Half of military recruits have never held a gun

[NirvanaFan]

It's pretty crazy, but not all that surprising. Half of today's military recruits have never held a gun, and more have never fired one. I remember shooting my first bb gun when I was 6 or 7. I remember shooting my father's shotgun before I could hold it up myself. He put his hand under the barrel and I rested the gun on his hand.

http://www.heraldnet.com/news/half-of-todays-army-recruits-have-never-held-a-gun/

 

[Marine Cpl]

Most Airman and Sailors fall into that category unless they are combat arms related. So if they never held one at home, they pretty much never held one in the military either.

Seebees, Corpsman, Seals, MP's, Para Rescue, ect.

Soldiers and Marines qualify yearly no matter what their jobs are.

 

[TMC]

My Grandson graduated Airforce boot in April this year. He was telling me that about 20 people in his group had never handled a firearm mostly those shoot em up video games was the only exposure they had. When he got to range training he had already handled the AR/M16 platform here at home so he looked like the resident expert to the others .So sad today's youths think handling a weapon is just like the video games I dread thinking what some will do when they actually go into battle and realize there is no reset or extra life.The Grandson is now on base in NC and hasn't touched a weapon since boot just hours and hours of testing for his MOS.

 

[Airborneguy]

I seem to recall my drill sergeants saying they prefer recruits who had never handled firearms.

 

[Marine Cpl]

I was one of those coming from NYC. I fired a few handguns in Florida but never a rifle.

I shot expert in bootcamp qualifications while the deer and duck hunters just qualified. After 2 years in, I guess I developed my own bad habits and couldn't qualify expert again.

 

[Cleck]

Grew up with guns as well, mostly 22 and 12 gauges, then moved on to better stuff.

My brother, who was a radioman on a sub, had to qualify with rifle and pistol, and got a go-round with an M249 SAW. Lucky bastard.

 

[NirvanaFan]

I seem to recall my drill sergeants saying they prefer recruits who had never handled firearms.

I guess that's not all that surprising. There are no bad habits to break.

 

[Airborneguy]

Mjaetdti,

I carried the SAW in the reserves. Never on a deployment though unfortunately. It is a very "fun" weapon. I loved mine.

 

[Cleck]

I'd like to think if I was ever in a unit, I'd still have a lot of knowledge due to personal experiences, but still be able to absorb any more training.

 

[ManrisFrack]

Soldiers and Marines qualify yearly no matter what their jobs are.

As I recall, I got Sharpshooter in boot, got waivered the second year for Iraq, shot Expert the next spring and then got waivered for the remainder 'cause the Navy didn't want to spend the money on TAD to Pendleton. I got out in '10 having not touched an M-16 since '07

I seem to recall my drill sergeants saying they prefer recruits who had never handled firearms.

Mine too. If memory serves, the range high score at PI was held by a female that hadn't shot before. Or, more probably, that was bullshit to give us faith in the instruction.

 

[VietnamEraVet]

When I was in the Navy, I was an ET, and worked on crypto stuff and had a TS clearance. Also, served brow watches, SP duty, and SAT (shipboard equivalent to SWAT today).

Our job as SAT guys was to defend secure spaces (CIC, missle spaces, radio and crypto areas, and others) during attacks, etc. and be on station within 60 seconds. So, we were weapons authorized, while a lot of the crew were not. Used to carry either a 1911, or an M14. The crazy thing was running through passages with them while screaming "SAT TEAM,- GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!!!".

The fun part was when those of us who were authorized got to go to the fantail and fire away to our hearts content during live fire sessions. I am sure the Greenpeace types out there would have a heart attack over it, but live fire back then was coordinated with dumping the trash over the fantail. We shot up our share of those "rats with wings" as they swooped in on the trash. The BM's really appreciated that since were fewer of them to crap all over their paint jobs...

 

[dsdmmat]

It amazed me that in my basic training platoon (33 years ago) there we a lot of people who had never touched a gun. Most were from the east coast and city dwellers.

 

[Mr. terzmo]

Airmen,in basic training fired the M-16..We had to qualify before going to Europe and Southeast Asia. I was not combat qualified primarilly as I had an Electronic Countermeasures AFSC. Not required to qualify yearly or after an overseas tour.
Air Force civil engineers also qualify yearly. At leats that was how it was 45 years ago

 

[Checkers]

I seem to recall my drill sergeants saying they prefer recruits who had never handled firearms.

My Drill Sergeants said the same thing. They didn't want to fix the bad habits instilled by grandpappy out innawoods