FORT BENNING, Ga., (Feb. 3 2016) -- To create a consistent curriculum and a standard of knowledge for all master gunners across all branches of the military, the master gunner common core course recently began its first pilot.
"The lessons taught in this course should be known by all master gunners, regardless of platform," said Sgt. 1st Class Donald Mertz, common core branch chief, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment.
The need was to develop one standard of instruction for all three platforms - Abrams, Bradley, and Stryker, as well as for units that need to conduct a gunnery training event with their vehicle-mounted machine guns, Mertz said. The course addresses a request that the operational force has been making since the creation of the brigade combat team.
"Essentially, the classes were being taught separately, and when we looked at it, the core of what was being taught was the same," Mertz said. "We took what was consistent across all three courses... and pieced it together to get [the master gunner common core course.]"
The 28-day pilot course began with 54 students - 35 Bradley master gunner, and 18 Abrams master gunner students, including four from the U.S. Marine Corps and one student from the Texas National Guard, who is the first student that will be using the non-platform specific option, and will not be moving on to a follow-on course.
On day seven of the course, students were being taught a systematic approach to troubleshooting three different weapon systems, identifying and correcting the faults to put the weapon system back into operation quickly. The instructors introduced broken parts into the weapons to cause them to not function properly, and taught the students how to identify and address the fault correctly.
"The formation that students have served in may determine how much experience they have had on a specific weapon system," Mertz said. "This course is designed to teach them everything they need to leave with the same level of expertise as their fellow master gunners, regardless of their background."
While there are multiple advantages to the course, one of the most advantageous is the non-platform specific option, which offers units not tied to one of the three major vehicular platforms with the ability to also send their Soldiers to the course.
These Soldiers will return to their units as experts on unstabilized weapon systems, as well as the development of training plans that will help units prepare for deployments with vehicle-mounted systems like the Humvee or the Marine Corps' mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle.
The course also provides a reprieve for students who do not achieve the standards on their first time through the follow-on platform-specific course.
"If students move on to their platform-specific courses and fail, they do not have to repeat the common core course, provided that they have already successful completed that portion," Mertz said.
During initial course validation, Mertz said that a decision had been made to introduce a unit training plan block of instruction where students would be taught how to develop a basic unit gunnery plan, demonstrate the ability to memorize and apply the information, and confidently communicate as though they were briefing the plan to their unit leadership.
Mertz said this is one of the most critical skills that master gunners need to take back to their units.
"For the first time, all students, regardless of platform or experience, will be taught the same lessons, and will be held to the same standards," Mertz said. "This will provide the force with the consistency in training expertise that they have long been in need of."
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