 
I am necrothreading because I'm the somebody who asked the OP to let us know how it went, and then somehow I missed his post. Must have taken a vacation or something...

Anyway, I'm glad to hear it went well, and frankly doesn't sound as if OSUT at Benning has really changed much in 24 years :eek: I didn't re-read my original responses but I'm betting that I predicted that you would "handle" firearms a great deal more than actually shooting them.

Now that you presumably had a few IDT's under your belt, are you finding the training with your unit to be what you expected? You will likely be surprised in the differences between range qualification at your unit versus BCT!
 
Neglected to mention I'd been stationed at Sand Hill in a combat engineer battalion back in 1968. During my first 2/47th reunion to attend, about 6 years ago, when buses were approaching present barracks of the 2/47th, dawned on me, darn this part of Benning sure looks familiar. Back in 68, our barracks were left over from WWII. They are all gone now.
 
I am necrothreading because I'm the somebody who asked the OP to let us know how it went, and then somehow I missed his post. Must have taken a vacation or something...
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I was wondering if you'd ever see my post! Threads in the general discussion section get pushed down pretty quick, so it's pretty easy to miss. Training with my unit so far has exceeded my expectations. I've actually heard of some NG and reserve units that pretty much sit around during drill weekends and don't get much training in. My unit is quite the opposite, we squeeze as much training as possible into the two, sometimes three days a month we get to train. By the way, my unit is the 172nd Infantry Regiment, which is apart of the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. It's actually a mountain unit too, but so far we haven't quite done anything having to do with mountains yet.
 
2/135 IN was so high speed that our one weekend a month was four days long. :D

We were an air assault company and had a blast- we got air every AT at least four or five times.

Except the one time a Chinook turned a Humvee into a large field full of used spare parts, then they got grounded and we had to ride deuces and LMTVs while making helicopter noises and waving our hands around in the back.
 
Congrats on graduating. I went through Basic and AIT in 93 and had much the same experience except we used the M60 instead of the M240 and I did not get to fire the M2 but I was mortars so maybe the bravo guys did it while I was lugging baseplates around.

I never saw any combat but I wondered, for those that did how often did you use weapons other than your M4/M16? Hand grenades, m203, AT4, claymores, M2, M249 (assuming you weren’t a regular M249 gunner), etc.
 
Interesting thread that brought back some long-dormant memories. I am probably the oldest one to enter this thread, as I went through the Basic Officers Course at Ft. Benning in 1962.

At that time, we still carried around the M1 Garand even though the M14 was the still the official rifle, soon to start being phased out in favor of the M16. We never even saw the M16, however. We were taught to field strip the M1, M14 and 1911 but I cannot recall actually firing anything but the M14. Yes, the emphasis was on learning tactics, coordination and practicing leadership, not marksmanship. I actually had a wonderful time of it and felt that we were handled with "kid gloves" in comparison to the Basic Enlisted Course.

Thanks for bringing back fond memories and thank you, all of you, for your service.

Warhorse
Ex-Captain, USAR
 
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