It was a still afternoon on the grounds of range 62 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A team of Paratroopers stood together outside of a two story brick building and formed a neat stack while awaiting the order to clear the threat inside.
Boom…the door swung open, the team leader yelled "clear left, cover right," and the assault team swiftly maneuvered and cleared each room. The team of Paratroopers negotiated their way through every room ensuring the entire building was clear of all possible enemy threats.
From a distance, and to the untrained eye, this technique looks like complete disorder, but to the Paratroopers of 2nd Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, this was just another day at the office.
More than 15 Paratroopers assigned to 2-501 PIR "Geronimo" conducted a train the trainer course with Ranger fire arms, a civilian company, to become more proficient in marksmanship and other infantry skills, Jan. 11-15.
"The five day course was designed for squad leaders," said Sgt. 1st Class Nathaniel McGinnis, the scout platoon sergeant. "The purpose of the training was to teach the squad leaders how to be able to teach, their soldiers, mentor and learn everything they need to be able to put a successful class together," he said.
The squad leaders were required to attend the five day course that covered shooting fundamentals, like position of firing, malfunctions, introduction to shooting while moving, close-quarter marksmanship, reflexive fire and transition fire and pass the exam in order to graduate from this course.
Paratroopers were also required to pass a written exam and a timed stress shooting range with the M-4 carbine to be fully qualified to train other squad leaders and their young Paratroopers.
"The training gave everyone here the opportunity to hone their marksmanship skills, practice shooting at moving targets and we learned new techniques on how to clear rooms," said Staff Sgt. Alexander Betzer, a squad leader with A. Co., 2-501 PIR.
During the stress-fire range, Paratroopers quickly engaged close-range targets and trained on engaging their targets while moving. They also trained on transitioning from one magazine to another to prepare them for battle in an urban environment.
"I had a great time at the range," said Betzer." It's always great when we get the opportunity to fire our weapons and learn new skills."
When the Paratroopers weren't shooting at targets they were practicing new room clearing techniques that provided different techniques for their tool bags.
"The reason we conduct these types of ranges is to transform our Paratroopers into advanced marksmen and to raise their proficiency and confidence in their marksmanship abilities," said McGinnis.
"The training we received here has been different from the rest," added Betzer. "I expected this course to be like any other range, but this training helped me realize that the more we shoot the better we get and the better our Soldiers get."
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