[Rob228]

The ACOG doesn't have a battery. I have knocked more than one out of zero through every day use (So I very much agree that Irons need to be taught). Yes, every Marine is trained as a rifleman, but how many sustain that training? When I see Marines on the range that cannot clear a type 3 malfunction, or zero their rifle without massive amounts of assistance I quickly lose faith in the "Every Marine a Rifleman" mantra. When my muscle memory from thousands of repetitions through proper training take over and I and drop to a knee and clear a type 3 malfunction, and have some block NCO tell me that I need to ask for assistance to clear it during my annual qual, I lose faith in that mantra. Even funnier when I have as many rockers as this guy does stripes..... Every Marine recieves two weeks of marksmanship training. If their unit does not have the budget or the time to train them past this, they will never learn anything other then target shooting. Table III, or whatever it is that they call it these days was modeled after the SOTG CQB qual, except they doubled all of the time limits and added a tremendous pelvis target. While every Marine quals annually, not every Marine is truly proficient with their weapon. Furthermore, up until two years ago, if your TO weapon didn't fall in line with what the USMC said it should be for annual quals, you were qualifying with something different. When I put 400 rounds per day for a full summer through a MEUSOC .45, but had to go to the pistol range with an M9, which I would never have had to carry, there is a serious issue with the program. Granted it has started to get fixed, but it is far from perfect.