Qual Day Sept 17

Wednesday was nothing to write about, the only noteworthy event was a nice platoon smoking in the afternoon after returning from EST.

Today however, was one of those "big" days everyone talks about. Today we would attempt to qualify with our rifles, hitting a minimum of 23 out of 40 targets to qualify. You fire 40 rounds in total. 20 in prone supported, 10 prone unsupported and 10 kneeling in increasing order of difficulty with target distances of 50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, and 300m. Your score determines what you qualify as. 23-29 gets you Marksman, 30-35 is sharpshooter and 36-40 expert. If you fail to quality on your first attempt you shoot until you do qualify and no matter what your score when you do, you earn Marksman. Those who fail to qualify by sundown are recycled to another company, since we are done with BEM.

Well long story short, after about 6 attempts and some coaching from DS Pursley and some guys from the platoon I now hold my Marksman qualification badge with the tab for rifles dangling from it in my hand. Nailing that last target was one of the biggest thrills I've had yet. I only hit 14/20 in Prone Supported and had a lot of ground to make up in unsupported and DS Pursley told me so. I concentrated hard on my breathing, trigger squeeze and follow through and hit 5/10 targets for a total of 19/30. Moving to the kneeling after carefully adjusting my kit, I knew I only needed 4 to qualify. I hit the first one and DS Pursley cheered me on , hit another and the tower called out that I was 2 away, hit another and felt like I was home free. The 50m popped up and I aimed at the free target, pulled the trigger and missed. Pursley hollered at me to fire again before it dropped and I did. The target fell. A hit. 23/40. The next thing I felt was DS Pursley slapping my helmet and yelling "fuck yeah little buddy!" As I stood up to the congratulations of those around me, DS Green approached me and handed me my badge. As I took it I actually felt a small lump in my throat because I honestly thought I was doomed there for a while there until Eggebrought and Franks got me to relax. DS Pursley was a huge help too, as he coached me through breaking the bad habits I formed over my years of shooting, most specifically my tendency to rush and get flustered. Regardless, I am now rifle qualified and have the rest of my career to work on Expert.

Tomorrow we have a 6 mile ruck, for which we are already packed followed by Grenades training, which I believe is another badge for my dress uniform whenever I get it.

Oh and for anyone curious, Beheyt shot 33 earning his Sharpshooter badge.