Vietnam Era

[NYlakesider]

1964 fresh out of high school and at Great Lakes Naval Training center. We used 03A3's for drilling and for marksmanship they let us shoot 22 rf Mossbergs. Never any centerfire rifle.


Interesting story believe it or not. During our Westpac cruise 66-67 I was out on the fantail reading a book. Gunnery sargent was doing weapons training with the M14. Evidently the results from the navy officers was sadly lacking. He calls me over and gives me the basics and tells me to shoot at a fire foam can sitting in the water. with the giggle switch in the off position and ten rounds in the mag I proceeded to riddle the can full of holes. I handed the now empty M14 back to the gunnery sargent when he tells them that this sailor with no experience can shoot like that and you all can't even hit the can. Got some evil eye stares from a couple officers from the air wing. And went back to my book. Frank

Wow! I could have wrote that. We also did get to handle a couple ratty 1911s, handle yes fire no!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

AF boy scout camp: March '72.

Manual of Arms? Close-order drill? Never heard of 'em.

Shot the M-16 one day. I guess it was 10 + 60, like the others have said. Disassemble, clean and put it back together. Every guy in my 50-man flight was from Nebr., Colo., Mont., and Wyo. We'd all grown up with guns -- just another day in the country.

Qualified expert prior to each overseas tour ('78, '82, '86 and '94). Ho hum.

 

[CapnB]

AF boy scout camp: March '72.

Manual of Arms? Close-order drill? Never heard of 'em.

Shot the M-16 one day. I guess it was 10 + 60, like the others have said. Disassemble, clean and put it back together. Every guy in my 50-man flight was from Nebr., Colo., Mont., and Wyo. We'd all grown up with guns -- just another day in the country.

Qualified expert prior to each overseas tour ('78, '82, '86 and '94). Ho hum.

At Lackland, almost a year to the day later, they sent a handful of us to the range and we shot M-16's converted to .22LR. Some kind of trial program. As I recall, the whole ordeal lasted about two hours, and that was it for basic training. Across the base at tech school we qualified with "real" M-16's and S&W Model 15's, and familiarized with M-60's and M-79's. Even got to toss a couple pineapple grenades. The war was winding down by then so fortunately I never had to test my pitching arm in real life.
Doug

P.S. Incredibly, I knew a couple of people who actually washed out of AF basic training. Go figure.

 

[labworm]

Learned on M14 but all the units I served in were equipped with M16's so never used it after basic.

Me too, 1966 Fort Gordon Georgia.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

BCT, C-4-2, Fort Dix, Summer of 1967. Close order drill, Manual of Arms and BRMC-Basic Rifle Marksmanship Course.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

P.S. Incredibly, I knew a couple of people who actually washed out of AF basic training. Go figure.

Ha!

The 50 of us who started together finished together. We had one fat kid who washed back into our flight for failure to meet the physical standards. He was a daddy's boy rich kid. He saw himself washing out of the AF, too. His future bosses and co-workers may have hated us for it, but, collectively, we rode him like a tired horse and he graduated with us.

 

[Gamecock]

"Close Order Drill" What? At Amarillo AFB in 1968, during basic training the only time I touched a gun was on the range, M-16 and M-1 carbine. Then we cleaned them and I never saw one again.

We didn't clean 'em. Handed them over to some Chicanos. I still remember passing it over, with two hands, muzzle vertical. Almost a ritual.

 

[fiasconva]

Gamecock, I think the first 10 were for sighting in and the next 50 were for qualification. If you hit the B-27 figure with all 50 rounds you qualified for expert. I hit all 50 at 100 yds but the guy next to me had no hits at all. They wouldn't qualify me because they said they didn't know if some of his shots hit my target. Arguing with the TI's would have gotten me sent back to day#1 in training. That was the only time I ever got a chance to qualify.

 

[Gamecock]

Gamecock, I think the first 10 were for sighting in and the next 50 were for qualification. If you hit the B-27 figure with all 50 rounds you qualified for expert. I hit all 50 at 100 yds but the guy next to me had no hits at all. They wouldn't qualify me because they said they didn't know if some of his shots hit my target. Arguing with the TI's would have gotten me sent back to day#1 in training. That was the only time I ever got a chance to qualify.

Perhaps I'm mistaken on the number.

I got expert. I had such a tight group, the errant hits were obvious strays.

 

[LostintheOzone]

USN still had close order drill and MOA in fall of 67 at San Diego NTS.

Our graduation had about 7 company's that passed in parade for the station command and families of recruits.

A good time was had by all. Nothing better than a military parade.

Next stop, the real navy. 14 hour days and no liberty for weeks on end. Vietnam called. No MOA or COD.

I spent 2 years of my life living on a runway in Alabama. I ate cold food and slept under a truck.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Sorry, double post.

 

[vytoland]

its been 55 years since basic.......i cant remember.....

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Hmmm. Forty-six years for me. Wasn't that just yesterday?

 

[Frank46]

52 years back in '66 when this happened. Used to go out on the fantail to watch the 5"54's shoot at the towed targets, now that was fun. You hear the bang and out comes the projectile making a whosh whosh noise similar to an old steam engine. You could visually track the shell in flight and inpact on the target. Frank

 

[Old cop]

I trained on the Manuel of Arms in 1965 @ Great Lakes Naval Training Center. We used nutered Springfield rifles and spent hours marching up and down the Grinder.

 

[Big Wes]

USN 68-72 Had close order drills in Great Lakes Naval Training Center

 

[Rustyt1953]

47 years ago we had some close order drill, no manual of arms and a few hours of pugil sticks.

I spent more time on "pots and pans" than I did handling an M-16.

 

[chuckie]

Basic training in 1969 we did a shortened version of the MOA with the m16.

 

[steelslaver]

I will bet that if you handedany Marine from that era an M14 he could still do a fair manual of arms. It wasn't beat into them as much as mistakes PTed out of them

 

[carpriver]

in 1966 the Air Force did close order drill, no manual of arms. I did learn the manual of arms after I got to my first base and while on post (air policeman) I forgot answer to a question I should know and it should have rolled off my tongue like honey off a spoon. I got to learn the manual and challenge everyone entering central security control.