Maine Army National Guard Marksmanship Training Goes Hi
Tech
By Major Peter
Rogers
Long gone are the days of balancing a dime on the end of a rifle barrel
or placing a pencil inside a pistol barrel to improve marksmanship skills. Today’s
Maine Army National Guard (MEARNG) boasts the latest in marksmanship technology, which is
a cross between a movie theater and an arcade video game. Housed in a converted storage
attic at Camp Keyes in Augusta, the Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) has helped improve
rifle and pistol qualification scores for dozens of soldiers in the Maine Army National
Guard. Many of these same soldiers went on to serve in Bosnia and Kuwait.
The EST is a multipurpose device designed to support the indoor
training of individual and squad sized (12 soldiers) units on basic and advanced rifle
marksmanship as well as fundamental tactical engagement skills. The device uses the latest
in videodisc-based, synchronized wide screen image projection, hit detection laser, and
microcomputer technology to provide a variety of target arrays, courses of fire, complete
with rifle qualification courses, and tactical engagement exercises. Once an exercise is
selected, the EST displays proportionately correct targets on a panoramic screen. These
targets are engaged with laser-fitted, demilitarized weapons, such as the M16A2 rifle,
M203 Grenade Launcher, and 9mm pistol, that provide the recoil and sound of real weapons
firing live ammunition. The system provides immediate or delayed on screen feedback to the
soldiers.
The MEARNG received the EST in a nationwide fielding back in 1997. The
purpose of the system is to allow soldiers to hone their individual marksmanship skills as
well as their group or collective skills year round at a lower cost. The benefits the
system brings to Maine are enormous. The severe winter weather in Maine makes it difficult
to use firing ranges throughout the year limiting firing opportunities. That, coupled with
decreasing budgets, limited training time, and long distances to ranges give the soldiers
only one opportunity to fire their weapon per year.
Marksmanship is a perishable skill and the ability to fire more than once
a year is critical for success. The EST provides that opportunity to fire year round in a
structured environment. Each time a soldier fires the weapon it has the noise and
"kick" of a real weapon as well as immediate feedback of where the round hit.
The instructor has the capability of showing the soldier not only where the rounds hit,
but also where the barrel was pointing before during and after the trigger squeeze. This
lets the soldier know what areas need to be worked on for improvement. Experienced
soldiers firing on the EST prior to actual range qualification improve their scores, while
soldiers who historically have a hard time qualifying often qualify following EST
training.
The EST also provides training at the small unit level through action
scenarios. These collective engagement scenarios, both offensive and defensive, are
developed to provide true training realism. Enemy targets move as they would on an actual
battlefield and true target form and color are presented because they are real personnel
captured on video. The soldier is provided a panoramic view of a real life battlefield
under a variety of conditions and situations to enhance realism. The video, coupled with a
state of the art sound system and a room stocked with trees, bushes, and sandbags, provide
the soldier with an experience as true to real life combat as possible. Explosions rock
the room, the sound of jets flying overhead, and enemy soldiers running toward you firing
their weapons, all add to the realism and confusion of the battlefield. The goal is to let
the soldier feel the stress and make the mistakes now so he will be prepared in the
future.
The EST is getting a great deal of usage as hundreds of our soldiers have
already been cycled through it. Each soldier fills out a critique sheet after each
training session and the response to the training has been very positive. The soldiers
really enjoy the opportunity to sharpen their skills and get the feel for combat. Although
there will never be a substitution for firing actual bullets, the EST provides our
soldiers with a realistic, hi tech alternative.
Major Rogers is an
employee of the Department of Defense, Veterans, and Emergency Management. He is currently
serving as the State Training Officer for the Maine Army National Guard in Augusta, and
may be reached by e-mailing Peter.Rogers@me.ngb.army.mil.
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